Looking for New .223 Barrel Advice

[bighunt]

Hello. I have a Savage Pre Accutrigger model 10FP Tactical in .223 Remington. F prefix serial bought used in 2001.

It currently wears the original 24 inch heavy target barrel.

This rifle has always been a super shooter posting under .4MOA goups with almost any quality handloads I feed it.

I recently acquired a borescope and was amazed at the condition of the bore!

It's horrible! Gobs of rust and pits like it's been fired with corrosive ammo and never cleaned!

This particular barrel was always prone to rusting on the outside wherever it was touched, but I guess that same propensity for rust carried over into the bore. This rifle has been my truck gun on the farm for years and although I clean it after shooting sessions I can only assume the bore rusted unbeknownst to me while sitting in the seat of my truck.

It still shoots great, but I now have a suppressor for a .223 and would like something shorter, threaded and possibly stainless so I can use my suppressor on this rifle.

I don't need a top of the line target barrel, just looking for something inexpensive to replace the sewer pipe it currently has.

I am open to any suggestions you may have.

[JeepsAndGuns]

If it still shoot great, who not just have a gunsmith shorten and thread the current barrel? As you have found out, what the barrel looks like on the inside does not always dictate how well it shoots.
If rust from touching the gun is a issue, then you can have the whole thing cerracoated after the barrel is shortened. Even if you swap to a stainless barrel, your action is still going to be blued steel.

[Txhillbilly]

I'm with JaG, if the barrel still shoots great, just cut and thread it. The guy that threads all my barrels for my suppressor's charges $65 for threading, and I think $25 for shortening a barrel as well.
Morgan is a great guy to deal with, send him an email on his site about what all you want, and he'll give you a price as well as how long it would take him to do it. His turn around is pretty fast usually.

https://class3machining.com/

[big honkin jeep]

You could always buy a used sporter barrel on the cheap and cut and thread it to your liking. That way you could put it back to it's factory configuration if you like it better or decide to trade it off.
One of my favorite rifles is a little carbine project I did in .308 that wears a used factory sporter barrel cut down to 16" and threaded and braked. (It's also an F prefix with the old flat back receiver and from the 1990s)
Not sure what the OD of the muzzle is after the chop job but the skinniest 6" are now gone and the result is a powerful super handy quick pointing rig that's a breeze to carry anywhere. I've never really focused on load development for it other than to load up some "reduced recoil loads" for the grand kids, nieces and nephews to shoot and hunt with.
Never have looked in the bore with a scope but it shoots.