Don't shoot your caliber, but do really like the Criterion heavy barrel I put on a Benchrest Savage in 6BR, from Northland. They are great people to deal with. I also had a Ragged Holes (Wilson) put on a Tikka in 6.5x55 that has been awesome also. Sigh....so many choices.
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new barrel for a Savage
- Thread starter Randy dawson
- Start date
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bubbadad
Well-Known Member
It is not hard to change out a savage barrel. If you need help I will help you.
entoptics
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2018
- Messages
- 880
I have a Shilen 300WM, an X-Caliber 264WM, and an X-Caliber 7 Rem Mag prefits on factory Savage LA's. All shoot well under 1 MOA long term. Not "If I do my part", but 95% confidence interval, over dozens of 3-10 shot groups, including load development. All of the barrels have produced multiple sub-half MOA groups, but I don't hang my hat on statistical anomalies, so I won't claim that's what they can do.
Do not hesitate to install them yourself. If you get a barrel nut with flats (X-Caliber offers one, and so do others), you only need a bench vise and some scrap wood to make an action block (use a hole saw to drill a hole as close to the action size you can, then cut the block in half to make jaws). A Go-gauge is highly recommended, but with a properly sized and measured piece of brass, you can accomplish proper headspace if you pay attention to what you're doing.
It's not a bad idea to get a precision ground recoil lug also, but be aware that some "drop in" ones won't fit the Accustock lug inlet (EABCO I'm looking at you), as they may be too wide or thick.
Getting the OEM barrel off may require a backhoe and an Act of Congress (letter from the Pope won't hurt), but once it's gone, the prefits don't need to be torqued to 2000 yard pounds and gorilla glued like the factory is. Mine go on and off without a bit of drama, after being installed with anti-sieze and 60-80 ftlbs. If you don't care about the OEM stuff, just use a pipe wrench and some heat to get the OEM nut broken loose. You can even cut it lengthwise with a dremel, spread it with a wedge, and it'll come off.
For 270 with 150 grain bullets, I'd go at least 1:9 twist or faster. There's some fancy new low drag options coming on the market, so 1:8.5 or 1:8 wouldn't hurt for future proofing your rig.
Here's a sample of what my 7mm will do (X-Calber, 1:8, 5R, 26", 175 ELD-X, 2950 fps). Shot this today. Woulda been 6 in a row, cold bore, first shot of the day, but my dumb *** forgot to add the wind call that 4DOF gave me on the first shot, which skimmed past the plate a couple inches left. Added the 3/4 MOA wind, 5 in a row (top impact is from another day, as I forgot to bring my spray paint to freshen up the target).
1020 yds, 23° F, with snow all over my objective lens...
Do not hesitate to install them yourself. If you get a barrel nut with flats (X-Caliber offers one, and so do others), you only need a bench vise and some scrap wood to make an action block (use a hole saw to drill a hole as close to the action size you can, then cut the block in half to make jaws). A Go-gauge is highly recommended, but with a properly sized and measured piece of brass, you can accomplish proper headspace if you pay attention to what you're doing.
It's not a bad idea to get a precision ground recoil lug also, but be aware that some "drop in" ones won't fit the Accustock lug inlet (EABCO I'm looking at you), as they may be too wide or thick.
Getting the OEM barrel off may require a backhoe and an Act of Congress (letter from the Pope won't hurt), but once it's gone, the prefits don't need to be torqued to 2000 yard pounds and gorilla glued like the factory is. Mine go on and off without a bit of drama, after being installed with anti-sieze and 60-80 ftlbs. If you don't care about the OEM stuff, just use a pipe wrench and some heat to get the OEM nut broken loose. You can even cut it lengthwise with a dremel, spread it with a wedge, and it'll come off.
For 270 with 150 grain bullets, I'd go at least 1:9 twist or faster. There's some fancy new low drag options coming on the market, so 1:8.5 or 1:8 wouldn't hurt for future proofing your rig.
Here's a sample of what my 7mm will do (X-Calber, 1:8, 5R, 26", 175 ELD-X, 2950 fps). Shot this today. Woulda been 6 in a row, cold bore, first shot of the day, but my dumb *** forgot to add the wind call that 4DOF gave me on the first shot, which skimmed past the plate a couple inches left. Added the 3/4 MOA wind, 5 in a row (top impact is from another day, as I forgot to bring my spray paint to freshen up the target).
1020 yds, 23° F, with snow all over my objective lens...
