School me on Savage

[JCH]

So i bought my first Savage rifle that I plan to do anything with. I walked into Academy and they had an 18" threaded Model 10 in 308.

I would like to get another barrel for this thing but have no idea where to start. What do I need to switch the barrel and who sells pre-fit savage barrels?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[mwroseberry]

Do a search for Northlander - Any small shank short action caliber with a 308 bolt face is a direct swap.

Good luck,
Merritt

 

[BoilerUP]

Yup - Jim Briggs @ Northland Shooters Supply is the man. He sells Criterion and Shilen prefits.

Gunshack sells McGowens, as does McGowen outlet.

Make sure you get a barrel nut wrench that works with the smooth barrel nut (think the 10P-SR has one) and get a grooved nut to replace it with. An action wrench is useful but you can get by with a shop vise & notched hardwood blocks. I'd also recommend a ground recoil lug, and make sure to get/use a Go Gauge and either a No-Go or use one piece of scotch tape for no-go.

Jim @ NSS can get you all you need, and nothing you don't. He's good people but CALL HIM.

 

[JCH]

Called Jim and was told he is out of town and to call back later in the week.

 

[Dirty D]

How does the factory barrel shoot, I put a factory 20" 308 tube on my Stevens 200 and with 175 SMK's loaded to 2.815" with 43.5gr of Varget it groups .35 to .4 center to center (5 round groups prone in the grass @100 yds). You may already have a shooter on your hands so see if it works before you try to fix it.

As mentioned above Northland Shooters Supply sells Criterion barrels (excellent feedback from users) and not as common but Lothar Walther also sells Savage pre fits. The few that have posted about LW barrels consistently say they are excellent barrels. Good luck and good shooting, barrel nuts are addictive.

 

[JCH]

Nothing wrong with the current barrel I just don't like 308's

 

[jkg]

I have done two savage builds, using their "target action". The first is in 6mm BR with a Krieger barrel. that is awesome, but was tough finding the barrel. The second is in 223 using a mcgowen barrel from mcgowan outlet. at 100 yards, a 5 shot group with average ammo was all touching. mcgowen barrels were more reasonable than krieger, but both are super. lots of info on the internet. i suggest a barrel wrench (careful, they can scratch the barrel), a good barrel vise (my home-made one is not great, but useable), and go and no-go gauges. fun to create a rifle on your own for a bit less money than if you buy a completed name brand (although I am not sure my home-made custom rifle with custom stock could be sold for as much as I have in it...)

 

[Greg Langelius *]

These are pre-fits from Lothar-Walther in Georgia (USA).

I have the 28" .260 with the Savage Varmint Contour and used it in 1000yd F Class for several years. Due to careful attention to bore preservation (no hot loads, and only using it for actual competition shooting) I conservatively estimate it still has another 1000 rounds of life in it; the LW-50 Stainless Steel is some pretty tough barrel material.

It can also give some gunsmiths issues when machining it, so an L-W factory pre-fit is the better way to get one. The list of chamberings shown, minus the .223, should work with the .308 bolt face diameter. Note that the barrels specs shown are not the only ones that are available, and that while mine conforms to the spec shown, it was ordered and produced years before this pre-fit program was inaugurated.

If you want something similar but different, give them a call. I did and I got a damned fine barrel (two of them, actually).

I think that the resale value of a rifle with an L-W barrel would need no excuses. These are the Cadillacs of rifle barrels, and come from the world's largest supplier of OEM and replacement barrels.

The Savage Accu-Trigger is quite good for a factory trigger, and others (like Mossberg) are lately beginning to emulate Savage features, like the trigger and barrel nut. Their manufacturing precision is good enough that truing may not be as effective on them as with other brands, and the floating bolt head eradicates most issues involving bolt lug contact. Also, while the Savage and the Mossberg share barrel swapping capabilities, the barrels are not interchangeable; the case protrusion spec is different.

Greg

 

[JCH]

Thanks for the reply Greg, as usual great stuff.

 

[lte82]

+1 for Jim Briggs. I think I changed my order three times before I was done and he was really helpful along the way.

I ended up with a Savage 12 lrp in 6.5 creedmoor, a nss recoil lug, nss barrel nut, action wrench, nut wrench, and a criterion 30" ss barrel in 6.5 creed to replace this one after I shoot it out.

He charges around $350 shipped for either the criterion or shilen select match prefits.

 

[pyplynr]

I have 2 Shilen prefits and 1 CBI rem-age prefit from Jim. All are great shooters. If you need to borrow a barrel nut wrench (unless it's the smooth BN), let me know and I'll send you mine to borrow.

 

[jbjh]

When (not if) you order from Jim, listen to him. And order the heavy stuff all at once, by weight. He's a small shop and doesn't get the greatest rates on shipping. Ordering his action wrench by itself is hurtful with the shipping on that chunk of steel. And be careful of which action you have (4.27 or 4.4) as well as your bolt release (top or front of trigger guard), these are crucial pieces of info that people forget to check when ordering parts.

On the plus side, it's too much fun! I just finished my first, and I'm dying to build another. Hell, you can switch the bolt heads out and jump to an entire different class of cartridges. And as long as you don't want something other than heavy varmint contour in 24-26", McGowan has an outlet store. Nw barrel to your door in a couple of weeks, assuming Jim doesn't have what you want.

It's an addiction

 

[JCH]

I ordered a Criterion 22" light varmint in 243win. Went ahead and got a new barrel nut and recoil lug.

Should be here Monday. Then a quick trip to Clinton Michigan for fluting.