Gunsmithing mcgowen nightmare

[rockybrashear]

so check this out. in march i order a mcgowen rifle barrel. a 30" stainless bull barrel in 7mm rem mag. it takes two months to come in and when it does the treads are for a large receiver. so i send it back. two weeks go by with no word so i call em only to find out that they lost my barrel. but they offer to replace it so i say ok make it a 300 win mag instead then. so they say ok. build it over the course of another three months or so and ship it back to me with .... wait for it the same exact threads as the original 7mm. now isent it back AGAIN to get the threads knocked down AGAIN lets hhope they dont lose this one. but seriously i get no calls from them letting me know if its done or anything. sorry for complaining so much but seriously has anybody else had this problem with them?

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare


I know they're going through a lot of transition. I had some drama with my barrel, but nothing like this. They just moved there production facilities and had some equipment difficulties at the same time. I have heard through a second hand source that the Office Manager, Jon Frost, quit.

This guy here can probably sympathize: http://www.snipercentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=279449#279449

Best of luck getting it fixed.

My shooting partner just had them rebarrel and rechamber his R700 from 7STW to 300WM. I sure hope it came out OK.

And I hope they get their act together. The barrel they made for me is very good, and I like to see local businesses thrive.



John

 

[HotIce]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

Didn't have problems with mine, but I got it before they moved.
Sad to hear this, since they offered (at least mine was) good product at reasonable price and time.

 

[yotefever]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

My son and I have a few barrels from them and can't really complain. It took a little longer on one but things happen, they had to wait to get the 338/300 wsm reamer.
Now that I have a good gunsmith, Jim See at Center Shot Rifles here in WI, I will just get a blank and have him do ALL the work.

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

I made a couple inqueries this morning as to what is going on at McGowen. The information was from someone very close to their situation, but I have not been able to confirm with someone at McGowen because they don't answer their phone.

Suffice to say that I will be looking for a different barrel maker if I need work done in the near future. This is not to say that they won't sort through this, and I'm pulling for them. What made them attractive was their short lead time and reasonable price, but for my barrel 2 weeks became 10 weeks, and the price was OK, but not good enough to pass on a Lilja, Krieger, Broughton, Etc. (although their leadtimes are out there) if they (McGowen) can't deliver a competitive product.

John

 

[sinarms]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

I call them atleast 2 times a week to order barrels, they come as ordered and in a timely fashion, I just order blanks though.

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

This morning I was finally able to talk to one of the guys who works for them and had helped me with my barrel.

He said that they have hired some new personnel due to performance issues, hired a new sales manager, have had some supplier issues and when they made the move, in addition to all the other related drama, one of their mills broke down.

Because he works on barrels (as opposed to fitting) he was surprised to hear of the quality issues there, but reiterated that they will stand by their work 100%.

Like I said before, it sounds like a period of transition for them, but seems like they are committed to providing a quality product at a competitive price. We'll know for sure when the dust settles a little bit.

If I didn't say it before, I am VERY happy with the barrel I got from them.

John

 

[rockybrashear]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

well im being understanding about it but really its been 7 months now and really hard to stay calm. hopefully they can get sorted out.

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: savage7mil</div><div class="ubbcode-body">well im being understanding about it but really its been 7 months now and really hard to stay calm. hopefully they can get sorted out. </div></div>

7 months! I'd be livid! I think you're doing great to stay calm.

This is actually one of the major reasons I decided to try these guys. They (were) 4 miles from my house. I could drive over there and talk to somebody and believe me, when they screwed up my first barrel, I had a new one in under 2 weeks.

John

 

[oneeyedmac]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

I spoke at length with Erin their new sales guy (correct spelling on the name there). He said basically the same thing that jrob reported about the move, releasing people du to performance issues and some other stuff. Their 30 caliber 10 twist reamer also broke and their back up 10 twist 30 cal reamer broke so they are way backed up on 30 cal 10 twist barrels. I had six 30 cal 10 twist barrels ordered and I had to cancel them to source the barrels elsewhere, I lucked out and found a few different place that had a couple and I ordered a few from Bobby (notaguru) at Lawton and he's pushing them to get them quickly.

I'm not really mad at McGowan, stuff happens. I just need the product faster than they can get it to me at the moment.

I like McGowan's product, prices and short (usually) delivery time and I'll use them again once things settle down a bit. If they make it through all this change at one time. Massive changes in a short period can be really hard on a company. I wish them the best though.

 

[coupalr]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

I just got a 243 prefit savage barrel from them and the crown was terrible. I talked to them about it and they said shoot it first and see how it shoots. Well it did not shoot so well and on top of it the diameter of the chamber is atleast .006 over sammi since the brass measures that when it comes out. Needless to say the barrel is going back.

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 6mm Shooter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">the diameter of the chamber is atleast .006 over sammi since the brass measures that when it comes out.</div></div>

This was the problem with my first barrel. Dull reamer.

John

p.s. just a thought. The shooting well or not may or may not be the crown. My 2nd barrel from them shoots half the group size (approx. 1/2 moa out to 600 yds.) that it did at first. About 200 rds. it really came around.

 

[coupalr]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

The crown is real rough. It really snags the patch when I push it through.

 

[jrob300]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

Any update on this?

John

 

[head2h2o]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

I hate to talk down a business, but I feel that others should know what we all are experiencing so I will share my experience with McGowen here. I ordered a barrel from them. When I finally got it, it had not been chambered or bead blasted and was shorter than I requested. It went back and literlly came back to me with nothing different, not to mention they acted a little hesitant about correcting the mistake. I got on the phone with them after I recieved the barrel a second time and they told me to keep what they had send and they would sent another barrel. They did, but again not right. I finally just said the heck with it and I would have a smith around here work with the chambering and bead blasting. Mind you, I went over the specs with them in detail again before they took the second order. Now, the story doesn't end here. I go about another 2 weeks, and low and behold a 3rd barrel ends up on my desk. Needless to say, you don't make that many mistakes on one order unless you have some serious internal issues occurring. I wish these guys the best and hope that they can come around. I have since given my business to Kreiger, Lilja and Rock Creek. It is unfortunate too as my smith was looking for a barrel maker that had reasonable turn around time. Yet, turnaround time is nothing without quality and service.

 

[coupalr]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

Just talked to them today. They got my barrel back and they are going to make me another one. I hope it is better.

 

[rockybrashear]

Re: mcgowen nightmare

well guys i finally got it in and its not bad. but not really worth the wait. i hope they sort themselves out. the barrel came out good with no problems but 8 months total of waiting for it just was way too much. if they sort themselves out i might think about using them again some day but id have to have no one else to go to.