My 1000 yd gun is built from a trued rem 700. It is the only remington I own. The rest of my bolt guns are all savages. A 700 is a good precision platform once it has been trued. A savage needs no such tweaking IMO to compare. The savage has as much aftermarket support as the 700. Shoot the sucker and see if it needs any tweaks. A new recoil lug will take about 10 minutes to replace. It will probably take longer to rebed the lug than it will to replace it. Might not need it.

Swapping barrels is so easy. Once you are ready to step up a custom barrel, you'll save a couple hundred in gunsmith fees by doing it youself.

Check out savageshooters.com and sharpshootersupply.com.