Gunsmithing Which Savage prefit?

[BenY 2013]

I apologize if this has been done to death, but I am considering a new barrel to replace my E.R. Shaw .308 on my custom Stevens 200. I am considering a 20" .243, .260 or 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm wondering which barrel maker makes the best prefit. I have looked at Sin Arms, Shilen, Criterion, Mcgowen, etc. any suggestions? Thanks guys!

 

[6brshooter]

Are u going to run supressed all the time? If not i don't see why u want to cut the legs out from under the 3 rds u mention with a short barrel . I have 1 LW, 1 shilen sm, 2 brux's from sin arms, and 3 criterions from NSS . All shot excellent, the LW always amazes me, but it is a sample of one. The brux's from sinarms are excellent also, right there with the LW. The criterions i have shoot great, clean up excellent and are fast. A prefit will run 325-370, the brux/sinarms and rock prefits are going to be in the 425-450 range. Better blank to start with but i cannot tell the difference on paper between the brux and criterion. I would stay away from shaw and mcgowen, too mant bad issues from those two to justify the marginal savings of using them.

 

[coWSMasher]

Of those i would say shilen. you may want to consider pac-nor though too.

 

[turbo54]

Whichever is in stock, in the configuration you like.

 

[BenY 2013]

I'm still not certain I want to go 20" yet, but 22" will be the longest! Am I really going to see that much difference in velocity with 2" of barrel? Maybe 100-60fps? I have a Shaw on it right now, its ok but not great! I will check out pac-nor as well thanks for the input!

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I did reach 1km with the 260 in a factory Savage 24" barrel (with some wayyy hot reloads), but I seriously suggest going with a 26" or even 28" barrel. The difference will be the capacity to reach the velocities where the chambering excels without putting the burden of the performace on the bore's throat. The difference in barrel length probably equates to an addition 1K rounds worth of barrel life.

I suggest the Lothar-Walther option, my barrel is identical to the 28" .260 barrel shown here: Lothar Walther

Greg

 

[triceratops3]

I know several people, me included, that have criterions and they shoot great. I've got a 6.5 Creed. and thats what I'm gonna rebarrel my .223 with whenever I get the chance.

 

[billyburl2]

Rock Creek was offering some in the for sale section last week as well, you might contact them. I think they would be the only option for a cut-rifled barrel.

 

[6brshooter]

Sinarms offers brux, they are cut rifled. Just got my 2nd from Devin, 6.5 cm 26" fluted. Will be going on my lrp action in anaics wearing a razor. .850"@ muzzle and deep flutes should knock 1.5lb of factory barrel plus the aics is 1 lb lighter then the Mcree it was wearing. Factory barreled action +Mcree+razor=19lbs. Looking at 16.5ish lbs now.

 

[Clark]

I have chambered ~ 5 Lothar Walther Chrome Moly barrels, and they are amazing for shooting well when hot.
In choosing between Shilen, Krieger, Lilja, PacNor, Hart, LW , and my other barrels, I can get a deal on Shilen.
Any barrel that is stress relieved, and factory honed and lapped is going to foul slowly, shoot straight when hot, and last more round than I will ever shoot.

I am about to cut threads and chamber on an LW barrel for a Savage right now [#6 for me]. The barrel is only 1.2" diameter, but the receiver is 1.35", so I am going to have to use the ~ 1.35" barrel nut that came with the rifle, or make my own barrel nut.
This LW barrel only cost $114 through Brownells in 2002.
LW marketing in the US to amateur gunsmiths really sucks.

 

[JWV]

I have a pair of CBIs as do many of my friends. They are quite nice. My friend has a 30 inch CBI in 7SAUM and I recently watched his shoot a 1.5 inch 3 shot group at 665 yards.

 

[Mech45]

I had a 30" Shilen I put on a tube gun I put together and it was a great shooting barrel. Broke in very quickly too. HTH

 

[jasonZ]

I went with Shilen for mine and as soon as I get my stock from Kevin, I'll let you know how it performs. I suspect it should shoot lights out, but we will see. I know that my last 308 was a factory Savage FPLE and it shoot really well. I also had one with an ER Shaw on it and it performed only so-so. I actually thought the factory FP barrel shot better! I know it's not the same caliber, but I suspect the caliber wouldn't matter as much as the quality of the barrel in overall performance. We shall see. Mostly I went this way because it presented itself on another forum and there was no wait for a brand new, never installed Shilen. It's a straight taper barrel, which is a little more than I want in the profile, but it should work well for it's intended purpose. Good luck with the decision. I think all the manufacturers listed make good products though and I doubt you would be disappointed with any of them.

 

[Wyldeman]

Hard to beat CBI for the price/performance. Have 2 & 1 shilen SM.

 

[demolitionman]

What is the wait times for matchgrade barrels from these reputable mfg'rs? Anybody have guesstimates?

 

[BoilerUP]

Criterion via NSS is about 12-14 weeks depending on the specs of the order.

 

[BenY 2013]

Thanks for all the input guys! It is really appreciated!