308 to 260 Rem. barrel switch on a Savage

B

Bill Daniel

New member
This may only be a pipe dream but if those "in the know" were to have the bug to change from 308 to 260 Rem. for a thousand yard target rifle what barrel maker would you choose. This is a Savage FCP that is sub MOA in my inexperienced hands. This would also be strictly a target rifle. I don't have the excess cash or experience to justify a custom AI or Surgeon but might want to try and make this rifle as good a target rifle as I can. In the mean time I am working on my perfect 308 load so I am in no rush.
Thanks in advance,
Bill Daniel
 
I build rifles (not that it gives me a position of "in the know"), and I have been using McGowen barrels for the past several years with good success.
 
IMO accuracy starts with the barrel, not the action. So while a custom may be desired it isn't required to have an accurate gun as you very well know with your savage. Some people say different, but i have a friend of mine that just finds himself a old 700 BDL gets a shilen match select and his accuracy is great. I myself like bartlein. GAP uses them, they make the #7 GAP contour (slightly less than the m40/m24).

Bartlein
Krieger
Schneider
Pac-Nor
Rock Creek
Broughton
Brux
Hart
Lilja
McGowen
Douglas
Shilen
etc.

Take your pick hard to go wrong with any of those.
 
When you are ready call Jim Briggs at Northland Shooters Supply (NSS).

Contact Information for NSS:
E-mail - briggs.j-b@q.com (that is Q.com not G.com)
Phone - 763/682-4296
Fax - 763/682-6098
Mailing address:
PO Box 333
Buffalo, MN 55313

He sells Criterion, Shilen, and McGowen and will probably have a .260 Rem 26" varmint contour in stock when you are ready to buy. You'll have around a 2-3 week wait vs. 16 weeks with a barrel maker. Jim takes a lot of orders, so it may take a few days for him to ship you a barrel after you order. Still he is a lot faster, and the quality is great.
 
When you are ready call Jim Briggs at Northland Shooters Supply (NSS).

Contact Information for NSS:
E-mail - briggs.j-b@q.com (that is Q.com not G.com)
Phone - 763/682-4296
Fax - 763/682-6098
Mailing address:
PO Box 333
Buffalo, MN 55313

He sells Criterion, Shilen, and McGowen and will probably have a .260 Rem 26" varmint contour in stock when you are ready to buy. You'll have around a 2-3 week wait vs. 16 weeks with a barrel maker. Jim takes a lot of orders, so it may take a few days for him to ship you a barrel after you order. Still he is a lot faster, and the quality is great.
Click to expand...

X2 on NSS, to get the best accuracy make sure you get a precision ground lug from him for it also. If this is your first barrel switchout you need to purchase a set of vice inserts, a barrel nut wrench, and a set of go/no go gages. The 260 will use the same boltface as the 308. Jim also sells a selection of factory new Savage barrels for the budget minded.

The break in on my latest Criterion took a total of 30 rounds before I stopped getting copper ( 5x 1, 5 x 3, 2 x 5 ). The second outing when I did my load workup I shot 80 rounds that day. When I cleaned it afterward I used 1 wet patch, a brushing with a nylon brush, a second wet patch and 2 dry patches and it was clean with no signs of copper. Shot my best group ever, a .192 5 shot group with it. That was handloads, with factory Hornady it will average .5 to .75 groups.

The hardest part of swapping a barrel on a Savage is getting the factory barrel off. I swear they use Godzilla to torque em on. Jim @ NSS recommended to use a bit of brown sugar on the barrel to help it keep slipping, it works.
 
Last edited:
hounddawg said:
I swear they use Godzilla to torque em on.
Click to expand...

Savage claims to use 110 lb grandmothers to torque the barrel nut. They must work out four hours a day before they come to work.
 
Savage claims to use 110 lb grandmothers to torque the barrel nut. They must work out four hours a day before they come to work.
Click to expand...

I had a 110 lb grandmother... she may have been small, but ornery goes a long way... she coulda' taken on a grizzly with nothin' but a switch and sent him off cryin'.
 
Thanks everyone!
Is there a point at which name and reputation exceed quality and value in a rifle barrel. Perusing rifle barrels showed a high of 425.00 for BRUX and low of 260.00 for McGowen and 285.00 for PAC-NOR with Douglas, Bartlein, Krieger, Shilen, Lilja and Hart being in the low to mid 300.00s.
Any recommendations on an economic quality barrel vice?
Thanks again,
Bill Daniel
 
Just build a barrel vise out of wood blocks and scrap metal. Look at pictures of one and you'll see they are pretty simple designs. Use a good hard wood for your blocks, and get some talc to let grip your barrel. You could use a regular vise or large C-clamps to hold the blocks as well if you didn't want to make the barrel vise to hold the blocks.

I don't use a barrel vise, but an action wrench that a buddy and I split the cost on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top