The Savage Models 12 And 112
Enter The Switch Barrel Arena Norman E. Johnson
stays among my test rifl es and hunting rifles. Having some of these rifles limited to one barrel and one cartridge didn’t really make much sense. Tying up a major amount of money in a rifl e with a mounted scope and a single barrel sim- ply didn’t prove the logical thing to do. Back in the formative stages of my
F
Shown here are the Savage Models 112 and 12 single-shot rifl es with six barrels, prepared by author as switch-barrel rifl es. From top: Model 112 long action with Sightron 6.5-20x50 scope, mounted with Picatinny base and Leupold rings. Barrel installed is a 5mm/35 SMc Krieger 1:12 twist; .220 Swift Savage factory with fi xed pre-headspaced barrel lock nut; 257 Ackley Improved 1:12 twist; Model 12 Short action with 8-32x Redfi eld Target scope mounted with Near Picatinny base and Near rings. Barrel installed is .308 Winchester Broughton 1:12 twist; .223 Rem. Savage factory with fi xed pre- headspaced barrel lock nut; .22 PPC Shilen 1:14 twist.
switch-barrel plan, I had, thus far, not heard of the method that I later adapted to several different action types. These included the complete Remington 700 line along with the Model 40-X and the XP-100, Winchester Model 70, Ruger Model 77, Weatherby MK V single-shot, Thompson/Center TCR ’83, and a few others. The interchangeable barrels eventually would number upwards of 115 in a wide range of cartridges. While I may not be the forerunner of this sort of switch barrel origination, there are distinguishing traits unique to all of the rifl e types in the methods that I use. The leading requirements that made sense to me were being able to switch the barrel of each style of gun without removing or disturbing the action from the stock or removing the scope from the action. This allows pre-headspaced barrels to be conveniently removed or re-installed beneath the scope with ab- solute precision. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SAVAGE
MODEL 12-112 SINGLE-SHOT RIFLE For a time I resisted using this
Pictured here is a Savage Model 12 short action receiver with AccuTrigger as used in switch barrel project. A special action wrench is shown fi tted to the Savage barrel lock nut as used to remove the barrel the fi rst time. Shown above is a Holland action wrench modifi ed for use in removing and installing barrels as the scoped action remains undisturbed in the stock. Note: standard ½ -inch square drive socket wrench used to remove barrels beneath scope. A Near Picatinny base is installed on this action.
Page 26 October — December 2011
unique feature on the fi ne line of Savage bolt-action rifl es … namely the Models 112 and 12 single-shots. These rifl es uti- lize a special barrel locking nut to retain the barrel and set cartridge headspace. Working this barrel-to-action lock nut requires a special wrench that made it necessary to remove the action from the stock and the scope from the action. A removable style recoil lug similar to that used on the Remington 700 is sandwiched between the receiver face and the barrel lock nut. I will cover later, in more detail, the signifi cant changes I
or the past few decades switch- barrel rifl es have become main-
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