Remove Nut Benifits?

[racinready300ex]

Any benifit to removing the barrel nut? At least as far as accuracy?

I've been going to some local IBS shoots, and noticed several savge actions shooting in both light and heavy gun classes. But, every single one of them had removed the barrel nut when the smith installed the barrel. Thoughts?

[L.H. Clark]

I cannot imagine any reason you'd want to remove the barrel nut. Doesn't this lock the barrel in place when you get it properly head spaced? I imagine what you saw was a custom smooth nut. Sinman has made one for somebody on here and it is pretty neat looking. Of course, I want the remy losers to see my barrel nuts!


L.H.

[LHitchcox]

You get a sleeker look, but lose barrel interchangeability. I have a first model 110L that I bought with a "nutless" barrel already installed. I love the gun and it will stay a .25-06, so I will live with it. Without the nut, the barrel is installed ala Remington, etc. with a crush fit against the receiver. The barrel would be short chambered and then used with a finishing reamer and headspace gages.

A go gage tells you when you have removed enough metal for the cartridge to chamber, and the no go gage will verify that you have not taken too much metal out. With the barrel nut, you only really need the go gage to snug up on and then tighten the nut. When you tighten the nut, you create a couple of thousandths of headspace. The no go gage is unnecessary, unless you want to confirm that you did it right. On my first barrel change I bouth both gages. Since then I only buy the go gage.

[82boy]

Any benifit to removing the barrel nut? At least as far as accuracy?


Nope.



I've been going to some local IBS shoots, and noticed several Savage actions shooting in both light and heavy gun classes. But, every single one of them had removed the barrel nut when the smith installed the barrel. Thoughts?


You have stuck me fancy with this statement. Where are these match's at? What kind of IBS match's are they? How well do these Savage rifles compete? I must say I am very interested in finding out this information.

Most benchrest shooters look way down on Savage rifles. The only IBS match's I know of that Savages copeate in is long range 600 and 1000 yard.

[memilanuk]

More than likely it was because the only way you can get most 'real' ::) gunsmiths to install a barrel is with a shoulder i.e. no nut on it.

Part of it I think boils down to their reputation - they *know* how to make a shouldered barrel work, and don't want to risk catching flak over a gun that they did with a barrel nut that didn't shoot as well as a shouldered one. With time being money for some of these guys (assuming they're doing it for a living) they don't have the luxury of experimenting to find what works.

The majority of it I think comes from just old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud mindset that many competitive shooters and gunsmiths are known for.

[racinready300ex]

Any benifit to removing the barrel nut? At least as far as accuracy?


Nope.



I've been going to some local IBS shoots, and noticed several Savage actions shooting in both light and heavy gun classes. But, every single one of them had removed the barrel nut when the smith installed the barrel. Thoughts?


You have stuck me fancy with this statement. Where are these match's at? What kind of IBS match's are they? How well do these Savage rifles compete? I must say I am very interested in finding out this information.

Most benchrest shooters look way down on Savage rifles. The only IBS match's I know of that Savages copeate in is long range 600 and 1000 yard.


Yes, this was at a 600 yard IBS shoot. In Bridgeville Del. There's certainly not alot of them. Maybe 4 guys out of everyone there. The factory class seems to be ruled by sabages though. lol But, I was supprised to see so many savage actions in the light and heavy classes too.

Here's a link to the smith that worked on one guys gun I talked to while there. Apparently his savage was pretty hard to beat a couple years back.

http://www.therifler.com/championship2008.html

I assumed there was no gain in removing the nut, it was probably just the way the gun smith has always done it. So why change? Personally, I'll keep my nuts lol. That's my favorite part of the savage action.

[Con]

Might be a bit different in Australia, but I had one 'smith flat out refuse to rebarrel and use the nut. Fair enough reason too ... I declared straight up that I'd be barrel swapping, he refused to do the work with nut because as he put it: "If I headspace it correctly, you pull the barrel off and headspace it incorrectly, and something goes wrong ... whose name is attached to the rifle?" You can still switch barrels by the way, but headspace is set and cannot be adjusted similar to a switch barrel Rem700.


I may have a shouldered barrel placed on my Stevens in 375/08, but I'm doing it as I'm unsure whether the Sako 375H&H take-off barrel will have enough shank to thread for the nut ... for simplicity ... I'll have the gunsmith shoulder it then place witness marks for when I remove it.
Cheers...
Con

[LHitchcox]

I forgot to mention that the new E R Shaw rifles are built nutless on Savage actions.

[jwpark]

Many gun builders will re-barrel a Savage without the barrel lock nut, by milling a shoulder on the barrel and mounting the barrel Remington-style. The only advantage to this is that it will let you fit a heavy-contour barrel with a diameter that is larger than the nut. The nut has several advantages, however. First the nut makes it much easier for the gun’s owner to set headspace and switch barrels. Second, the barrel lock-nut provides a more solid thread joint and controls harmonics in a positive manner. I truly believe the barrel nut can enhance accuracy. In fact, I’ve made Remingtons shoot better by simply cutting back the shoulder and adding a nut.


From http://www.accurateshooter.com/guns-of-week/gunweek040/