I've never seen a Savage with a blown head gasket (well the only Savage I've seen is my one...) but worked on plenty of other thumpers and changes a lot of blown head gaskets. On a big single, when it's leaking, you know about it. Makes a terrible noise, just like there's compression escaping the cylinder. funny, that. Often they'd run fine at idle but all goes bad when the throttle's cracked open. The Red hand grenade model Honda XR250 was bad for it- head bolts would pull free for no obvious reason, gasket leaks, compression blows onto your pants. Nice.
But anyway if the heads off, it's off. Put it back together with the same gaskets that came out, you'll be fine. The valve springs, can generally get them off with a hammer and socket, but you need the special tool to get 'em back on again
An old guy I used to work for swore that spraying the steel gaskets with silver frost spray paint made them seal more reliably, but I dunno about that one.....
Happy engine building, buddy.