[billy]

i think i would have to have them sign it out as a pistol .
that way it would be ok with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

leave the factory signed out as a pistol

i found this:
If it leaves the factory as an "action" then you can build it into a handgun without having to deal with AOW or SBR stuff. It does not need to be logged as a pistol at any point along the line to be legal, it just cannot be logged as a rifle or shotgun at any point. However, once I got an action from my dealer that I was going to build into a handgun, I would want him to log it as a pistol in his books so there would be no concerns. Once a pistol, always a pistol. You could make it into a rifle as long as it was originally was logged in as a pistol, then go back to being a pistol again without any infractions as long as it has the size and stock requirements when it is a rifle.

The key will be what Savage logged it out as (one would assume as an ACTION but you never know) and what each successive log book logs it in as. If they follow what is on the receipt, and the receipt shows "Action" you are good to go.

For example, Sako actions used to leave the factory designated as an action only (not sure if they still do) and could be built into handguns as long as nobody screwed up and logged it out as a rifle somewhere along the line. Remington and Ruger on the other hand didn't offer bare actions in the past. ( I am assuming they still do not) All Remington actions you found for sale were take offs from RIFLES, so you could not use them to make pistols without going through the AOW / SBR routine, other than of course the XP100 handguns.