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

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?

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. :)

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.

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Originally Posted by foxx

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

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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.

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 ! ;-))

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

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

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

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

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Feels good to be back.

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?

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by sparky123321

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.

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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).

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! :-))

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.

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Originally Posted by sparky123321

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by sparky123321

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

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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

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

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Originally Posted by BillPa

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

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LOL - How cool is that!

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.

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

I bought my first Savage in the early 60s, a lefty 110 in 06. Reason was they were the only factory produced lefty at the time.
I later traded that to a guy who had a lefty 700 Rem in 7mag that kicked too much for him. The Rem was the better gun for my use at that time
anyway you chose to compare them. I still use the action and trigger with another barrel and stock in a different magnum cartridge.
I also own a half dozen factory savages, the largest currently being a 25/06. No doubt modern machinery is responsible for the changes we
see today in many industries. A few years back if you needed a new front door you'd call a skilled carpenter and have him do the job.
Today you'd be apt to go to a box store and buy a prefit unit and do it yourself. The skilled carpenter might be forced to do likewise in
order to remain competetive with the new generation of (CARPENTERS). Meanwhile most of the machines that make all this (PROGRESS) possible
have been relagated to the Chinese to build. I guess time will prevail as it always does so that at some point none of us know anything different.
I feel Savage today merits reason for owning them other than do it yourself gunsmithing.
i'll personaly choose to mow my own lawn which has become a rarity also nowdays, and pay somebody like Fred to install my barrels.
But thats just me.

To me, the beauty of the Savage is its versatility. If you have the time, money, and inclination, you could do as Yobuck and 6-284 and send your action off to the finest gunsmiths, have a blank chambered and fitted to your action, and end up with a truly fine rifle. Or you could order a quality prefit, spend a little bit of your own time and much less $, and still end up with a great rifle. Then if you grow tired of it, change it up. That's hard to beat.
All of mine have the nut. I don't object to it visually, and as sharpshooter pointed out, they work quite well.

I guess I am nuts because I think the rifle looks better with the barrel nut. Pun intended.

Pretty much been covered. You can assemble a .5 moa prefit very easily yourself.

You you want to seriously compete with the big boys you want everything squared up. Best way is to start with a good custom action and have a proven smith do the barrel work from the blank. You need to make sure its chambered square and true with a good finish. Throat lengths can be tuned to the bullets you want to use. Threads machined square to the bore and it should be installed with the spine of the bore running up.

Aside from having a full blown custom built for $4-5000 stick with the prefit.

$4-5k!

I've got less than $1600 into my Savage 6-284 and this includes a SS 8 twist Rock 5R barrel recontoured to a #2 and 6" cut off the chamber end by Rock.
The barrel was chambered with a new reamer made to my exact specs and it was threaded nutless, crowned at 24", and fitted to a squared action by a respected 'smith in CO Springs.
It is held in a McMillan Hunters EDGE stock inlet perfectly for my BA configuration and for a Remington 700 ADL TG.
The bolt has a long discontinued Tubb 100% titanium FP and speedlock spring. It also has the 5/8" Stockade BH and my own lift kit.
Factory three screw trigger honed and fettled to rival in every way but price the sublime Jewell trigger.
A 2.5-8 VX-3 scope sits in a set of flatback S&K ringmounts.
IOW, about as custom as you get.

I can see $4-5k but not with a synthetic stock. Even a top shelf synthetic.
You need a wood stock meticulously crafted of exceptional walnut by a Master Stockmaker to approach that lofty price.
Heck, with the right stockmaker you can easily push the price of the stock work alone to well over $5k!
I've seen some stock blanks themselves selling for close to $5k!

I don't find a $1600 fully custom rifle to be exorbitantly expensive. Not when you consider that even Savage sells a few off the rack models which approach that price.

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Originally Posted by Spectre236

I guess I am nuts because I think the rifle looks better with the barrel nut. Pun intended.

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+++1.
Having a savage without a nut.......... blasphemy................The horror.......the shear horror.............just unthinkable.
That goes for "smooth" nut as well. :)

Nothing more gratifying than buying a beater Savage,replacing/upgrading everything you want to yourself,then shooting under 1/2" at 200 yds. Between building the gun and the ammo,you have control over the whole process. Then you know who to blame if you have problems!

Ain't that the truth!

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Originally Posted by 243LPR

Nothing more gratifying than buying a beater Savage,replacing/upgrading everything you want to yourself,then shooting under 1/2" at 200 yds. Between building the gun and the ammo,you have control over the whole process. Then you know who to blame if you have problems!

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But that's just it. In the vast majority of the cases when using a prefit barrel you really don't have any control over the process.
You take the SAAMI spec chamber the barrel maker cuts for you using the reamer he has. Could be old, could be new, could be at the top of the SAAMI tolerance or the bottom.
Who knows.
This approach has proven to be pretty darn spectacular based upon the number of amazing shooting Savages I see here and elsewhere.
No question about that.
But I think spec'ing out your chamber and leade dimensions to suit your intended payload feels like more control rather than less.
Nut and shoulder are functionally equivalent. Neither IMO holds an accuracy advantage over the other.
My preference for a shoulder is purely aesthetic.
Maybe I look at a well done nutless Savage and I see a glimpse of what Nick Brewer and the crew at Savage might have come up with had their sights been set on the Winchester Model 70 rather than on the Remington 721 in the mid '50s when the 110 was designed.

Old Nick B. did alright though and legions of Savage rifle loonies like you guys (and me!) thank him for that nut every day.

A:Who says a prefit has to have a SAAMI chamber? Lots of different reamers out there.
B:What does chambering SAAMI or otherwise have to do with the method used to set the head-space of a barrel? I.E. The nut.

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Originally Posted by D.ID

A:Who says a prefit has to have a SAAMI chamber? Lots of different reamers out there.
B:What does chambering SAAMI or otherwise have to do with the method used to set the head-space of a barrel? I.E. The nut.

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A: Absolutely true.

B: Absolutely nothing.