I have a stock Savage varmint rifle with a laminated stock and stainless barrel. It copper fouled a little the first 200 rounds, nothing to cause a problem. After that it cleaned up about the same as a Hart that I own. That is to say there was no significant copper fouling. I would rather have my stock barrel than anything but a lapped barrel from a known good source. The rifle has shot five shot groups at 1/2" and less with three kinds of premium factory ammunition, with only a trigger adjustment. It does better than that with handloads. It is a .220 Swift. There is really no way around the cost of a good barrel. If you invest in a used benchrest rifle with a "worn out" barrel, it will probably shoot rings around a new factory rifle, because what constitutes worn out for Benchrest is still excellent accuracy for just about any other application. Once you have the rifle, you can save toward having it rebarreled.