stagpanther
New member
My first go at putting an 280 AI did not work out as I had hoped, so I decided to give it a second try. It took a while--but Mike at Criterion made good and sent me a replacement barrel. It was worth the wait, the barrel is very nice (if heavy, it's a match barrel) and the bore is beautiful, immaculately polished and finished without a trace of any irregularities anywhere that I could find--and one of my pet peeves in most other commercial grade barrels--in particular the last two to three inches to the muzzle are completely free of any chatter or pitting--the rifling at the crown exits with perfect edges and no burrs or "tear-away" gouges. The width of the barrel--however--required quit a bit of foreend work to fit right but I finally got it seated well. The Patriot Valley barrel nut requires quite a bit space--but is well worth it as I found it to be easier to work with than a conventional savage tool slotted nut.