Barrel change: Help me in making the right choice for barrel and tools

[kevin1]

Be interesting to see if the new will outperform the old.

I’m pretty sure this barrel will outperform the old. Remember that I was cleaning the barrel after every 5 shots and I’m using old brass that is full length resized. Given these circumstances the 5 shot groups with 41g and 44 are pretty tight. With the old barrel I don’t recall getting this kind of grouping with a completely cleaned barrel.

Jbjh: The brass is Winchester. Shot them several times with the old barrel before full length resizing for the Shilen barrel. I’ll try to post a pic of the rifle during the weekend

[D.ID]

I'll bet it does well once it settles down and you quit cleaning it. My best tube is a shilen.

[tammons]

I had a factory 7 twist 223 that shot .25-.35 moa but was a bit finiky. When I say finiky, it would go from jump from .25 to .35 moa at times. It took about 200 rounds for the barrel to settle down though and the first 200 were a bit all over the place depending.

The real out of the box shooter I had was a Sheilin 6mm BR barrel from midway that would shoot .25 moa all day long and that was on a out of the box savage action with a machined recoil lug in a choate stock with a top scope.

If I was after ultimate accuracy, I would have the action trued, either milled recoil lug and buy a Kreiger barrel.

The stock setup is just as important as everything else.
Scope rings and base also.

For 500 yards I would go for a 6mm BR.

I dont use an action wrench for savage rifle.

Get at least a go gage.

[kevin1]

As promised, here’s the pic of the gun:

B&C Medalist A2 stock
Harris S-BRM with pod lock
Warne steel base 20 MOA
IOR VTAC 30mm Rings
SS 10X42 Scope
Shilen 308 SM 10 Twist 26” S7 barrel

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c38/kevin1111/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/27901B0B-479B-4CC1-B8AE-0A7D528C6113_zpsxtdrixif.jpg (http://s24.photobucket.com/user/kevin1111/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/27901B0B-479B-4CC1-B8AE-0A7D528C6113_zpsxtdrixif.jpg.html)

[YDKDY]

Nice build!

[jbjh]

Very nice

[drybean]

Looks Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kevin1]

I put another 50 rounds through the rifle. I loaded only 40.7 gr (average grouping of 0.683”) and 41 gr (average grouping of 0.631”). Bullets seated 0.005” off land.

I’m hoping to get better results after some more rounds and playing with the seating depth.
Going forward I’ll stick with the 41 gr load, but I’ll use CCI BR2 instead of CCI 200. I’ll also seat the bullets a little further (0.010-0.015” off land).

Only posting the pic with 41 gr (all are 5 shot groups at 100Y)
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c38/kevin1111/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/703D9615-44F6-47D1-BD7A-070EA2E4834E_zpsr8z1b7z1.jpg (http://s24.photobucket.com/user/kevin1111/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/703D9615-44F6-47D1-BD7A-070EA2E4834E_zpsr8z1b7z1.jpg.html)

[1956_4x4]

Looks like you have a winner!

Smitty

[CriterionBarrels]

I’m thinking buying everything from NSS as I heard a lot of good things.
I’m considering swapping the factory barrel on my 308 Savage 10FP that is currently sitting in B&C Medalist A2 stock. My current set-up shoots consistently 0.5 to .75 moa with my hand loads. My goal is to go under a consistent 0.5 moa for a max of shooting distance of 500 yards. I wish I could end up with a 0.25 moa gun (who know, maybe I will), but I know that no barrel can guarantee this kind of accuracy.


Barrel Choice:
I’m hesitating between the Shilen Chrome Moly and the Criterion barrel.
1.What’s the finish on the Shilen Chrome Moly? Will it match the mat black finish of the Savage 10FP? If not, or if it’s a shiny blue finish, I might as well go with Criterion stainless steel barrel (the contrast should be better)
2. I heard the Shilen Chrome Moly is not hand lapped. But the accuracy of both should be very similar. Do you confirm?
3. which contour would fit my set-up, without the need of sanding the barrel channel of the stock?
I believe it would be Small Shank Varmint. Please confirm.


Recoil lug: Which one should I get?
(NSS) Precision Ground Heavy Duty or (NSS) Squared and Trued Barrel Nut. Honestly I can tell the difference. At the same time both seems to be stainless steel. So at the end, this will not match the finish of the rifle.


Tools needed: Which one of these I don’t have to buy
(NSS) Barrel Nut Wrench $25
(NSS) Action Wrench $60
(NSS) Vise Jaw Inserts. Which one do I need? Flat gripping surfaces for $40 or Round gripping surfaces for $48
My thoughts are that the (NSS) Vise Jaw Inserts might not be required (unless you tell me otherwise) as I can always use 2 pieces of wood, covered in blankets.

I will also need to by a vise. I suppose a cheap one will do.
Go-no go gage: I’m thinking just using a factory ammo as a go, and then one of my once fired brass as a no go.



Thanks in advance for all your inputs.

I realize I may be a little late to the game on this one, but I'd be happy to provide some clarification to your earlier questions:

1. Criterion offers both a shiny stainless steel finish or a matte bead blast finish for a few more dollars.
2. Each and every Criterion pre-fit barrel is hand lapped.
3. Our contour information can be found by following this link: http://www.criterionbarrels.com/savagecontours.pdf

Installation is a fairly simple process that should take about 15 minutes. Jim over at NSS is able to walk builders through the process over the phone (we'll likely be putting together a YouTube video shortly on the subject).

Please let me know if I can help answer any questions regarding the Criterion pre-fit barrel line in the future. I'd be more than happy to help out!

-Josh

[Boudin]

Nice Build! You will never regret having those tools. I agonized over buying mine just like you did, but now a year later that money is long under the bridge and I'll have the tools forever. I'm already working on a 2nd build, and have a couple more in the early planning stages. I can't wait to build my grandson his first hunting rifle, although he's only 6 months old, so I may be getting a little ahead of myself.
You have a fine shooter there. Enjoy the fine tuning.

[kevin1]

I realize I may be a little late to the game on this one, but I'd be happy to provide some clarification to your earlier questions:

1. Criterion offers both a shiny stainless steel finish or a matte bead blast finish for a few more dollars.
2. Each and every Criterion pre-fit barrel is hand lapped.
3. Our contour information can be found by following this link: http://www.criterionbarrels.com/savagecontours.pdf

Installation is a fairly simple process that should take about 15 minutes. Jim over at NSS is able to walk builders through the process over the phone (we'll likely be putting together a YouTube video shortly on the subject).

Please let me know if I can help answer any questions regarding the Criterion pre-fit barrel line in the future. I'd be more than happy to help out!

-Josh




This is actually kind of a funny story.
I was convinced that CBI will shoot as good as a Shilen SM and couldn’t justify spending more money on a Shilen.
I ended up calling Jim and ordered a CBI barrel.
Instead, he sends me the Shilen SM barrel. So I call him back and explain the situation. My main concern was that someone has ordered a Shilen and received a CBI. Jim asks me to not mount the barrel while he figures out what’s going on. It appears there was a mistake and because of the hassle, and both way shipping cost I ended up keeping the barrel.

So I ended up with Shilen SM barrel that came with a CBI sticker :)