Workable left handed savage short action chassis for a small 9 year old?

[PLhunter]

My son is currently 7 and came along on his first successful hunt this year. He and I both had a great time. One of the best hunting experiences of my life.

He has a daisy buck right now that we are working on him shooting. He’s a tiny dude even though all but my mother are at least average height with several 6’3 plus people mixed in on both sides of the family. So I’ll want a small setup. He treats guns with great respect and takes it seriously but his attention span and working memory are really limited so simple to operate is a must. I was originally thinking “hobbit rifle” type setup but hammers add a complexity and decocking can go wrong. So going to stick with bolt action. He’s cross eye dominant like me.

In Oregon he can hunt mentored at 9 and I’m hoping to get everything I can used so I’m getting started now. I have an old savage left handed short action model 12 in 22-250 that I’m not doing anything with so that’ll be the starting point. I’ll swap barrels with a prefit in 6 arc or some other very light recoiling 6mm. I was given a lightweight 30-06 at 14 and man did I ever have a flinch from that. Not going to repeat that mistake with him.

I’m open to other stock types but a chassis seems to be the easy button. I’m thinking something that can adjust sub 11.5 inches LOP. Anyone have recommendations or leads on a used one? Not looking for premium but also don’t want it to be too heavy. Any advice is appreciated including advice that I’m totally going the wrong direction. Thanks in advance!

 

[CMcCormick1805]

I think you can reasonably find used savage left hand wood stocks with some digging on eBay. I got one quite a few years back that has been great! Of course there was some barrel inlet work I had to do.

 

[Frozenlead]

Left hand and a savage may require some more creative options. Ultradyne does make one, coupled with a collapsible mag pull butt stock guys were getting into the sub 11” LOP.
Some other options would be to find a good deal on a RH chassis and modify it to fit a lefty. Or chop your current stock and modify it for proper fit.

Here’s a couple of threads with some decent info

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/kids-rifle-again.435563/#post-4508515


https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/kids-rifle-manifesto.348812/

 

[fishdart]

If "older" means non-accutrigger, side bolt release, and integral stagger-feed magazine you will likely have even more limited options.

There are 2 different actions screw spacing dimensions that savage used at different times for their true short action rifles: 4.25" and 4.4" and you need to confirm yours and go from there.

There's was also a time when they had the old screw spacing and staggered magazine setup but did have the accutrigger.

I *believe* ultradyne and mdt both make chassis that have a reversible bushing at the front action hole location so it'll work with either version.

Im curious to see if the new chassis form that Backfire fellow will be accommodating to the various Savage short actions they've made over the years.

 

[PLhunter]

There's was also a time when they had the old screw spacing and staggered magazine setup but did have the accutrigger.

That’s where this rifle is at. I bought it shortly after the introduction of the accutrigger.

 

[XLR]

You should be able to run our Element Chassis! Get your center to center action screw spacing and give our sales team a call to confirm the fitment.

The best way to run our chassis for a smaller shooter is the Element chassis and our TR-2 buttstock with the short buffer tube. This allows them to run a 10.5"-13.5" and move the length of pull as they grow. We have a ton of kids shoot this configuration and it works really well!

 

[PLhunter]