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McGowen vs. Others

I have personally have shot quite a few McGowen steel and Carbon six carbon barrels with McGowen liners in them and they shoot extremely well and they look great inside!!

That camber job is horrible and seriously should not have even left the shop!

The fact is most big shops have a floor full of guys in the "CNC era" that seriously could give a **** less and just want a pay check.
You nailed it!!!
 
Well I'll be shooting the 5th McGowen here shortly, looks great so far and it headspaced perfectly on my BAT Vesper.
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I have personally have shot quite a few McGowen steel and Carbon six carbon barrels with McGowen liners in them and they shoot extremely well and they look great inside!!
I only have tried one McGowen barrel on my .264 WM thus far, and I am very pleased with it. I know quite a few people like yourself here and on other forums that have very good success with C6; my current build with my first C6 barrel should be near completion. This thread shows that no one barrel fits all, and the manufacturers can never satisfy everybody. Most that responded are happy with theirs.
That camber job is horrible and seriously should not have even left the shop!

The fact is most big shops have a floor full of guys in the "CNC era" that seriously could give a **** less and just want a pay check.
Agreed! It appears no QA/QC was done.
 
My experiences with McGowen were both bad and the horrible customer service from Dan was worse. The only way I'd use one of their barrels again would be as a blunt instrument or possibly a blank taken to a competent smith that knew how to use the tools in their shop.
 
You nailed it!!!
Agreed.
Purchased a McGowen barrel for a project .264WM I was building. Full bull on a Winchester action.
It was returned to me "ready to go". Except it wasnt. The bolt would not close on a factory round. It would close on a empty cartridge.
Called them, they said ship it back and we will fix it. Cost me $117 to send it back to them, another 3 week wait, and finally got it back. They never offered to cover shipping costs or reimburse me for the additional costs after buying a $1,000 barrel.
Gun shoots fine, but the lack of quality control allowed the barrel to leave the shop without even a test fit on an empty cartridge.
 
They have trouble with consistency. I have ordered McGowen Barrels 5 times and all but one has been returned. Upon inspection of the barrel's lands and groves 4 of them had severe defects in them ranging from large divots in the groves, to gouges in the lands. In spite of this track record, I gave them one more chance. My lasts order was a rebarrleing of 7mm-08. When it arrived, it had a significant damage to the rifling and was not even in the barrel contour that I had order, it was obvious that the barrel did not receive any quality control inspection. Avoid this company until such a time that they correct their quality control issues.
There is a thread on RokSlide about McGowen barrels. Mine shoots great, but it went back as it was chambered long and was sent back to me without any repairs. I ended up paying a local smith to make it right. Dan at McGowen doesn't know what customer service is or what the meaning of prefit means when it comes to a barrel.

 
I had 2, both put on by the same smith that swore by them. The work the smith did wasn't great to begin with, one gun I had to fight to get under 1 moa the other gun I had to fight to get it shoot better than cheap a factory rifle. Both barrels were replaced by different gunsmiths. One with a Bartlien and the other is currently getting a complete reconfiguration with a Hart.
 
CarbonSix uses their blanks and I can vouch for them. I have 2 of theirs. One in a 22 creedmoor and one in a 30 nosler. They shoot great. 22 creedmoor .1 to .2 and the 30 Nosler I'm fixing to start loading for next week and I can report on it.

And to add the 22cm first pressure test all 9 shots went into .5" at 100 yds.
My two CarbonSix barrels are great. I wouldn't buy another prefit from McGowen with someone else's money.
 
My barrel experience has been pretty much Shilen and Douglas, back in the day I had some friends ask me to put on a few Adams & Bennett barrels, which believe it or not shot fine too.
But if you were to ask me which company to buy from today I will say I'd go with Douglas for better customer service by far, not that Shilen is bad, it's just that Douglas is way better hands down imo. (no I don't have any stock in Douglas barrels ;-)) Here's my last Douglas build 4 months ago.
 

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