I've had a Savage Model 12 in .223 since 2004, I've shot it pretty regularly and prbably have in the neighborood of 1800 rounds through the barrel. I recently was able to find a supply of .223 69 gr SMK's that I try to shoot exclusively (until recently they've been a bear to find) and reloaded some and re-started some accuracy shots to fine tune some loads. More for my personal experience, the rifle has always been a shooter. Back in the day (severla years ago) I would regulary shoot 3 shot groups either all holes touching and some even same holing it. The rifle is a dream and I've always loved it. THe past few weeks though I re-zero'd it (put new Leupold Mk 4 rings on it) and have been shooting my normal 100m range and the best group I've been able to get is .71". Normally that would be great but I know what the rifle is capable of. I shot at least ten more three shot groups to make sure it wasn;t the shooter (and it still could be for sure) but upon closer inspection of the barrel I did notice some minor pitting in the rifling that I could see with the naked eye and a really bright light in the bore. The barrel is a stock varmit contour 1-9 Rifling, recessed crown, I cannot see any damge to the crown just some bling worn off from the firing and cleaning.

I am thinking of replacing the barrel with a McGowen, Savage varmit contour SS barrel in 1-9 twist. I'll of course keep shooting mine to see if the groups tighten up as I am controlling the reloading pretty tightly. This is my favorite rifle and has always shot great, I'd hate to imaging it not shooting like it used to. The current set up for information purposes is; Savage 12 in .223 Rem. varmit contour barrel 1-9 twist, McMillen A-5 stock, Leupold Mk 4 rings, SWFA SS 16X scope

Apologize for the length just wanted to get as much info out there as possible.

Thanks,