McGowen vs Savage-barrels vs Sin Arms vs Somebody else

Well...
In about 2 weeks I plan to order a new custom barrel. The barrel will be a Stainless 243 win in 1:8 twist LARGE SHANK, be around a 24 inch finish length, a lighter sporter contour, fluted, and the muzzle threaded. I have been shopping around, emailing a few people for quite a while now, maybe 6 months, although I only recently discovered Sin Arms. 6 Months ago I wanted a ER Shaw cause thats all i knew, but at the time they didn't have 1:8 twist on their website, I contacted them about it to see if they did (they do) and then decided I wanted a Krieger 5r and ship it to SSS to finish. Since then I been all over the place.

I have read some bad things about McGowen, and recently savage-barrels about a blued barrel. But I also read good things.
I would think since its a McGowen blank I should go with McGowen to finish to skip a middle man.

Savage-barrels and ER Shaw are the cheapest. But Paying a little more for the quality is no problem. But in some cases it seems cheaper to order the blank myself and send it to have it threaded and chambered. I'm trying to build the gun on a budget so I can put more into optics.

So my question is... has anybody dealt with all of them?

give Jim a call at Northland shooters supply ( 763 682 4296)
he may have what you want in stock
drybean

who is them?

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Originally Posted by Blue Avenger

who is them?

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McGowen, Savage-barrels, Sin Arms. Them and others

(one person that dealt with multiple pre-fit suppliers)

Alot depends on what kind of $$$ you're wanting to spend....i have one bbl now (being finished) that i will end up with around $850.00 after all the shipping (20.00 a whack) and add on's, muzzlebrakes, freebore lengthing, nitriding. Any time you can get a prethreaded , chambered bbl in the contour you want, you are WAY ahead of the game......remember the old addage "Never time to do it right, BUT always time to do it twice" !!!!!!! Get what YOU want, you'll be happy.... rsbhunter

savage barrels and McGowen are as close to the same as you can get. they are the retail sales for McGowen, so any problems in machining / quality come from McGowan, if it was in the ordering, it was savage barrels. Any problems I have had were with communication in McGowen early days, some one not hearing what I said very plain. I ended up with blanks and had to send them back for threading then have someone else chamber them. I have not dealt with Devin yet and have not heard one single hint of a complaint about his work.

for what I paid, I like my older A&B / shaw barrels

Quality starts with the blank and then the smith who machines it.

To a certain degree, it is a gamble, every time. But, you don't know how you did, until you fire the barrel a few times.

Purchased an unknown brand chrom moly 1.350 straight shank 1:12 twist, 28" barrel for $60 shipped off the net. This barrel shoots lights out.

Also have an A & B that is chambered in 6.5x06. Um, well, it shoots 1" groups on a good day.

Have a couple factory Savage, McGowen, Rock Creek, Shilen, and, and, and....they all shoot very good.

I've bought barrels from Devin.............he does excellent work.

I had ER Shaw build me a 260 Rem, 26" Heavy Varmint, 1 / 8 twist. It cost $175 delivered. It "can" shoot into the same hole @ 200 yds if "I" can ! ;D

I have also dealt with Devin at Sinarms... and I agree with GaCop, he does excellent work and is easy to work with, good communication, etc. Plus Devin has a few different brands available... I went with a a Sinarms barrel and couldn't be happier.

if i ever get around to ordering my 6.5x284 barrel, it will come from sin-arms. I have really liked everything i have read about him and his work, plus he seems to be a great guy

Good thread, I've been wondering this myself lately.

My thoughts after owning at least one of each. All would shoot under sub 1" groups with proper load workup. Custom barrels are usually easier to break-in and clean up quicker when compared to the Savage or A&B. You would be surprised how many Savage barrels will shoot sub 0.5" groups along with the best custom barrels. I would buy another McGowen or Sin-Arms barrel witout reservation. And you can play with and cull 3 Savage factory barrels for the cost of a custom barrel.

With the exception of never having knowingly purchased a Shaw or A&B barrel I have made a lot of contacts over the years with every quality barrel maker out there.
1. Let us understand that Devin though doing good machine work does not make barrel blanks. He purchases blanks from the same venders the rest of us do.
2. Benchmark makes as good a finished barrel as anyone. Finished meaning a complete ready to thread onto action, barrel.
3. Savage factory barrels are easily the best shooting takeoff barrel I have ever used and will outshoot the average shooter.
4. For the best complete/finished ready to shoot barrel out there without exception are the Criterion barrels that Jim sells @ Northland.
5. McGowen- I find no reason to purchase a McGowen these days and I turned this site unto McGowen when they purchased Harry McGowens barrel making machines. The word integrity comes to mind and is everything to me. Special Note: I do not own a bad shooting McGowen barrel and I require absolute accuracy period. Not all of those barrels came to me with the correct measurements or machining the first time.

I have never had a bad anything that I purchased from JIM at Northlander. If Northlander carried the calibers I was looking for I probably would never buy anything but a Criterion barrel. Price is as good as it gets for a pre-everything quality finished barrel at $250. and you do not need to send it back from my years of experience dealing with JIM.


Neal

I'd love to get a factory savage barrel, I have no doubt they are accurate, (Thanks again Chris for letting me pull the trigger yesterday, if you read this)... In fact I would love to get a new complete Savage if they made the one specific in my caliber. However I'm pretty dead set on a fluted barrel. Not to mention a standard caliber in a large shank. So my hunt is on for a custom barrel.

Does Benchmark have a website?

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Originally Posted by spaz123

Does Benchmark have a website?

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No they do not, I called them and asked this same question. I was told that they were so busy that they couldn't handle the volume that would come with having a website.

Benchmark Barrels
Ron Sinnema, Barry Graber
1105 Pioneer Hwy East
Arlington, WA 98223
phone: (360) 652-2594
email: benchmarkbarrels [at] yahoo.com

Do thy typically return emails? I have no phone currently.

What about Shilen? Is there a reason they aren't mentioned in here?

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Originally Posted by Varget 7-08

What about Shilen? Is there a reason they aren't mentioned in here?

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I want a fluted barrel... Shilen wont flute a barrel and they wont do any warranty work on a barrel of theirs that has been fluted. Thats the only reason I haven't mentioned a Shilen.

Oh ok, I'm thinking about ordering one from NSS so I was just curious.

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Originally Posted by Blue Avenger

savage barrels and McGowen are as close to the same as you can get. they are the retail sales for McGowen, so any problems in machining / quality come from McGowan, if it was in the ordering, it was savage barrels. Any problems I have had were with communication in McGowen early days, some one not hearing what I said very plain. I ended up with blanks and had to send them back for threading then have someone else chamber them. I have not dealt with Devin yet and have not heard one single hint of a complaint about his work.

for what I paid, I like my older A&B / shaw barrels

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Savage Barrels is not a part of McGowen. They were started by a former employee and he is treated like any other customer. He needs a barrel for his customer and he orders it from us. McGowen gets paid for the barrels from them, not from their customers. My only question for you is "did McGowen take care of you?" And if so, how do those barrels shoot?

I have had horrible customer service from Mcgowen... I had the run around given to me repeatedly about why I still had not received my barrel in nearly 5 months..
I finally gave up and cancelled the order.

I recently ordered a barrel from Sinarms, a McGowen in 6.5x284.
Sighted it in and did a ladder test at 100 yards. Couldn't find a good load they all shot in the same hole:).
2 grains of powder increase and they were all covered by a quarter.
I ordered a magnum contour 26" barrel.
Absolutely amazing, Sinarms did a great job.

I have barrels from shilen, mcgowen, and one of sinman's barrels. They have all shot great, with no complaints. I did have some problems with my mcgowen initially, it had a rough chamber. That was before they had their own reamer for 260AI, and Dan at McGowen was more than helpful making it right. I can't say I would have preferred not to have the downtime without the barrel, but their customer service was rock solid. I personally don't think you can go wrong with any of the big names out there. With any luck I can pick up another action and start shopping for another barrel myself!

-Jake