Savage 12 6BR Initial Cleaing and Bore Pics -Ouch!?

[ASbobcat]

I've owned many "post 2006" Savages and have had the same experience with all of them. The barrels are production run, not hand lapped like custom barrels. All of mine shot very well in spite of crude machining, but do foul easily. I spend a lot of money on a custom barrel once and it cleaned easier, but didn't shoot any better.
I just shoot the factory barrel until it gives up, cleaning every couple of hundred rounds with Boretech Cu4/Eliminator.

 

[rifleman700]

Tubb FF will help smooth up bore.

 

[garytex]

Since the barrel shoots, lapping it with the attendant risk of screwing something up may not be the best choice. I could not find a gunsmith that would lap a barrel, and have had some real fouler factory barrels in the past. This was before the newer copper cleaners. So a day at the range meant a day cleaning with JB. I really like Wipe Out for copper, and it's anticorrosive properties. Foam them up, soak overnight, and patch out. Super easy and safe.
But, back to the subject at hand.
If you can get your hands on a good borescope, and can see what you are doing, and are mad enough at the rough bore, you can lap the barrel yourself. Note, I started lapping on a very rough DPMS AR barrel that really wouldn't shoot. I was going to throw it away, so no big deal if I screwed it up. That barrel was probably manufactured by White Oak according to some wise (and cheap) old High Power shooters. I learned this trick from them, they routinely lap their WOP Barrels, and are state and occasionally national level competitors.

I used a bore guide and Parker - Hale roll type jags and cotton patches. I started with 800 grit, which did nothing, and progressed rougher through the grits to 160, which was aggressive enough to knock the edges off the transverse tool marks. I then progressed back finer through the grits to smooth the bore, not using many strokes, maybe 20 per grit, checking with the borescope frequently.
The barrel immediately shot better, actually great, and has about 3000 rounds down the bore, and is my go-to PD rifle. It shoots as well as my Bartelien.
I also routinely lap the reamer marks in the throat of freshly chambered rifles, 400 grit is right for that task, and then there is no break in, they shoot and do not foul. It is thought that the rough throat scores tiny particles of copper off the bullet, which vaporize and condense on the bore further down the barrel. I'll buy that but also think that some fouling in rough barrel is simply smeared off the bullets.

None of this is doable without a good borescope. You have to be able to see what you are doing. Too much is easy to do and as bad or worse than too little.

So, Wipe Out or lapping. The Tubbs or Neco fire lapping also work. Still need a borescope though. Or shoot and clean, that's what DPMS/White Oal recommend "It may take several hundred rounds to settle down" and since it shoots well, thats probably OK. I just couldn't stand to shoot several hundred inaccurate shots.

 

[RonAKA]

I have a Savage LRPV in 6BR. I just followed the Savage Recommendations for Break-In, using Barnes CR-10 for the copper cleaner. I now forget the exact number of rounds fired, but I did modify the procedure to move on to the next step when I was not getting much or any copper on the patch. Number of rounds fired was significantly less than the full routine suggested. I wrap a patch around a nylon brush, and of course avoid using a bronze brush.

With your barrel, I would complete the Savage recommended procedure, and then decide if you have an issue or not.

I'm happy with my barrel, except for the fact it is a 12 twist, and Savage used a longer freebore reamer that would be more suitable for a 8 twist using long heavy bullets. That limits me on the light end bullets as I run out of neck to reach the lands. No 0.3's at 300 but not bad at 100 meters...

 

[waterfwlr]

RonAKA, I have the same LRPV 12tw 6br. Try the berger 80 varmint, they shoot outstanding in my with Varget and cci 450. The 87 vmax even shoots really well.

 

[Barrel Nut]

You need to get that rifle to the next match that you can. That's unbelievably accurate!!!!!!!!

Really, that's unbelievable!!!!

You can say that again. This sort of precision from a factory gun is fantastic. I've never seen anything like it.

 

[savagedasher]

Just removeing the copper will do nothin you need to use JB or Isso . Fire lapping .
Remember what a barrel looks like with a scope doesn't always show on paper .
Larry

 

[M-61]

I have the same rifle.
I have NEVER owned or shot a FACTORY rifle with the accuracy this one produces. Not really even close. 6BR LRPV RBLP Mueller scope.
I do not own or have access to a bore scope. I use no magic cleaners nor have some special routine other than I always have at least run a wet patch through the bore as soon as I return from the range (10 Minutes) I may continue to clean it then or usually it's a few hours later. No clue whether this helps in cleaning or not. All I know is the group size. Factory rifle....unreal. Maybe my rifling looks worse than is shown...no idea and no interest in knowing. Where I shoot it's group size that counts, never had anyone judge the barrel for anything.

 

[RonAKA]

RonAKA, I have the same LRPV 12tw 6br. Try the berger 80 varmint, they shoot outstanding in my with Varget and cci 450. The 87 vmax even shoots really well.

I've tried the 80 grain Bergers. They are OK in my gun, but the 68 grain Berger, 68 grain Bart's, and 69 grain Berger out shoot them. The best 3 shot 3 groups average for the 80 grain I've gotten is 0.287". Have not tried the Vmax...

 

[Bigguy1951]

My Savage 12 FLV, 22-250, was a copper mine its entire life, 1050 shots. That said it was also very accurate and loved to shoot 69gr SMK's. It shot 1/2 moa groups if I did my job and always less than 1 moa if I screwed up a little. I have replaced that barrel with an X-caliber barrel that has never had any copper in it. It now has 580 rounds through. I guess the point is that the copper was never a big issue. If you want to smooth the barrel, go to the David Tubbs website and buy a set of his lapping bullets. They really work. I used them in a 300 Weatherby mag. that had a horrible barrel. It had constrictions and was very rough. It would copper to the point of accuracy degradation in 10 shots. After the Tubbs bullets it still would copper foul, but only slightly and accuracy was not affected.

 

[Scarab]

My .02! I had purchased a Savage 12 BR chambered in a 6BR. My Savage loved copper from round 1-1500! I went through all the steps to stop it short of fire lapping and made no difference. I can say that my Savage won a pile of 1,2 and 3rd place finishes and with over 1500rds on it, it would still shoot .200 5 shot groups at 100yds when it was in tune. Moral to the story, I noticed accuracy degradation around 23rds and at this point it's time to clean the copper!

 

[moondog]

I wouldn't suggest doing this on a custom barrel but on a factory barrel have you thought about looking into the David Tubbs Fire lapping system . To lap out the valleys , NO , but to smooth out ,lap, any high jagged edges , what's the harm ?

#1 on this. I just rolled my own between a couple pieces of glass and progressively finer
lapping compound. It shot pretty damn good for a BR for about 3500 rounds on P-dogs.
Eventually new barrel woke it up.

 

[WindSurgeon]

I am reacting to the picture, but doesn't that look like rust to anyone else?

 

[newbieshooter]

I have a Savage LRPV in 6BR. I just followed the Savage Recommendations for Break-In, using Barnes CR-10 for the copper cleaner. I now forget the exact number of rounds fired, but I did modify the procedure to move on to the next step when I was not getting much or any copper on the patch. Number of rounds fired was significantly less than the full routine suggested. I wrap a patch around a nylon brush, and of course avoid using a bronze brush.

With your barrel, I would complete the Savage recommended procedure, and then decide if you have an issue or not.

I'm happy with my barrel, except for the fact it is a 12 twist, and Savage used a longer freebore reamer that would be more suitable for a 8 twist using long heavy bullets. That limits me on the light end bullets as I run out of neck to reach the lands. No 0.3's at 300 but not bad at 100 meters...

Do you happen to know how fast those 68s are going? Those are impressive groups...

 

[RonAKA]

Do you happen to know how fast those 68s are going? Those are impressive groups...

The average velocity was 3420 fps. I identified a flat spot in that velocity range with a ladder test that seems to work well for bullets in that weight range.

 

[Scarab]

The average velocity was 3420 fps. I identified a flat spot in that velocity range with a ladder test that seems to work well for bullets in that weight range.

I like the graph! Guess it's time to freshen up my excel skills. Well done

 

[Drop Port]

I wouldn't worry about copper if it shoots.

1- your barrel is harder than the bullet jacket, so you can shoot and clean as much as you want and it will never remove the tooling marks or stop most of the fouling in a factory barrel.

2- Bore scoping a factory barrel will only traumatize you and show you how little you know about barrels. Most of those screamer factory barrels would leave you scratching your head if you scoped them. After seeing a 1/2 MOA Remington missing a two inch section of land I now use the scope only occasionally for cleaning and let the targets tell the tale.