McGowen barrels in 17 caliber

[MDHOGGER]

I bought my first McGowen barrel a couple of months ago and it was in 17 caliber. The barrel was chambered in 17-222 and is easily shoots 1/2" groups at 100 yards. I have two Benchmark barrels in 17 caliber and they clean up very easily and stopped mining copper after about 30 rounds down the tube. My McGowen barrel is still producing copper after about 100 rounds fired. The first 60 rounds were with bare bullets and now I shoot WS2 coated bullets. I break in all my barrels firing one shot at a time and cleaning for the first five shots and then three shots for about three to five times and then let the rifle tell me how much further to take the routine. I am shooting the 25 grain V-Max at 3950fps which may be contributing to the copper but my 17RFB shoots the 25's at 3800fps and my 17/223 shoots 30 grainers at 3900 fps with little copper shown when cleaning. I wanted to know if any one here has a McGowen barrel in 17 caliber and what chambering and if they produce excess amounts of copper fouling after 50 rounds or more. Thanks for any input. Bill

[bobdds]

not much help in the 17 calibers. I have 6 or 7 bbls in 22, 6mm and 6.5 and I use David Tubbs Final finish, maximum of 5 of those coated bullets down a new tube and it is broken in. Barrel delivered yesterday, chambered in 6mm rem AI took just three shots. I am pretty sure you cant get that product for your caliber however. I used that coating , the W-2 on f class bullets for about a year. My experience and that of others was that there was a major drop off in accuracy over time. We are in AZ and wondered if it was the summer heat or some other issue. This was a very big problem at the 800-1000 yd lines. Even Mr Tubb stopped using that coating. Just one man's opinion of course. I had no problem at the short ranges with the coating. The 4 of us who were using it went back to the standard moly coatings.

[Varminteer]

Might ask your question over at www.saubier.com forum. They specialize in small caliber stuff.