whats the cheapest way to go about a bolt gun build?
 

I hate to buy a bran new(or perfectly good used) gun and chunk the barrel. Savage action seems to be the top choice here. Can I buy just the action and stock anywhere? Would it be any cheaper than buyin a whole rifle?

you can get a Savage10/110 pretty reasonable I picked one up at a pawn shop. but Wal mart had some for a decent price. the Stevens line is also a good choice, but without the acu-trigger. try asking around over at savageshooters.com.
you have to pay a $12 membership to view the classifieds, but there are some actions for sale there.

Where can I learn to build a Savage bolt action? I am also interested in a bolt action 300/221 (I love my AR) and would like to put one together.

I've been doing AR's for a while but I've never assembled a bolt gun. I'm just looking for a tutorial or something. The main issue is headspacing. I don't know how to do that as it is done for you on the AR with the barrel extension (you just have to check it with guages after assembly).

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/

Everything you need to know. It's very easy to do. I've always just used an unfired case to set headspace. If you can turn a wrench, you can install a barrel.

Cheapest, or most reliable? Well you can get a howa 1500 or rem action for not much more than a savage action and have no feeding issues. I would suggest the howa or a rem700 with a sako extractor for this reason. I have had quite a few 300 whispers in the past and would suggest this since most people with savage and non sako extractors on their rem 700 bolts have failures in the ejection process.

When you cut a 223 case that short you cause the brass to kick out farther causing it to fall off the extractor face when ejecting leaving your brass in the chamber sometimes.

I never had a problem with ejecting from my Savage. However I did have a problem with the bolt not always picking up a new round if I loaded more than 3 in the magazine. I replaced the magazine spring with one cut down from a 20 round AR15 magazine and the problem went away. My Savage now feeds and ejects flawlessly.

where can i buy actions without buying a whole gun? if i find a used bolt gun somewhere does it have to be a .223? i assume it would have to be for the bolt to work.

I recall reading about ejection issues with the Remington 700 and that is why I wasn't planning on going that route. What is this Sako ejector you speak of and why does it fix the problem? If this is a viable option then I would prefer a 700 simply because that is what I'm accustomed to I own several (.308, 7mm Rem Mag, and 300 Win Mag) so I would like to stick with the same platform. Is there anyone that builds a 300 Whisper on a 700 action with the Sako extractor or is it difficult to build? As I stated earlier, I shoot bolt guns but know very little about assembly. The Savage sounds like I could handle it, is that true with the Remington as well?

Contact spook on here since he does the sako extractor thing, and no I wouldnt tackle a remington 700. You can go the savage route and do it yourself, although you will probally have to modify it to make it work. I dunno about this idea but someone may help answer this. Will the new centerfeed actions run a whisper without having to modify the mag springs ect, especially if its a detachable mag?

If you don't insist on a repeater I would say Savage 110%. I have a single shot savage bolt 300W and love it. I didn't feel the need for a repeater since I have a 300W AR15 as well.