McGowen on it's way from NSS

[songdogslayer]

My Savage Model 12 BVSS in .243 Win shot ridiculously well when I first bought it . . . less than 800 rounds later and it groups just under 1 MOA. I&#39;ve been reading a lot about Savage drop-in barrels on this forum so I sent an email to Shilen asking what they had available and they suggested I call Jim at NSS. Gave Jim a call and he was out of Shilen but still had a McGowen. That McGowen is now on its way . . . if it shoots as well as the 26" stainless fluted barrel (that originally came with the rifle) when it was new I&#39;ll be a happy camper. I expect a lot more than <800 rounds of accuracy though. This will be my first barrel replacement . . . have a gun safe full of savage rifles so I&#39;m sure it won&#39;t be the last time I replace a barrel.
-Scott

[pdog06]

Welcome to the forum.. I&#39;m sure you&#39;ll like the McGowen barrel.

Did you ever inspect the factory barrel to see if something is wrong with it(bad crown, copper build-up, etc)? Seems weird it would fall off with only 800 thru it. Just curious..

[songdogslayer]

pdog06, I cleaned it for copper fouling and that was it (it wasn&#39;t really that bad for copper). I do not own a bore scope, but took as good a look as I could without it - everything looked fine. I&#39;m very disappointed with the fall off in accuracy - I sure hope the McGowen lasts longer, would it be asking too much for 1600 rounds? Probably going to a 6BR after this . . .

[Eric in NC]

I would bet on a carbon ring or crown problem - 800 is real short life for a 243.

[pdog06]

I would bet on a carbon ring or crown problem - 800 is real short life for a 243.

I&#39;m thinkin the same thing.

[songdogslayer]

OK, how do I check for a carbon ring or crown problem?

I should point out . . . when I first got my Savage Model 12 BVSS I did nothing spectacular to make it shoot well. Bought some cheap, CHEAP brass (Graf - - - and it was crap), neck sized it, chamfer / deburred, put WLR poppers in the bottom, poured H380 into it and topped it off with a 75 gr VMAX. Mounted a Horus Vision Predator on top and took it out to a friend&#39;s pasture, proned out and shot <1/4 MOA at 115 yards. Called my younger brother (who has over $3,400 into a custom rifle chambered in .243) and told him about the great accuracy out of my factory rifle and he about crapped himself. The rifle has made some outstanding shots - fox at just over 600 yards = one shot. Coon on the dead run straight away at 486 yards = one shot. Smashed several deer with it from 140 all the way out to 320 yards = all one shot and DRT. Now the rifle has opened up to almost 1 MOA and I&#39;ve lost all confidence. I&#39;ve put 96 rounds through it just trying to find the right combination again - pure agony.

Then I started reading the forums - this one, 6mmbr.com, predator masters, etc, etc. Now I use a flash hole deburring tool, primer pocket uniformer, just bought a wilson sinclair trimmer, case neck turner, Hornady COL gauge with matching cartridge, 30 mm lapping tool, chronograph, swarovski LRF, leupold spotting scopoe . . . after getting all of my toys and finally being completely prepared to shoot varmints at 650+ yards my rifle quits shooting!!! What a bunch of CRAP, eh? By the way, that Graf brass I bought was pure crap - almost 30% scrap right out of the bag (flash holes not centered). After I shot 10 rounds out of that brass, I found 3 of them with cracked / volcano necks. Called hornady and the tech tells me to anneal the brass and it will be fine . . . instead I went out and bought 300 pieces of Winchester brass. I don&#39;t even let my Winchester brass sit in the same ROOM as that Graf crap.

Sorry this got so long . . . misery loves company!
-Scott

[Dennis]

songdogslayer,

Let us know how that McGowen barrel works out!

[desertdog]

hello, did you try to set the bullet out a little more? i had a similar thing happen to custom .243 i have. changed the seating depth and what do ya know all is well. velocity is is a little slower. hope this helps. 8) dd oh, by the way this happened at about 1200 rounds

[songdogslayer]

destertdog, I&#39;ve tried absolutely everything where reloading is concerned. seated bullets .020 into lands all the way to .020 out of lands. I even tried my first load ever - H380 pushing 75 gr VMAX with COL of 2.715 . . . which is waaaay out of the lands. I would be pleasantly surprised to find out there is something reasonably &#39;fixable&#39; with this barrel, but the long range coyotes can&#39;t wait any longer!

[groupshooter22]

For a carbon ring get some iosso bore cream and on a patch or a nylon brush short stroke the first 2-3" of the barrel. For the neck area use a mop that fits tight in the neck with the iosso and a short rod with a handle that doesnt rotate, I use the sinclair tool for the lugs and chamber, and twist it for a minute. The iosso is great on carbon and copper. To check your crown use a qtip and run it over the crown if any fibers are snagged I would have it recrowned or use a magnifying glass and inspect the crown that way looking for an even mark around the bore.