For reasons, I'm in the market for either a completed savage etc. I know they sold them for a minute right before the stroke of the king's pen all but eliminated ammo imports.

I'd also be interested in recommendations if anyone has any experience with having someone build them a bolt rig in that caliber.

Thanks

Never heard of anyone running a custom 5.45x39 bolt gun. Seems like it would just end up being an expensive, frustratingly inaccurate gun and all the cost savings of surplus ammo would be dumped into the gun.

It’s a critter killer not a 1000yd BBQ gun.

I could virtually shoot it cheaper than 22lr bring I still have half a pallet of 7n6. it’s easily minute of pig ear at 100yds in both the 74s I have left and I suspect a bolt gun would t be any worse. The downside is that the 74s don’t suppress well or host the optics I use.

The savage was less than $700 in 2009 but that’s probably $7k in todays gun money so you may have a point with that one

If I had a half a pallet of 7n6 I'd probably be looking at an AR upper. It'll likely get you the minute of pig ear accuracy you need and more versatile than the 74s you have. Since 5.45x39 isn't super popular, I would imagine finding someone ready to dump one wouldn't be super hard. I had a Spikes Tactical upper that I got rid of that I wish I would have held onto because I included a couple cases of ammo super cheap. Jumped to a 7.62x39 AR upper and learned those are just turds and should have stuck with the 5.45x39 upper.

Id sell the pallet at current prices and purchase a really nice rifle and loads of ammo with the proceeds. 7N6 is neat stuff but an not ideal critter getter.

I appreciate the input but I refuse to roll the ammo into another caliber at today's trade rate of roughly 20+ rounds to 1. It doesn't make sense to me being that I have plenty of other rigs & ammo to use in the mean time and it's at max a $500 barrel swap for a bolt gun and 30 minutes of machining set up from start to cleanup.

FWIW, I've put plenty of iron curtain surplus ammo out of direct impingement AR's and it's an awful route I won't likely go down again being I already have auto loaders for it. Between reliability issues ranging from mags to bolt and gas system issues and inhaling the caustic gases it's almost a non starter for me. IMO, They should vent from forward of the receiver as Saint Mikhail designed them for the conscripts (who were never intended to shoot 1/100th the amount of ammo some modern shooters burn up)

Steyr used to produce the SSG in 5.45x39 for the East Germans. They were released here back in the '90s for $599, but they're probably unobtainium today.

Contact Shilen, Lothar Walther, and other barrel makers to see if they'll chamber a barrel for it. The reamer can be rented from CH4D.

Imagine the heart drop I felt when I went to re-buy one & it went from $1750 to between $7-$18k. I sold mine because they are a bit frail by modern standards and they won't hold up to being used as a tool/buggy beater gun and the replacement parts are non existent. At the time I meant to buy one of the Savage's for that roll but it got put on the back burner for quite a while.

The barrels are made by a handful of manufacturers. It's nothing to spin a REMAGE etc type on. I was mainly looking to see if someone was Texas local who's familiar with opening up the bolt face that 0.008" to get reliable consistent extraction/ejection.