Savage 'F' Class Barrel Bad

[hutchcat]

After waiting six weeks and putting another 1K in scope dies brass ect. i finally shot my NIB 6.5-284, shoots all over the place, had recrowned by gunsmith, a compotent one, still bad 3-4" at 100 yrds. perfect weather, had gunsmith check, not good
said chamber has one land all the way to case neck area another starts about 1/10" of an inch down the barrel.
end of barrel belled starting from 3" to the end.
I will call savage has anyone else had this problem?

 

[memilanuk]

It's still a factory production rifle - action and barrel both. As such, production line tolerances and boo-boos are bound to be there. Such is life.

Would you be posting it for all the 'Net to see if it was a Remington? Or would you have maybe contacted the factory *first* to give them a chance to make it right?

 

[billmo]

Have not had any problems with my Savage F-class. The rifle shoots as good or better than any FACTORY Manf. rifle that I have ever owned. One mark on the positive side for Savage.
Sorry about your problems. Bill

 

[fdshuster]

I just received a custom, hand-lapped barrel,$285) from one of the top barrel makers. My borescope revealed reamer & tooling marks across the lands & grooves/ completely unacceptable/ it was returned. Bad things happen, deal with it! Another positive mark for Savage, have 2. My 7 yr. old mdl 10FP still holds moa,,or slightly less) at 300 yd. A mdl 12BVSS is very good: no problems.

 

[chuckw2]

I had the same with a Savage .223 heavy bbl. The gun would not shoot at all. I tried everything, all brands of factory ammo, every hand load imaginable. It would not hold a two in group at 100 yards


Called Savage told them the problem. Two days later a lady called me back and asked me to send the gun in so they could examine it.


I did this, and in four weeks I received the gun back with a new barrel . Now it shoots lights out.


I found them very easy to deal with.

 

[Travelor]

I have a M12 LRPV in 223 with a 1:7 twist barrel. I also was unable to get it to shoot and worked with every load combination I could think of. Finally sent it back in to Savage and they have rebarreled it - still not back yet.

A friend purchased the same gun and as having it shoot two goups in each 5 round string. After $300 on action work, rechambering with barrel lapping and recrowning the gun now shoots great. This should never have been needed even in a factory gun.

Also we are having cratered primers with ALL rounds fired. Looking at the bolt face, the firing pin hole is rounded inward. Seems they tumble polish them and the tumbling media does this and it is a common problem. It would not be a problem to change it, but Savage is serial numbering the bolt faces now to match the gun serial number.

Also, why would they be sending out guns with defective barrels and bolt faces when this is a known problem - what happened to proof testing and quality control?

I have always been told that factory barrels are costing the companies in the range of $10 to make. I know that Savage has prided itself in great factory barrels but that seems to be slipping at present. It would be interesting to know what a factory could purchase "real" barrels for if they bought in bulk. I am thinking they could get something like a Douglas barrel for $50'ish. Wouldn't that be a real revelation to have a factory gun with a good barrel.

Yes, I'm kinda' pi**ed at them right now.

George

 

[nobade]

I had one through the shop a couple of days ago. A .259" gage pin would go in the muzzle 1/2 inch, a .258" about 1.5 inches, and the rest of the bore was .257. Ain't no way that barrel is going to shoot. On the bright side, the chamber did look very nice. Just needs to be amputated a bit on the muzzle end. These rifles are a good deal for the price, but look they're going to need work to make them really competitive.

 

[Rustystud]

hutchcat:

When you call Savage ask to speak with Joe DeGrande. He is a busy man and you may have to wait until he calls you back. I am confident he will get your problem fixed. Savage is very well known to keep their customers satisfied. It may have been better if you had sent the rifle back witout making any modifications.
Rustystud

 

[tightneck]

It's still a factory production rifle - action and barrel both. As such, production line tolerances and boo-boos are bound to be there. Such is life.

Would you be posting it for all the 'Net to see if it was a Remington? Or would you have maybe contacted the factory *first* to give them a chance to make it right?

Yeah, I've never seen a bad word posted about Remington. Please...

 

[Bobs243Ackley]

My brother has a Savage 110 that was chambered in .22-250. He showed me some of the brass, and I showed it to Fred Sinclair. He said that it showed that a reamer had chattered, and that it needed a new barrel. The barrel had already had around 2,000 rounds through it. I called Savage and talked to Effie and brought her up to speed, and she had me send the rifle in for my brother. It came back with a new barrel on it and a personal note from Effie to get back with her if we encountered any further problems with the rifle. This is what customer service is all about! I had a Rem. 700 with a crooked chamber in it and even told them where to look after my borescope exam. They called me back to tell me that the problem was due to my reloads! I asked them if they had scoped the chamber & throat area and they said no. I asked them what reloads had to do with poor quality workmanship with a crooked chamber and they would not answer the question. They offered to split the cost of a new factory barrel with me, but would not tell me if the chamber would be any better than what I had. They also complained that I did not send the trigger and stock and that they had to use shop mules to check the rifle. I told them that the trigger had been adjusted down to two pounds and no way would I send them a pillar bedded stock to replace with "factory" items that did not meet my specifications. I had them return the barreled action to me and I would spend my own money to put a good barrel on and that I would never buy a new Remington again if this was all the better that the customer service had become. Needless to say, guess which out of the box rifle I will buy?! Just my two bits for what it is worth.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

 

[keithcatfish]

I have a Savage .223 LPV single shot. Words can't describe how happy I am with it but groups can; several loads shoot <1/2 MOA all day long, a few shoot .30,no wind, of course). The barrel fouls badly,2 or 3 Wipeout applications to remove the copper) but somehow will maintain .5 MOA for 50ish rounds before things get sloppy. I have a friend with an LRPV that rarely shoots better than 1 MOA and have I personally seen a Savage 243 that was terrible. I think every manufacturer turns out a few excellent rifles, a lot of decent rifles and a few poor rifles. Its a crapshoot.

The nice thing about Savage is that many good aftermarket barrels are relatively inexpensive and easily installed in case you get a mediocre factory tube.

 

[chino1969]

After waiting six weeks and putting another 1K in scope dies brass ect. i finally shot my NIB 6.5-284, shoots all over the place, had recrowned by gunsmith, a compotent one, still bad 3-4" at 100 yrds. perfect weather, had gunsmith check, not good
said chamber has one land all the way to case neck area another starts about 1/10" of an inch down the barrel.
end of barrel belled starting from 3" to the end.
I will call savage has anyone else had this problem?

Why didn't you contact Savage before you had a gunsmith recrown it? Savage's customer service is excellent and they would have probably corrected your problem. You had another gunsmith alter a factory barrel and now you're going to call Savage and expect them to correct the problem. From a legal standpoint, Savage can say you modified their product and they are indemnified from the resolution. Please don't complain on this website if that's the response you get.
Chino69

 

[chino1969]

A friend purchased the same gun and as having it shoot two goups in each 5 round string. After $300 on action work, rechambering with barrel lapping and recrowning the gun now shoots great. This should never have been needed even in a factory gun.

Also we are having cratered primers with ALL rounds fired. Looking at the bolt face, the firing pin hole is rounded inward. Seems they tumble polish them and the tumbling media does this and it is a common problem. It would not be a problem to change it, but Savage is serial numbering the bolt faces now to match the gun serial number.

Also, why would they be sending out guns with defective barrels and bolt faces when this is a known problem - what happened to proof testing and quality control?

I have always been told that factory barrels are costing the companies in the range of $10 to make. I know that Savage has prided itself in great factory barrels but that seems to be slipping at present. It would be interesting to know what a factory could purchase "real" barrels for if they bought in bulk. I am thinking they could get something like a Douglas barrel for $50'ish. Wouldn't that be a real revelation to have a factory gun with a good barrel.

Yes, I'm kinda' pi**ed at them right now.

George

I can't let this one go; sorry. Why didn't your friend contact Savage before he spent all this money? I can't let you trash a good company on this website without a counter argument because you are not being fair to Savage in your bashing. Every production rifle is subject to problems: Remington, Ruger, Savage, etc. It's how these manufacturers correct their problems that make some better than others and in my experience, Savage's customer service is excellent. Ruststud's suggestion to contact Joe DeGrande was well founded and you will find him to be a very knowledgeable and courteous rep. The second issue I have with your post is please give me the address of where I can buy a Douglas barrel for $50ish.
I have several Douglas barrels on Savage rifles and I paid more than $50ish a piece for these barrels. If you want a great barrel you have to buy a custom match grade and spend some money; more than $50. Even the match grade barrels have problems from time to time but you have to give the manufacturer a chance to correct the problem before you start complaining and voicing your opinion on a website.
Chino69

 

[treeman]

hello all, I've never had any dealings with the savage factory but i bought a rem. in .17 fireball the front part of the chamber was crooked,necks on fired brass had .011 runout) and it put a dent 1/2 way around the brass at the shoulder/body junction. I sent the rifle and some fired cases in seperate pacages and within 4wks I had a new rifled action with the same bolt. the new barrel shoots well. I'd buy another remington. Treeman

 

[Travelor]

Guys, I was not attempting to bash Savage, but rather reporting on what my friend and I found on our two identical guns. I contacted Savage cusomer service and got great and warm service.

My friend certainly could have sent his rifle back to Savage, but he opted to go another route to have more done to make it more of a "factory custom" gun. His results are outstanding.

I went the way of the factory, which replaced my barrel and sent a test group with it,.8" at 100 yards CTC). Since then, my reloaded groups have been more in the .3" CTC 5 shot group range with Berger bullets. The bolt face was not corrected and I am still having cratered primers as Savage. I have no desire to spend another $50 and wait a month for another trip to Savage.

As far as barrel costs. If Savage,or any other factory) would contact a company such as Douglas and order thousands of barrels, the price would be MUCH better than you or I can get one for. I was using the "$50 'ish" price as a relative number as I have alwasy heard that Remington can produce a hammer forged barrel for $8.00. I do know that at one time Thompson Center had Douglas barrels on some of their T/C muzzle loading rifles as I had one.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers as none was intended.

George

 

[chino1969]

Travelor,
I was just trying to point out going back to the manufacturer if you have a problem with their rifle. This accomplishes two positive results: 1) correcting your problem = happy customer
2) making the manufacturer aware of a problem that may be production related = correction of problem and better product. I just want to level the playing field with comments, you didn't ruffle my feathers. $50 is still way low, in today's market, with regards to Douglas barrels.
Chino69

 

[Travelor]

I agree

 

[hutchcat]

I was not bashing any brand,if some of the very bright people on this site would have read the question instead of reading into the question i asked if anyone had seen this problem, not that savage was not going to do any thing and i would call them, also i had it crowned because i didn't want to wait 4-6 weeks to shoot,and i can afford 25 dollars to be sure that was not the problem, i also own a cooper arms if it had problems i would have also asked if anyone had similar results. thought that was what this forum was for, not a bunch of crying as to why did i post before calling savage, i did call savage the lady said ship it back so i will, just as i would have done for any other gun.