There should be plenty of room in a standard bolt face to accommodate the 6.5X55 case head. Typically a bolt face is about .010" - .015" larger in diameter than the case head they are designed for.

For example I have a Remington 700 30-06 and a Winchester model 70 .270 Winchester. Both of these rifles have bolt faces that measure .487"

I don't own a Savage so I can't measure how large the bolt face is on a Savage but I suspect that it will work just fine.


Having said this why not just rebarrel it to something like a 25-06 considering that you are starting off with a long action to begin with. Ammo is widely available and recoil is still very mild.