How many of you have your barrel fitted to your action?

[NotoriousAPP]

I know the Savage barrel nut system allows us to install and headspace our barrels to the action fairly easily but how many of you send in your receivers to have a barrel manufacturer or gunsmith chamber/thread/fit your barrel to the action?

I catch a lot of sh*t on forums other that savageshooters.com for not sending in my action to have a barrel blank threaded/chambered/fitted to my actions. Am I really losing that much accuracy by using a pre-fit barrel like a Criterion which has a standard SAAMI spec chamber and come threaded ready to install?

[foxx]

I am quite sure these barrels can be reamed to whatever specs you prefer. Assuming your "barrel guy" does good work, I don't see a problem. My McGowen has a rather tight chamber, and I did not request anything custom. My ER Shaw .260AI was reamed by Apache Gun Works. Jim did a great job.

Likewise, I don't know what "fitting" needs to be done with Savage actions.
Maybe someone who has had their barrels fitted to their actions can explain.

In the meantime, try one and see for yourself. :)

[LoneWolf]

There's a reason they're called "Pre-fit". But in most cases unless you are shooting a rail gun in an extreme bench rest match you will never notice the minor difference in accuracy. Some people just have more money to put into to a rifle than others.

That's why we like our savages! Because we can play the game at half the cost and give up minimal differences. I've shot a couple high dollar custom rigs owned by some fellow shooters at the range and I couldn't shoot them any more accurately than I could shoot my own.

[NotoriousAPP]

I am quite sure these barrels can be reamed to whatever specs you prefer.

Criterion will use whatever reamer I ask them to use as long as I provide it. They ream using the SAAMI spec reamer and that's all they offer.

[FW Conch]

My BIL is a Remington guy and he has a very good "smith". He takes a $1,000 700 and has his smith break it down to the action and build it back up putting $1500 into it, not counting optics. My BIL buys a Lilja blank and his smith does excellent machine work chambering, threading, crowning, and trueing the action. My BIL often supplies the reamer. He likes his chambers to be the 2nd cut on the reamer. They get good results-my BIL shot a .039" 5 shot group this spring spring with a 6mmBR(ONCE). But he regularly shoots tight little clover leafs, less than a 1/2". All this to punch paper( non compatition) and to shoot an occasional ground hog. My sister has no idea how much he is spending on this. All this would be waisted on me, because I will never have the opportunity to shoot enough to be skillful enough to take advantage of this kind of build.

I have heard it said that some accuracy can be gained by "lapping" the barrel threads to the action. Some of these guys also Epoxy their actions to the stock. They are attempting to shoot groups in the 3's and 2's. Is that what your looking for?

The reason I'm on this site is to take a Stevens 200 action, with a floating bolt head, add a $200 ER Shaw pre fit to it, stock, trigger, reasonable optics, and see how good a hunting rifle I can get out of it. I don't care how many voices from "cyber space" bust on me, it's not gonna change what I do.

This sport/hobby leads to Excessive/Compulsive behavior. Only you can decide how Excessive/Compulsive you want to be?

I think most people on this site would say they just buy the best Savage Drop In barrel they can afford, and put it together?

JMHO......Good Luck-Good Shooting.......Jim ;-))

PS, You don't have to use the Barrel Nut-You could go with a "shouldered" barrel ! ;-))

[NotoriousAPP]

This sport/hobby leads to Excessive/Compulsive behavior. Only you can decide how Excessive/Compulsive you want to be?

That's exactly the impression I got from the jack-jaws on the other forums. They had a hard time differentiating between F-class world champ rifle (< 0.2 MOA) and very good enthusiast rifle (< 0.5 MOA). In their eyes every rifle needed to be F-class competition ready.

[FW Conch]

It's not like that here in the "Brotherhood"! ;-))

[NotoriousAPP]

It's not like that here in the "Brotherhood"! ;-))

Feels good to be back.

[NotoriousAPP]

I'm guessing due to the low participation on this thread that most of my Savage brothers just go with pre-fit barrels and no custom fitting from a barrel blank?

[sharpshooter]

I don't see that it is necessary. The pitch diameter of the action threads have a .003" tolerance. Using the nut has it's advantages, it creates a stronger thread joint than a shouldered barrel.

[sparky123321]

I have repeatedly achieved .25-.5 MOA with several different calibers using prefit Shilen barrels from Jim at Northland and Savage target actions over the years. Don't get me wrong though, I've built several custom high-end rifles, owned several other factory riles and even built a custom .284 Win Savage Target Action "Remington style". To date, my most accurate rifle ever was a Savage Target Action with a Shilen barrel. I just helped my brother with a .308 BR build and we were at the range not a week or two ago testing ammo and he shot a 5 round one hole group with one of the test loads and this was just a rough test to pick the bullet and powder. This "prefit" "barrel nut" rifle looks like it's going to be a 1/8 MOA rifle.

Don't let the naysayers talk you out of a prefit Shilen barrel. Honestly, I think many Remington style rifle shooters are just jealous of the floating bolt head and the easy in which Savage owners can change their barrels and calibers.

[NotoriousAPP]

Don't let the naysayers talk you out of a prefit Shilen barrel. Honestly, I think many Remington style rifle shooters are just jealous of the floating bolt head and the easy in which Savage owners can change their barrels and calibers.

That's pretty much what I'm finding out. The general opinion I get from them is that if you don't spend $4k on a rifle then it won't shoot well and every barrel needs to be custom chambered and fitted or it won't work well (for precision or brass life time).

[FW Conch]

They have to justify what they did!!!!

Think about it.....$4,000 to get "how many more reloads out of a brass case"???

Don't get me wrong, I like quality stuff. But on the affordable end of it, I'm already ending up with rifles that are far better than I'll ever be as a marksman. But I get my deer every year! :-))

[missed]

Well pretty much all the prefit barrels were done with a sammi spec reamer, the only reason I would send one out is if I wanted a specific free bore or custom reamer. But McGowen, Apache,.... Can handle that also. In the end one of those barrels won't be any different than the one on a $5k rifle.

[Tokimini]

Don't let the naysayers talk you out of a prefit Shilen barrel. Honestly, I think many Remington style rifle shooters are just jealous of the floating bolt head and the easy in which Savage owners can change their barrels and calibers.

I used to be a Remmy 700 die hard until my son talked me into buying his Savage Model 12 barreled action to do a 6BR build when I could not locate a short chambered pre-threaded 6BR barrel for a Remington. Compared to my semi-custom 700 the Savage bolt is beefier, smoother and much easier to modify, and the gun looks like it's really going to be a shooter. I would never do another Remington build.

[BillPa]

easy in which Savage owners can change their barrels and calibers.

Swap one out at the range on a bench sometime. You'll hear everything from "That's neat" to "YOU NEED A QUALIFIED GUNSMITH TO DO THAT". To the latter group I tell'm "Stand there, shut your trap and watch, ya might learn something"! :p

Bill

[scooterf79]

I'd love to do that at the range lol....the looks on their faces would be priceless I'm sure

[Tokimini]

Swap one out at the range on a bench sometime. You'll hear everything from "That's neat" to "YOU NEED A QUALIFIED GUNSMITH TO DO THAT". To the latter group I tell'm "Stand there, shut your trap and watch, ya might learn something"! :p

Bill

LOL - How cool is that!

[Savage6x284]

As I see it if I'm building a custom rifle why would I not have a chamber cut to the specs which will optimize my intended bullet/cartridge combo?
I like to spec leade length to put my intended bullet right on the lands when the cartridge is loaded to the maximum COL which will function reliably from the magazine.
Can't do that with a SAAMI spec reamer.
I also thread all my Savage barrels with a shoulder as I dislike how the barrel nut looks.

So, I for one am a fan of Savage barrels custom spec'd from breech to crown and fitted in the same manner as the finest rifles ever built.

There are enough inherent qualities in the 110 to make it worthy of everything from budget builds to rifles which can compete on every basis with some of the finest rifles anywhere.

[Ethan Beurskens]

I shoulder all the barrels I chamber for my savages. The only time I ever switch barrels is when I burn one out.