11f 300 barrel swap?

[caleb90]

hello all! new to the forum but not new to savage rifles. the rifle im posting about is my 11f chambered in 300wsm, was a gift from my mother back in 2005. has been a great rifle and has been my go to gun since ive had it, made me put my model 99 308 to the side.but any ways since new, when cleaning id always just run wet patches and dry patches till clean and thought the bore was good to go. all i ever used was hoppes #9 bench rest, well this year i finally decided to try a new product boretech eliminator and what i was getting out of my barrel was beyond belief. kept cleaning per instructions still bore was spotless and thats when i found an issue. found some pitting in the rifling at the muzzle. this rifle has always been a tack driver 3 shot half inch groups at 100 yards with factory winchester ammo. before i cleaned the gun this past week i did a 3 shot group at 150 yard over the hood of a tractor and had a 3/4in group from a crappy rest. im assuming the pitting has been there from some time and untill i had the barrel truly clean i had no idea it was there. now that i know its there its really bugging me. called savage a new barrel from them is 175 plus 75-100 for them to install plus the shipping. or i could get an after market drop in for 300-350 and do it my self. after market or factory savage? i could also just be over thinking this whole thing and might just leave the rifle alone if its shooting good. what are your guy's and gals thoughts? sorry for the long winded post

[Ted_Feasel]

hello all! new to the forum but not new to savage rifles. the rifle im posting about is my 11f chambered in 300wsm, was a gift from my mother back in 2005. has been a great rifle and has been my go to gun since ive had it, made me put my model 99 308 to the side.but any ways since new, when cleaning id always just run wet patches and dry patches till clean and thought the bore was good to go. all i ever used was hoppes #9 bench rest, well this year i finally decided to try a new product boretech eliminator and what i was getting out of my barrel was beyond belief. kept cleaning per instructions still bore was spotless and thats when i found an issue. found some pitting in the rifling at the muzzle. this rifle has always been a tack driver 3 shot half inch groups at 100 yards with factory winchester ammo. before i cleaned the gun this past week i did a 3 shot group at 150 yard over the hood of a tractor and had a 3/4in group from a crappy rest. im assuming the pitting has been there from some time and untill i had the barrel truly clean i had no idea it was there. now that i know its there its really bugging me. called savage a new barrel from them is 175 plus 75-100 for them to install plus the shipping. or i could get an after market drop in for 300-350 and do it my self. after market or factory savage? i could also just be over thinking this whole thing and might just leave the rifle alone if its shooting good. what are your guy's and gals thoughts? sorry for the long winded post

If it is shooting good go ahead and wear it out, shilen and criterion both have drop ins that will be surgical in accuracy and savage bolt rifles are the easiest to change and headspace.. tools recommended, barrel vice block, action wrench, barrel nut wrench,torque wrench and go/no go gauge set.. I like clymer

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[mnbogboy2]

One of my many Savage barrels is/was a brand new "take off" (10-fp-sr)
that I purchased on one of the forums. It has several real bad pitted areas that show up in the bore cam. These pitted areas also have button rifle tooling marks right through them. These areas are gradually "smoothing" out and the barrel is a decent shooter.
As long as yours shoots good then like the others say don't worry about it.

[charlie b]

Shoot it!!

It is really kind of amazing how bad a barrel can be and still be accurate.

[caleb90]

the rifle has id say 300-200 rounds though it. most of that is from i first got it and was testing different loads. I only use it for deer hunting, gets shot once to verify scope is on and then i take a deer or two with it. clean it and put away till next year. still on the same box of ammo for the past 7 years.

[Ted_Feasel]

the rifle has id say 300-200 rounds though it. most of that is from i first got it and was testing different loads. I only use it for deer hunting, gets shot once to verify scope is on and then i take a deer or two with it. clean it and put away till next year. still on the same box of ammo for the past 7 years.

Probably had moisture or something get in the barrel.. if its shooting that good and your only hunting with it.. keep on shooting it and wear it out, monitor those pits to make sure they dont start cracking.

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[caleb90]

will post a pic when i am able to

[Robinhood]

Accuracy is a desirable thing in a rifle. If it is accurate, why mess with it? Like red and green. If she doesn't find you handsome she should at least find you handy.

[Ted_Feasel]

Accuracy is a desirable thing in a rifle. If it is accurate, why mess with it? Like red and green. If she doesn't find you handsome she should at least find you handy.

I used to watch that show all the time lol

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[caleb90]

Accuracy is a desirable thing in a rifle. If it is accurate, why mess with it? Like red and green. If she doesn't find you handsome she should at least find you handy.

this is true!

[mnbogboy2]

I threw a couple wraps of duct tape around my pitted barrel to prevent it from getting worse...lol

[caleb90]

a few years back i started storing my rifles muzzle down to prevent excess oil from running into the action. typical safe with foam and carpet bottom over sheet rock. i have two evadry dehumidifiers in there, and i have never had an issue with rust. but still wonder if this could be the source of the problem..

[tobnpr]

My number one rule...
If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it.

[Ted_Feasel]

I have airtight cases I keep my rifles in, those oxysorbs and moisture absorbs packets go in the case with them.. I still wipe them down and run a oiled patch down when stored for a while

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[caleb90]

My number one rule...
If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it.

i agree 100% but. this is farfetched with alot of what ifs. i will never get rid of this rifle, my main conceren is that 20-30 years from now that its still a shooter. basicly i kinda want to nip it in the butt now even though it might not need it now, as we dont know what the world will be like 20-30years from now let alone 10years at the rate were headed.

[GrenGuy]

That’s right. Life is uncertain. So have desert first But in this case, we’re talking Savage. You can change it to what You want now, and change it back to what it is later, or whatever.

[yobuck]

So the consensus is to just shoot the damned thing after wrapping the barrel with duct tape. Lol

[caleb90]

So the consensus is to just shoot the damned thing after wrapping the barrel with duct tape. Lol

not sure how i could wrap duct tape in the bore,plus it might only last one shot

[caleb90]

So the consensus is to just shoot the damned thing after wrapping the barrel with duct tape. Lol

not sure how i could wrap duct tape in the bore,plus it might only last one shot

[mnbogboy2]

not sure how i could wrap duct tape in the bore,plus it might only last one shot

Red Green could make it work and have a "blast" doing it...lol

[wbm]

Even though it is cosmetic since the rifle is still accurate little things like that can bug you. It would me also. You could always amputate the offending part and recrown but why bother?

My number one rule...
If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it.

Yep. And number two rule is see rule one right?

[caleb90]

Even though it is cosmetic since the rifle is still accurate little things like that can bug you. It would me also. You could always amputate the offending part and recrown but why bother?




Yep. And number two rule is see rule one right?

too make it right!

[caleb90]

so back to my question.if i have this done, should i have savage re barrel it and match up the blueing and open sights? or buy after market that wont match up blueing wise nor have the opensights it came with

[tobnpr]

so back to my question.if i have this done, should i have savage re barrel it and match up the blueing and open sights? or buy after market that wont match up blueing wise nor have the opensights it came with

The open sights are easily done by a smith if you need them. Installed, you'd be looking at around $150 for a new set of Williams fiber optic ones.
Bluing will require it be sent to one of the few shops still doing it, not commonly done anymore as there are better options.
No reason to send to Savage to re-barrel. I have no idea what they'd charge, but I'm confident it would be more than you'd spend getting a higher quality aftermarket barrel, more time, and a lower quality barrel to boot. Not knocking Savage's barrels (most of 'em, anyway)...they shoot OK despite being downright scary with a borescope.

Plenty of prefits available, and an hour at a local riflesmith (and probably $75 or so) will get the old one spun off, and the new one on- and he could install the sights and send off for bluing. If you're inclined to possibly do this with other rifles, small investment in a barrel vise, action wrench and a go gauge makes for simple DIY.

[hamiltonkiler]

I’m not sure how I feel about matching stuff. I would run a big stainless colored barrel. Savage is good but not as cool as a local smiths work. I like spray paint too.


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