My only experience with a stretched timing chain was on my Suzuki Z400 sport quad.  The tapping was consistent at all rpms and got quite loud before I changed it out for a stronger one made by D.I.D.

Slightly painful job but doable.  I am wondering if our engines have a manual timing chain tensioner or automatic.  With my Z400, if I remove the middle bolt to take out the spring, I can then remove the auto adjuster to see how many 'clicks' I have left.

Anyone?  I'd like to know more about this subject.  Or don't the Savage chains stretch enough to ever need replaced before an engine rebuild?

Yes, This in my oppinion is a prety comon problem. I have an engine , that I picked up very cheap, because the timing chain broke.The bike had about 30K miles, but was abused a lot. The root of the evil is a bad air filtration and not enough oil changes. When You have dust particles in the oil they work like a sand paper and because You have so many links, the result of the wear multiplies fast. It will be a good idea to change the chain. The price is about $90. You will need a clutch cover gasket- roughly $13. It will be Your decidion do You want to change the famous leaky plug, but for $7 I'd replace it. The cam chain tentioner is automatic and I don't see a way to go to a mechanical, because it is inside the engine and there is no way to adjust it without pulling the right side cover off.

My chain broke and left pieces in the engine. WEEE
Stealership dream I tells u.  My valves were bent and 1600.00 later they fixed it and rejetted the carb.

1 month later somehow I got a pressure leak and it was leaking gas through the exhaust they said.  Luckily I didnt catch on fire.  I have only put like 1k on the engine and it only had a total of 7k 1995.  Next time I buy a bike its gonna be new.

At what interval? - 20k - I was going to try for 30k - but may just bite the bullet and do it - I'm sure for the last 7k miles the 95 has had very clean oil and filters - but the ealier part of it's life - who knows.