Watching copious amounts of YouTube and reading all I could in advance of my very first Savage barrel swap, I came across several folks who were swapping out their factory recoil lugs for aftermarket machined lugs. One video even showed a guy mic' his factory lug to show it was not parallel.

When I pulled my factory lug off, I did the same and sure enough I got the same result. The top of the lug was slightly thinner than the bottom. Not having a machined aftermarket lug to replace it with, the new barrel went on with the factory lug and it shoots just fine (sub MOA at 100-300 yards).

What I'm wondering is why the factory lugs would not be parallel? Does that actually serve a purpose, or is it just a product of quick and inexpensive production (stamped vs machined most likely)?