Prior to '68 Savage made a short action that's a bit longer than most at 2 7/8". The barrels had a recess for the nose of the bolt, which also had a tiny extractor that wrapped around the outside of the nose. That left a lot of room for excaping gas to get back into the action in the event of a case split. There was a projection in the magazine box that served as the ejector. Additionally the wrap around extractor suffered from improper heat treatment in the middle 60s.
In '68 a redesign gave Savage a bolt nose much like those on the post '68 Winchester Model 70's with the same extractor and push button ejector design. The short action was dropped, a minor trigger redesign provided a detent on the safety that made it easier to tell when the bolt was unlocked, but the safety was still engaged, and the pin for the detachable bolt nose was rotated 90 degrees so it wasn't visible when the action was closed. Some of the magnum actions had a different barrel shank/receiver ring thread, and the ring around the bolt nose was relieved to provide controlled round feeding.
When the company was sold the short action was revived, although a bit shorter than the old one at 2.8" and the accutrigger was introduced. You can tell if the rifle has one as there is a small lever that sticks out of a slot in the trigger. Models multiplied!
