affordable savage prefit: if not apache then who?

so I'm looking for a replacement barrel for an old savage, and I hear great things about apache. when I go to their webpage, it says Orders are closed except for REPEAT customers

I assume that is pretty self explanatory and means I am out of luck with them. So who is left? I could gamble with shaw, but I was wondering if there was another option. Mcgowen, shilen and pacnor all offer barrels, but they are all over $300. I can't get a pricelist for criterion, so I have no idea who much they run.

I don't need the worlds most accurate barrel, but I would like it capable of 1 moa or better. any suggestions?

Call Jim at Northland Shooters 1-763-682-4296. He will be able to tell the prices for Criterion and Shilen AND sell you a barrel for that price.

22 Mag

CBI are $300 out the door I'm pretty sure.

Call Jim like 22 mag says. I would not be afraid of Shaw either as I have 3 or 4 of them and they are all good shooters.

What are you wanting exactly? MidwayUSA sells prefits from shaw and Shilen with shaw barrel kits around the $200 mark. EABCO.com also sells Shaw barrel kits. Lat one I ordered was $255 delivered and shoots like a dream.

I'd love a 308 barrel around 20-22" long, in blued (but I suppose I could make stainless work) but it needs to be heavier than sporter contour. I'm replacing an aftermarket barrel on a pawn shop special that I just cannot get to shoot. Old barrel was made by shaw many moons ago and is some sort of heavy contour tapered barrel. I can open the stock up a little if I need to, bit not a whole lot. muzzle end is about .68" at 23" from the front of the receiver. The midway barrel is so thin I think it would make weird gaps between the barrel and stock.

Gunshack?

eBay. All kinds of barrels pop up on there. Or you could try this guy. http://bisongunworks.com/index.html

I have never ordered from him but prices look ok.

Order from the barrel maker. Shillen, Pac-nor or X-caliber. Wait and be happy.

X-Caliber is great. Mine took about 5 weeks, but I also had them thread the muzzle and make me a brake. Best barrel I've ever shot.

I agree with Snowgetter about Ebay. Bison has a blue 308 varmint new for $165 as a "Buy It Now". Never shot one of his barrels, but have heard good things.

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Originally Posted by Robinhood

Order from the barrel maker. Shillen, Pac-nor or X-caliber. Wait and be happy.

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^^^this right here...if you do go with a pre fit call jim and do yourself a favor...pay the few extra bucks and get a shilen.

Just received a 6.5 creedmoor barrel from Jim at Bison gun works,
barrel & workmanship look very good,great great guy to deal with.
He uses Green Moutain barrel blanks, not a high end barrel blank but would be good for a budget build.
just waiting on some brass to see how it performs

Skinner gun works is another. I cant remember who posted it now (Id have to find it but someone said its Jims (Apache) son.) Prices seems reasonable and work is supposed to be very good.
Scooter

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll look into them.

I bought a prefit Shilen from Jim at Northland Shooter Supply. It has turned my rifle into a tack driver, best 339 I've ever spent

We would be more than happy to lend a hand with your build restoration. Northland Shooters Supply keeps an inventory on hand, and should be able to provide you with a quote. If they don't have it, we can make it!

well, I was trying to rebarrel a gen 1 savage, but in my research I discovered the old bolt is not compatible with the new barrels. Because of the costs involved with replacing the bolt as well as the barrel, I think I am going to pass on rebarreling this gun. At least for now. Now if somebody has upgraded their left hand bolt and or bolt head to something like PTG parts and has stuff in a drawer they want to donate........

What caliber is it and what are you wanting to switch to?

its a .257 ackley and I'd like a 308, though the 358 win is interesting. I'd like to shoot lead.

My understanding of the the problem is that while they use the same bolt face, my gen 1 bolt has a protruding bolt face that makes it incompatible with the prefit barrels. So I was going to replace the bolt head, but savage changed the bolt body, firing pin, and a couple retaining pins between the very first guns and the more modern ones. So I need a new bolt, and when I add the bolt into the cost of a barrel, (not counting any tool I might need such as barrel and action wrenches) well it just stops making financial sense. I can get a ruger american or savage axis in 308, with a decent scope for less than a rebarrel at that point. Now it wouldn't be as nice, but $$'s tight at my house right now. New baby's spoiling all my plans for toys.

I'm looking for an affordable fluted option. Any suggestions?

^^ ER Shaw ^^

Not sure that this is still relevant but Apache is taking new orders again.

good to know pickles. And I'd jump all over it but that whole need-a-bolt-too thing has just blown my rebarrel budget out of the water for right now. What I need is somebody who replaced their bolt or bolt parts with aftermarket stuff. But who knows how or when I will ever find that guy.....

Become a paid member here and search the classifieds. You can recover the $15 very quickly. Also check out Savage on eBay. There are some great deals on there, and it's easy to order. ;-)

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

Become a paid member here and search the classifieds. You can recover the $15 very quickly.

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Umm....just be aware, that $15 will cost you dearly lol. One barrel turns 2, then the action turns into actions...then ya need stocks......lol.
Just a heads up [emoji14]
Scooter

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Originally Posted by scooterf79

Umm....just be aware, that $15 will cost you dearly lol. One barrel turns 2, then the action turns into actions...then ya need stocks......lol.
Just a heads up [emoji14]
Scooter

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Oh that is so true! You don't even have a build finished and a part pops up you just have to have and it snowballs into another build...

oh, i'll add my 2 cents also even though somebody has probably mentioned them. GunShack, they are a sponsor also and have good prices!

Bruce

Take a look at black hole weaponry for a prefit, about $319, less when on sale. BHW are the only barrels I use these days.
I build strictly coyote/antelope/p-dog Savage rigs and they all print in the sub MOAs w/my hand loads.
I have ER shaw from midwayusa, & a McGowan barrel Jim at NSS did for me and they are shooters as well.

Try Black Hole Weaponry I ordered a 22" Bull barrel for my Axis and it was $368 and threaded for a Muzzle break also was Shot peened and Treated in black they also offer cerrakoting their website is WWW.Blackholeweaponary.com

The building addiction is so bad, I'm coming out of retirement going back to work in order to have the money to do the builds I want.:wacko:

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Originally Posted by GaCop

The building addiction is so bad, I'm coming out of retirement going back to work in order to have the money to do the builds I want.:wacko:

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Same here.

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Originally Posted by snowgetter1

eBay. All kinds of barrels pop up on there. Or you could try this guy. http://bisongunworks.com/index.html

I have never ordered from him but prices look ok.

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Bison gun works did my 20" 450 BM
for 180 shipped. 10 days from order to my door. Shoots as good as I can!

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Originally Posted by devildogandboy

oh, i'll add my 2 cents also even though somebody has probably mentioned them. Gun Shack, they are a sponsor also and have good prices!

Bruce

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As a few have already mentioned, Gun Shack has a good selection of ER Shaw Savage barrels that are in stock and ready to ship. Right now we have usually been stocking more varmint contour but I was thinking if there is enough demand I can order more sporter contour. Heck, now that Shaw is producing our orders faster than a few years ago, perhaps I can do another group buy on Shaw pre-fit Savage barrels.

^ I think I've just been "Enabled",again. ;-(( ^

My 7mm08 AR10 black hole weaponry barrel is a tack driver. I would have used them for my 7mmMag build, but can't get a 1-8 twist 7mm barrel from them. I went with Apache. Still waiting on barrel.

I bought a Shaw .308 varmint barrel from Gun Shack and it worked out nicely.

not sure about cheap cost wise but i just ordered a shilen select match barrel 28" long bull contour 1-8t in 6.5 creedmoor going to replace my cbi 26" in creedmoor 414.06 to my door

I see a lot of discussion about different barrel manufacturers. Is there a reason why the shilen barrels are not more popular?

I would like to go Kraiger or Bartlein but you don't see them as savage prefits

Sharpshooters has brux barrels. Anybody out there tried them?

I don't know if Shilen was ever considered "top of the line" like Krieger and Bartlein are considered now, but that may just be a failure of my own memory. A great many marques have been considered "top" over the years only to see their stars fade, and I'm not totally convinced it's because of differences in quality. I have a Shilen on my long range .243 Winchester, and it has done very well but it's starting to show its age. Would a Brux have been better or a Lija lasted longer? "Maybe", is the best answer I can give. If I were at a different skill level or was in a different discipline, the answer might be more definitive.

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Originally Posted by memsu

My 7mm08 AR10 black hole weaponry barrel is a tack driver. I would have used them for my 7mmMag build, but can't get a 1-8 twist 7mm barrel from them. I went with Apache. Still waiting on barrel.

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I'm waiting on a 7mm Rem Mag too. When did you order your's?