I have a Savage 308 with an XCB barrel I put on it. I've had it 3 years now.
Its always been mediocre by my standards (one barrel finishing guy (buys rifled blanks and threads and chambers them) had the audacity to say if it was 1 MOA that was all you can expect - he uses XCB barrels a lot).
I vehemently disagree, an after market barrel on a Savage should shoot no more than 5/8 MOA.
I have been working the the Hornady 168ELDs lately, they have shown flashes of brilliance as it were.
This last session one of the promising loads I had built up 30 for and some adjustment of the COAL and I got one group that barely broke 3/16 of an inch, another one right after that at 3/8.
Dark was coming on, bit of a wind and 25 degrees. Pretty tickled and a good way to end the day up.
While I would never buy another XCB barrel (its the same price as a Shilen and not finished as well) if it will shoot that consistently then its fine by me.
On the other hand the 30-06 Shillen barrel is shooting 125 gr Sierra hunting pills with not much load development 5/8. Not much it won't shoot like that (and better)
I had not expected it would take anything like this with a variety of bullets to get it to shoot (the XCB was slated to become a plant stake)
Good thing its a 308 and not a 243, I would have burned up the barrel by now.
This one should have another 4,000 rounds in it before it does the plant stake thing (and my wife is alwyas looking for stakes and good yard art!)
Its always been mediocre by my standards (one barrel finishing guy (buys rifled blanks and threads and chambers them) had the audacity to say if it was 1 MOA that was all you can expect - he uses XCB barrels a lot).
I vehemently disagree, an after market barrel on a Savage should shoot no more than 5/8 MOA.
I have been working the the Hornady 168ELDs lately, they have shown flashes of brilliance as it were.
This last session one of the promising loads I had built up 30 for and some adjustment of the COAL and I got one group that barely broke 3/16 of an inch, another one right after that at 3/8.
Dark was coming on, bit of a wind and 25 degrees. Pretty tickled and a good way to end the day up.
While I would never buy another XCB barrel (its the same price as a Shilen and not finished as well) if it will shoot that consistently then its fine by me.
On the other hand the 30-06 Shillen barrel is shooting 125 gr Sierra hunting pills with not much load development 5/8. Not much it won't shoot like that (and better)
I had not expected it would take anything like this with a variety of bullets to get it to shoot (the XCB was slated to become a plant stake)
Good thing its a 308 and not a 243, I would have burned up the barrel by now.
This one should have another 4,000 rounds in it before it does the plant stake thing (and my wife is alwyas looking for stakes and good yard art!)