McGowen vs. Others

[AkleyFan]

Do it!
I'm loving my shorty suppressed setups, here's how it looks with my Nomad LT.
Before anyone freaks out about the stock it's temporary so I can fire form a few improved cases to send in for custom dies. Big thanks to @Rum Man man for sending it to me, I won't have my LRH for another 2-3 months
View attachment 437197

I have custom dies and reamers made, so I thought I'd share my FF process, this is from my gunsmith, the same one I'm trying to put out of business... he is a good friend tho.

Fire your first set of rounds - bullets seated as deeply into the lands as your rifle will tolerate. Anneal your brass, neck size and load to the same length with the bullets firmly jammed into the lands for the second firing. This process has helped ensure that my cases have expanded to the fullest extent possible. There is less fudge factor and guess work in their measurements and I end up with a very high quality procuct the first time around. YMMV Good luck with your project. I wish California would allow us to run a suppressor...

 

[Old Cat]

I know of multiple people getting fine results from their blanks.

With that said, I would not let them thread and chamber another barrel for me. I ordered a prefit that wouldn't drop on GO, no big deal. I sent my action and barrel to them because the timing was off also and the said they would fix both issues, again no big deal.

Second go around was an issue. It dropped on NO-GO after they "fixed" it. I thought I had possibly dropped my gauge and it was damaged, so I drove to a gunsmiths shop a few towns over to have it double checked before I called them.

One of smiths came out from the back after examining it and told me he had good news and bad news, "good news, my gauge was fine. bad news, it was UNSAFE to fire." Nice! The owner asked me to look at barrel after he heard what his smith said. He directed a flash light to the chamber and showed me deep scaring from not cleaning the reamer when they over-bumped it, and the muzzle threads had been dinged. The long and short of it, the barrel came back in a UNSAFE/worse condition after all their "repair" work.

It appears my story is not unique, they seem to be having some serious challenges w their threading and chambering services.

I won't get into the response from and my exchanges with Dan, his issues, they are also a serious challenge for them, as ordering blanks would bypass that mess altogether.

 

[Snowbird]

I really struggle with things like this and I think that we do not do ourselves any justice when we either ask questions without definition of what makes a barrel (or any component) better and what makes it worse, or we answer the question in a way that is not directly correlated to the qualification of good, better, best.

I didn't get to read through the whole thread, but, there should be a spec/guarantee that a barrel is plus/minus .xxx" in straightness, .xxxx" in bore dimension, Air gauged or not, or whatever else the qualifies/quantifies a good barrel.

My example of why would be with savage barrels. I have owned a number of savage rifles that shot sub 1/2moa out of the box. And I have never even owned one or their target models. If you ever have a chance to stick a bore scope in a savage rifle, they look like crap....scratches, chatters, voids, etc, etc. but most of them shoot lights out! If someone were qualifying quality of the barrel based on how it shot, that would be a very poor qualification.

I am not one of those haters or thread busters, but this group is very steeped in technical experience and I would hope to hear from gunsmiths/premium rifle builders that have used certain brands, and can speak to the part of the quality of a barrel, in technical terms with technical data.

Just my personal feeling on it.

My first requirement of a finished barrel is that it is chambered for the cartridge it was ordered for....McGowen fail.
My second requirement is that it threads onto the action it was ordered for.... McGowen fail.
My third requirement is that the muzzle threads not look like they were cut on a can opener....McGowen fail.
My fifth requirement is that the manager of the barrel shop doesn't demean or gaslight the customer. Being a dick to customers never won anybody a good reputation...McGowen FAIL.

 

[7.62 Gunner]

Well today I had my fifth "McGowen Fail"
Literally the first load I tried after fire forming.
This is why I stopped buying $1000 barrels

 

[AkleyFan]

Well today I had my fifth "McGowen Fail"
Literally the first load I tried after fire forming.
This is why I stopped buying $1000 barrels

View attachment 438440

Does it consistently fail like that? It's rather amazing.

There appears to be a little face peeking out of the holes in your target... a ghost shooter?

 

[7.62 Gunner]

Does it consistently fail like that? It's rather amazing.

There appears to be a little face peeking out of the holes in your target... a ghost shooter?

I just started load development yesterday but I don't see why it wouldn't maintain consistency.. The other 4 shot just like this

 

[jblanchrd]

I have a Carbon Six barrel in 300 PRC and a Mcgowen SS Sendero Contour in 2506AI and both shoot right at .5" and under. the 2506AI consistently shoots under .5"

 

[Mark37082]

It is always interesting to read through threads like this one. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is much appreciated when their opinion is backed up by personal experience. I don't have enough experience with barrel makers to provide input one way or another. I rely on people I trust with a large samples of experiences to help me navigate through what is best. I do not tolerate poor customer service and will not do business with a company regardless of their product offerings, if they don't stand behind their product and workmanship quality. My GS deals with thousands of barrels and recommends Bartlein for consistency.

 

[LTH181818]

It is always interesting to read through threads like this one. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is much appreciated when their opinion is backed up by personal experience. I don't have enough experience with barrel makers to provide input one way or another. I rely on people I trust with a large samples of experiences to help me navigate through what is best. I do not tolerate poor customer service and will not do business with a company regardless of their product offerings, if they don't stand behind their product and workmanship quality. My GS deals with thousands of barrels and recommends Bartlein for consistency.

Smart. The #2 post is also based on probably thousands of barrels. I have learned that the price of a barrel and the GS is not where I want to save money. Paying more has saved me money.

 

[L.Sherm]

If there customer service is $h!!t I dont care how there barrel shoots.
My one and only inter action with McGowan was horrible, ill never darken there door step again and untill recently I lived in the same town.
I can tell you they have a high turnover rate have seen there ads for years all the time for help, there's a reason for that.

 

[haisardao]

Reviving this older thread, if I'm understanding well the main issue with Mcgowen barrels is their chambering/threading service and not necessarily the quality of their blanks. Would people who chipped in this thread agree with that? Thanks

 

[grouse]

Reviving this older thread, if I'm understanding well the main issue with Mcgowen barrels is their chambering/threading service and not necessarily the quality of their blanks. Would people who chipped in this thread agree with that? Thanks

Carbon six ises their blanks to wrap. Their barrels have excellent reputation. I've also had very good luck with their barrels

 

[haisardao]

Carbon six ises their blanks to wrap. Their barrels have excellent reputation. I've also had very good luck with their barrels

Thanks, I guess that a poor GS job will damage any barrel regardless of the brand.

 

[ARlife4me]

I have McGowen's in 264wm (savage 110) threaded on both ends, c6 (McGowen, but c6 chambered and threaded) 300wm, 2 AR10 barrels (6.5prc & 7-08rem). No issues with headspacing, threading or rifling. All barrels were purchased in the last 2 years or maybe 2.5 at most? I ordered a 7saum from x-caliber last week, so it'll be in maybe the 1st or 2nd week of October. These 3 places are the only 3 I've ordered customs from. The tenon threads seem to better on the McGowen as the c6 were a little more rough. No issues with the muzzle threads!