Gunsmithing Straight barrel to action

[UndFrm]

I am getting a straight 1.25" barrel blank that I am hoping to take to a gunsmith to chamber and fit to my action.
Is there something specific on the "type" of fit I should be asking the smith? It'll be for an Origin action that uses a Savage small shank. Getting the barrel nut as well.
Reading here, the preference for most people was to not utilize the nut and get it directly threaded onto the action.
Can this be done for a blank that's 1.25" on each end? Is there a term for this type of fitting, "prefit" (not shouldered)?

I have been reading and it seems like I'm getting confused between prefit, shouldered prefit etc. The shouldered prefit looks visually like it has a shoulder which then gradually reduces in the outer diameter. Does this mean that a straight barrel cannot be shouldered?
Basically, looking for terms that I should be telling my gunsmith.

Thank you

 

[b6graham]

um...barrel nut doesn't work on anything bigger than 1.06" which is tenon diameter so the smith has to shave away a boatload of metal

get it as a shouldered prefit 10000%

or if you want a barrel nut prefit for whatever reason just get a criterion, PBB, or any other of the dozens of options that are like $400-500 chambered

 

[UndFrm]

um...barrel nut doesn't work on anything bigger than 1.06" which is tenon diameter so the smith has to shave away a boatload of metal

get it as a shouldered prefit 10000%

or if you want a barrel nut prefit for whatever reason just get a criterion, PBB, or any other of the dozens of options that are like $400-500 chambered

Did not know that about the barrel nut. Thank you
If I can, definitely not utilizing the nut. Got it just in case I needed one.
So, I should be telling him that I need it shoulder prefitted to the action, correct?

 

[Rob01]

Why would you have an Origin and not get a shouldered prefit? Do you like making your life harder? LOL Yes tell him a shouldered prefit for an Origin. Return the barrel nut.

 

[neeltburn]

No reason at all to use a barrel nut in this scenario. Get the barrel shouldered to your Origin. I have rebarreled Savage actions and had my smith shoulder the replacements and do away with the barrel nut. Even if you want to switch barrel it is far easier to spin on a shouldered barrel than head space a nut every time.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

These are the types of questions you are supposed to ask before you order stuff fyi.

 

[carbonbased]

So, my understanding of a prefit is that it comes threaded, chambered, and headspaced for your action. It is “pre” “fit”. You just torque it on, bang, done.

A good idea is to still check headspace with a set of go/no-go gauges.

Shouldered just means it has a shoulder like a normal barrel, and doesn’t have a barrel nut type interface.

So, shouldered is a type of barrel interface and prefit describes a totally separate thing.

https://preferredbarrelblanks.com/prefit-barrel-differences-explained/

If you have a blank (meaning unchambered, unthreaded, obv then not headspaced) then all is possible. But as @Rob01 mentioned, you made your life harder by not buying a prefit for an action that is widely prefit-supported by the market.

Essentially you are just doing the old school method of having a gunsmith custom fit you a barrel.

 

[Rob01]

Preferred tried to stretch it to 4 different ones for some reason but there are shouldered prefits and barrel nut prefits.

 

[Wannashootit]

Essentially you are just doing the old school method of having a gunsmith custom fit you a barrel.

I don't see anything "old school" about it, this is what gunsmiths do...
I think it depends on the use of the rifle and the accuracy requirements of the shooter. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see many (if any) top 20 rifles in benchrest using chambered prefits, and I suspect same holds for PRS.

There would be a reason for that.

 

[carbonbased]

I don't see anything "old school" about it, this is what gunsmiths do...
I think it depends on the use of the rifle and the accuracy requirements of the shooter. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see many (if any) top 20 rifles in benchrest using chambered prefits, and I suspect same holds for PRS.

There would be a reason for that.

“Old school” wasn’t meant to be derogatory, in case it came across that way. Just differentiating between established methods and new ones.

In PRS, some guys use prefits, including three in the top 10 (and 35% of the top shooters…not sure of his definition of “top”). And it seems to be a growing phenom.

Here’s a quote:

“Austin Orgain, Austin Buschman, and Kyle Mccormack. Those 3 guys represent 3 PRS Championships and a World Championship, so they aren’t just top shooters – they are the best of the best. And those guys are choosing to run pre-fit barrels! I don’t personally know all of the top shooters, but I do know those 3 guys and can say they are extremely competitive. They want to win more than most people can understand. Don’t get me wrong, they are very nice guys who help other shooters – but if they thought a pre-fit barrel was hurting their precision one bit, they absolutely wouldn’t be running them.”​

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/03/30/pre-fit-barrels-everything-your-gunsmith-wishes-you-knew/

But I agree if you are a benchrest shooter, your needs are greater than a PRS guy and having a gunsmith chamber your barrel is the way to go.

Also, it’s not about the topic at hand, exactly, but this article was interesting as well.

Best Custom Rifle Barrel: What The Pros Use

Barrels are deceptively simple yet crucial to the precision required for long-range shooting. I onc...

precisionrifleblog.com

 

[hlee]

I don't see anything "old school" about it, this is what gunsmiths do...
I think it depends on the use of the rifle and the accuracy requirements of the shooter. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see many (if any) top 20 rifles in benchrest using chambered prefits, and I suspect same holds for PRS.

There would be a reason for that.

It is “old school” in the sense that there was a time when every barrel needed to be custom fit to every action. A gunsmith could not trust that the tolerances of an action were held sufficiently tight that a “one size fits all” approach could be taken for any action model.

A customer could have his action “blue printed” by a gunsmith and no longer need to send the action off to have the barrel replaced. He would simply order a barrel from that smith, who could make a barrel to the tighter tolerances if the trued and blue printed action.

Today, there are many action manufacturers that that hold their products to sufficiently tight tolerances that gunsmiths can offer barrels which do not need to be hand fit to an action.

And, there are a ton of PRS competitors- including top national level shooters- that take advantage of the convenience that pre-fit barrels offer.

IDK about benchrest, but I can’t imagine a more fuddy group that one could meet outside of a Filson store.

 

[Wannashootit]

“Old school” wasn’t meant to be derogatory, in case it came across that way. Just differentiating between established methods and new ones.

In PRS, some guys use prefits, including three in the top 10 (and 35% of the top shooters…not sure of his definition of “top”). And it seems to be a growing phenom.
View attachment 8422297
Here’s a quote:

“Austin Orgain, Austin Buschman, and Kyle Mccormack. Those 3 guys represent 3 PRS Championships and a World Championship, so they aren’t just top shooters – they are the best of the best. And those guys are choosing to run pre-fit barrels! I don’t personally know all of the top shooters, but I do know those 3 guys and can say they are extremely competitive. They want to win more than most people can understand. Don’t get me wrong, they are very nice guys who help other shooters – but if they thought a pre-fit barrel was hurting their precision one bit, they absolutely wouldn’t be running them.”​

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/03/30/pre-fit-barrels-everything-your-gunsmith-wishes-you-knew/

But I agree if you are a benchrest shooter, your needs are greater than a PRS guy and having a gunsmith chamber your barrel is the way to go.

Also, it’s not about the topic at hand, exactly, but this article was interesting as well.

Best Custom Rifle Barrel: What The Pros Use

Barrels are deceptively simple yet crucial to the precision required for long-range shooting. I onc...

precisionrifleblog.com

Thanks for the info- seriously. It's apparent (to me, anyway) that the quality of the prefits has improved dramatically. I'd always felt that the chambering process was lacking precision with prefits- but seems that at least among the top dogs, they've got it dialed in. I'm curious if all processes are CNC, or if some aspects of the chambering process are done manually.

Some I've seen from the "production tier" prefits don't meet the standards I use...but I'm guessing the comp crowd isn't spinning on those barrels.

 

[Baron23]

I don't see anything "old school" about it, this is what gunsmiths do...
I think it depends on the use of the rifle and the accuracy requirements of the shooter. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see many (if any) top 20 rifles in benchrest using chambered prefits, and I suspect same holds for PRS.

There would be a reason for that.

Ah yeah....but those BR (and F-open) guys aren't shooting Origin actions (pre-fit capable, right?) and they def aren't using barrel nuts either.

 

[oldrifleman]

I would suggest calling someone like Southern Precision or LRI and talking through their process as well as expectations.