Pricey, custom actions are nice. They are cool, they are what a lot of guys/gals want/hope to have someday. All of this certainly has its place and the money spent is not a waste in my opinion. That said its not absolutely necessary either. In 2003 I was an armorer for the United States Palma Team. So, I'm this guy loitering around the top 1% of long range iron sight trigger pullers in the United States. Kinda cool. I got to see every hot rod custom action in use. Nesika, RPA, CG Millenium, Stolle Panda, you name it, the good stuff was there and it all worked.
There there's this guy: Retired Sgt Major Norman Crawford. He's shooting a beat up "pawn shop looking" Remington M700. Blasphemy! Till you look at his plot sheets taken by the coaches during the team practices at Sacramento and Camp Butner. His X count was consistent with everyone else's and his scores were right where they needed to be. Sacremento is a windy bugger. Butner, you just sweat like no other as the muggy south is just a bitch to be in when your strapped in a leather jacket and sprawled out under the sun in late May. -wide range of conditions and the gun did not care one bit.
My point here is while Savage is considered to be an entry level piece it does not disqualify it from being able to shoot well anymore than a custom action or tuned up Remmy does on the US Palma Team. It has limitations and you realize them, but if your punching holes they have more than proven themselves to be capable.
Have fun and kill it.