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hi,i'm raptherat.i have a 2005 sav 10le i just rebarreled with a26" mcgowen stainless varmit with boyds pro varmit stock. action has been bedded then installed pillars. it is only shooting inch or so moa,but not close to what i'm looking for. where's best place to get a shilen barrel? i'm thinking northlandss any thoughts????? rap
Northlanders would be a good start. How many rounds down the barrel. I would look into some other issues before switching barrels, I have more than 1 McGowen and they all shoot fantastic. Good luck!!
only have about 100 rounds thru it so far,and the groups have gotten better. still searching for the best bullet/load combo-gonna shoot some eld 168gr tomorrow,maybe it'll get better with more break-in.
Try 175 Matchkings with some 4064 behind them. You should find several nodes with something around 43.5 being the highest. Varget and Reloder 15 do good as well
I agree with Robin hood. 4064 has been great. I believe you will find something that barrel will like!!
well,set my rear action screw to 35inch pounds and BAM! groups have really improved. if it wasn't for my sqiggles (flyers),nobody would believe some of my groups today. had 4or5 under .5 and put 4 out of 5 168 eld's in one hole(.3). this mcgowen has come alive!!! thanks for the support guys. eld's was with 42.0 grs benchmark, the rest was 42.0 to 42.2 shooters world tac. lovex tac is some great powder if anyone hasn't tried it yet-and it's very clean burning too!
correction...............43.0 to43.2 shooters world tac,my bad!
Glad it has come together!!
The McGowen on my 243AI has recently been shooting under .20" at 200 yds. I think I'll keep it.
Northlands is, as stated above, a good starting point. Shilen itself is going to tell you (at a higher price) that it is a four month or so wait. If Northlands or another actually has the exact barrel you want on the shelf, grab it.
Now to the issue-
With any new barrel, you are going to need to start from step one after installation. Find the best seating depth. Then the best load. Everything changes with a new barrel. I just swapped out a Savage factory barrel for a new Shilen and will be doing the Berger style seating depth testing on Sunday. Then refining it the following Sunday. THEN, starting with the load.
Glad you worked things out and found some good loads that are working for you !! As several guys have stated McGowen does make good barrel. I have two, one in 260 Rem and the other 6.5 SLR/S and they both shoot .25"@100. With modern day CNC machinery plenty good barrels are being made.