Ordering a custom barrel, what do I need to know?

[Deputy819]

Gotcha. Yeah, I went with their heavy sporter/.700 at the muzzle. As you said their only other sporter option is .575 at the muzzle and I just wanted a little more "meat" than that without getting into varmint or palma contours.

 

[SavageHunter11]

Gotcha. Yeah, I went with their heavy sporter/.700 at the muzzle. As you said their only other sporter option is .575 at the muzzle and I just wanted a little more "meat" than that without getting into varmint or palma contours.

Same here, I originally planned to used a heavy sporter but I realized it would definitely be at least a 9+lbs rifle and probably closer to 9.5lbs. Maybe NSS will have a solution or idea.

 

[DENWA]

The biggest thing for me is throating to match my longest OAL to take advantage of the longest bullet seat inside my magazine well to keep pressures in check when pushing max loads with high BC bullets.

 

[jrock]

XCaliber makes prefits as well. I did one of those and had the smith throat it longer for my dummy round but it wasn't a 280. Unless you have a dummy round to send to them, I would order a SAAMI spec and have a smith lengthen the throat if I don't like it.

 

[SavageHunter11]

XCaliber makes prefits as well. I did one of those and had the smith throat it longer for my dummy round but it wasn't a 280. Unless you have a dummy round to send to them, I would order a SAAMI spec and have a smith lengthen the throat if I don't like it.

Is there any place on this site or anywhere else that can help you locate a gunsmith...Eastern South Dakota doesn't really have much for options

 

[woodnut]

I used to buy from Harry McGowen. His prices were low enough I always bought his premium barrels. Never had any problems with them. However, there's some really great barrel makers out there now. BRUX Barrels in Wisc. make awesome barrels for about $350 shipped. They make a 4 or 5 R rifling,too.

 

[SavageHunter11]

I used to buy from Harry McGowen. His prices were low enough I always bought his premium barrels. Never had any problems with them. However, there's some really great barrel makers out there now. BRUX Barrels in Wisc. make awesome barrels for about $350 shipped. They make a 4 or 5 R rifling,too.

I took a good look at BRUX last night but they don't make pre-fits and with the experience i've had with the gunsmiths in my area, I only trust them to fit my barrel and nothing else and i'm still charged me $200 for that.

 

[jacobdewey]

I have 2 mcgowan barrels on savage actions. My 7mm rm shoots fast and accurate, and the turbo brake works really well. I just put my other mcgowan together. Its a 6.5x284 norma. I'm still in the initial process working up a load with the 140 elite berger. It touches the lands at 3.168" which is about .060" from max cartridge length. that gives me that .060" distance for throat erosion, which is perfect imo. I will say that I've had great luck so far with saami throat lengths.

Unless you have different bottom metal with an aftermarket detachable mag you will be limited to about 3.50-3.55" so you probably don't want to long throat it. My 7mm rounds shooting 180 eldm's are a 3.457" coal and the 175 eldx is 3.40"

If it was me, I would just do the 280 in saami throat length. Hope that helps.

*just saw it was a remage, not savage. You will have a longer magazine than a savage, 3.65"ish iirc. That's plenty long, and you probably could benifit from a longer throat.

 

[KRL1116]

Get a Bartlein! You will be glad you did!

 

[hydehunter]

Savagehunter have you contacted the gunsmith at Gary's Guns in Sioux Falls yet?I have had work done by him and was very happy and the gunsmith at Scheels I have heard is also good.but if you decide to go full custom contact Travis at TS Customs in Miller he has built me 2 rifles and does outstanding work. my 6mm Cred shoots one hole groups at 200 yards and my 30.06 is does about 1/4" if I do my part

 

[FrogFire7]

Do yourself a favor and order from someone like NSS that carries Criterion Barrels or Pac-Nor. Both have remage barrels for about the same price and are much higher quality and consistency.

Mcgowen can turn out nice stuff, but I received several that were not ok. Dan is the nicest person when ordering, but if you have an issue he is a nightmare to deal with.

I had a similar experience with McGowan... ordered online, it took like 4 weeks longer than estimated due to some tooling problems- fine. Then (I think he called me, if I remember correctly) we talked about completing the order, and he got real gruff with me. I ordered online and paid the 50% deposit, and got an email invoice for the other 50%, so I went online and paid the invoice amount. He was all ****ed and said I shorted him like, $2. I offered to go back online and pay that too (more than my invoice said to pay), but he was grumpy and told me it would cost him more money to do that. Idk.

Anyway, the barrel was fine when I got it, it just wasn't a smooth transaction/experience AT ALL.

Now James (and previously Jim) at NSS is a totally different story, nothing but the best to say about him and his operation!

 

[SavageHunter11]

Savagehunter have you contacted the gunsmith at Gary's Guns in Sioux Falls yet?I have had work done by him and was very happy and the gunsmith at Scheels I have heard is also good.but if you decide to go full custom contact Travis at TS Customs in Miller he has built me 2 rifles and does outstanding work. my 6mm Cred shoots one hole groups at 200 yards and my 30.06 is does about 1/4" if I do my part

I might have to venture over that way but I hear and read horror stories about Gary's and awful customer service and downright rudeness. I have to say it's pretty easy to believe it after having a few less than stellar experiences there in the past. Might have to give Scheels a try, kinda forgot they had a gunsmith and like you I have heard good things.

 

[TGVet]

I'm hoping to order my 280A.I. barrel from McGowan for my Rem-Age build. I already know what length, profile, twist rate, etc I need/want. What I'm still a bit murky on is stuff like throat length and other more technical items. I hear many of you talking about having long throats, short throats, tight chamber dimensions, etc. I know many, when they have their barrels installed, will bring their gunsmith an inert round they can use to ensure proper fitment but what if I don't have any rounds because I've never had a 280A.I. before? I don't want to just load a dummy round up off a wild guess of what I'll be needing. What are the questions I need to be asking myself, McGowan, or my gunsmith before I order my barrel?

If it were me, I'd talk to Ron at Benchmark Barrels.
Just my .02

 

[SavageHunter11]

I have 2 mcgowan barrels on savage actions. My 7mm rm shoots fast and accurate, and the turbo brake works really well. I just put my other mcgowan together. Its a 6.5x284 norma. I'm still in the initial process working up a load with the 140 elite berger. It touches the lands at 3.168" which is about .060" from max cartridge length. that gives me that .060" distance for throat erosion, which is perfect imo. I will say that I've had great luck so far with saami throat lengths.

Unless you have different bottom metal with an aftermarket detachable mag you will be limited to about 3.50-3.55" so you probably don't want to long throat it. My 7mm rounds shooting 180 eldm's are a 3.457" coal and the 175 eldx is 3.40"

If it was me, I would just do the 280 in saami throat length. Hope that helps.

*just saw it was a remage, not savage. You will have a longer magazine than a savage, 3.65"ish iirc. That's plenty long, and you probably could benifit from a longer throat.

So, can I assume you are liking your McGowen barrels? There is a large appeal to just ordering a prefit barrel from them that's been reamed and everything and just install it. I'm not building a "5 shots in one ragged hole" rifle, I'm building a lightweight hunting rifle that I want to shoot .5MOA groups (or better if it's so inclined). As nice as it would be to buy a Bartlin or a Benchmark, get all the proper work done and get it installed, I'm realistic and wonder if I need to spend that kind of money for the results i'm looking for.