Savage rebarrel

[criterionbarrels]

I think he was responding to savagedasher's reply regarding our relationship with Krieger. Criterion and Krieger are two separate organizations, but we still have a great working relationship with the folks at Krieger!

 

[swadiver]

That's a solid shooter you've got there swadiver! Thank you for your business, it's much appreciated.

thank you! love your barrels. after my experience with the .308 barrel, I decided to put together a .223 with a Criterion pre fit on a standard Model 10 action. just shot my personal best 5 shot group with it at 100 yards at just under .2 inches. My shooting buddy, who is a Remington man, just replaced his 700 barrel with a "Remage" Criterion and it looks to be a shooter as well. keep up the good work.

BTW, you got a great distributor/sales agent in Jim at Northland Shooting Supply. made buying and installing the barrels a pretty easy process for a new shooter like me.

 

[broncman]

What twist rates do Criterion off in 30cal? I want to do a slow twist for a 30 BR type setup. I have a Shillen prefit that I had done by Shillen for 215 bergers. Shoots very well at 1000.

I wished Northland had more reamer options for their prefits. Such as different neck options for the 308. Shillen offers several different neck diamters for 308.
I went with a basically no turn neck for Lapua brass.

 

[swadiver]

What twist rates do Criterion off in 30cal? I want to do a slow twist for a 30 BR type setup. I have a Shillen prefit that I had done by Shillen for 215 bergers. Shoots very well at 1000.

I wished Northland had more reamer options for their prefits. Such as different neck options for the 308. Shillen offers several different neck diamters for 308.
I went with a basically no turn neck for Lapua brass.

1 in 10 and 1 in 12 i believe. mine is a 1 in 10.

 

[KMart]

What twist rates do Criterion off in 30cal? I want to do a slow twist for a 30 BR type setup. I have a Shillen prefit that I had done by Shillen for 215 bergers. Shoots very well at 1000.





I bought a 13 twist in 308 from Jim. I don't think he stocks them as he had to order the barrel.
It shot 175 grain bullets well. Haven't tried heavier.

 

[jonbearman]

I have shilens, mcgowens,brux,pac-nor ,criterions as well. The best shooters for me are pacnor, mcgowen,brux, for number 1 and a close second would be criterion, shilen etc. Truthfully all the after market stuff works out well. I haven't tried x-caliber yet but will be next. Jim at northland is a great guy and very helpful whether you make a purchase or not. If you have a reamer criterion and shilen will use it to make your barrel to that spec.

 

[Iowa Fox]

swadiver, Does the XLR chassis use all three mounting screws on the Target action or just the front and rear? Thanks

 

[swadiver]

swadiver, Does the XLR chassis use all three mounting screws on the Target action or just the front and rear? Thanks

mine, which i originally purchased for a 2 screw non target action, allows only 2 screws. i guess one could fill the mag well and utilize three screws then. not sure if XLR makes a dedicated 3 screw version. might be worth checking with them

 

[Iowa Fox]

Thanks swadiver. I wonder just how important that middle screw is? I'm in the middle of one using a target action and everything affordable is a two screw stock. I'm ready to loctite a set screw in the middle action screw hole and just use the front and rear action holes.

 

[swadiver]

Thanks swadiver. I wonder just how important that middle screw is? I'm in the middle of one using a target action and everything affordable is a two screw stock. I'm ready to loctite a set screw in the middle action screw hole and just use the front and rear action holes.

I have the same question regarding the use of the middle screw. it would be nice to put it to use. as of this point, i have not done anything with it, and the rifle is shooting well. i could see an aluminum block secured in place of the magwell and a hole drilled to utilize the center action screw. i am not sure how to pull that off, however. any members have some ideas on this?

 

[Iowa Fox]

Whidden makes a three screw aluminum bedding block for 90 dollars. I wouldn't mind trying one but I can find a wood stock that I like the shape of to try it in. For now I'm just going to have to stay with the two screw stocks. Maybe someone here has used the Whidden three screw block and will chime in.

 

[Ilmo]

anyone have experience with lothar walther savage prefit barrels?

 

[jonbearman]

To Iowa fox. The BVSS stock works pretty well. I milled mine forend flat, took about a quarter inch off and the rear I left alone.

 

[Mozella]

........ snip........................ i could see an aluminum block secured in place of the magwell and a hole drilled to utilize the center action screw. i am not sure how to pull that off, however. any members have some ideas on this?

It seems to me that you would than have a two screw rifle with a block of aluminum hanging from the center action screw. I would think you would want the center action screw to help secure the action to the stock which would require whatever you put into the mag well to be a solid part of the stock.

I've thought about this situation since I also have a Savage Target action and noticed the lack of appropriate stocks. I made a poor investment in a rather expensive McMillan stock matched to my 3 screw action. It's nice, but not 5 or 6 times as my carefully bedded Boyd's stocks which use two screw Savage actions.

One thought which came to mind was to fit a piece of wood into the mag well of an inexpensive stock, perhaps a Boyd's, and bond it in with some epoxy mixed with flocked cotton. A pair of cross dowels might be a good idea too. This would be done prior to bedding. Then install three pilars and bed the action as usual with Devcon either all at once along with the pilars, or as a separate step. The bottom could be faired and smoothed if the stock were to be painted or you could fabricate a piece of fake bottom metal to hide the mag well plug.

By making the mag well plug an integral part of the stock, the center action screw would then perform the intended function.

 

[swadiver]

I see what you mean. the rifle is shooting well at this point so i probably won't do anything for now. maybe a different stock in the future.

 

[Elkbane]

Ilmo,
I'm running a 28" varmint contour Lothar Walther 260 Rem on a SA tactical build. The exterior finish is the best of any of my aftermarket Savage barrels, and the performance is fine. It shoots the 123 grain Scenars great, and decent with 130 grain bergers. Have not really fiddled with larger bullets.

I have a Douglas in 7mm-08, a McGowen .243 and the Lothar Walther 260. All work great. The McGowen is probably the best shooter of the 3, but that may be the platform I have it on - 15 lb straight benchrest rig with a 6 oz trigger and a weaver T-36 - its just an easy gun to shoot.
Elkbane

 

[swadiver]

Update on my Savage Re-barrel project.

I went with a Criterion 28 inch bull contour pre fit .308 barrel. Instead of using the original Savage action, I installed it in a Savage Target Action and a XLR Industries chassis system. Glass is a Sightron SIII 8-32x56.

I used the original Savage short action to build up a budget .223 built around another Criterion pre-fit.

anyways, pretty happy with the Criterion .308 barrel. at 100 yards, when i do my part (not as often as i would like) I am seeing .21" to .3" 5 shot groups with Berger 150 gr HPBT flat base bullets on top of either Varget or RE-15. 168 and 175 gr SMK's are giving around a half inch or a bit less.

I will finally get a chance to shoot it at 300 yds this weekend. anxious to see how it does there. next month, a road trip to a 600 to 1000 yd range is in the offing. we will see how it goes there as well...........................

My Savage/Criterion rifle continues to shoot very good, but.........as always i want a little more out of it.

I am still only shooting at 100yards, but looking to get the smallest groups possible out of this rifle. I am using a front and rear rest and it turns out this rifle shoots very good and consistently free recoil, which surprised me. anyway, using 150 gr Berger flat base, 168 gr Nosler Custom competition, and Berger 168 gr Hybrid bullets, i can get consistent low to mid .3's, five shot groups. all very good. the thing is, very often in those groups, i am getting 4 shots in the mid .1's to mid .2's, but then i always get a flyer that opens the groups up into the .3's. it is not always the first shot or the last, and sometimes it is in the middle of the string. this has been on very calm days and with a cool barrel or a warm one. WTF?, I want those .1 to .2's 5 shot groups!!

I am assuming it may be something in my brass prep or bullet seating process. i have been using once fired ADI brass, previously fired in my original Savage rifle (different action/barrel). i did measure brass head space on this current rifle and have been FL sizing them and bumping the shoulders back about .002". i do not turn necks, but do all the other accuracy steps in my prep. i have been using Redding's deluxe die set, not their competition dies.

also, i am not ruling anything out in my shooting technique as well.

so, going on the ridiculous idea of throwing money at a problem, I just ordered the following:

1) 100 cases of Lapua brass
2) Lee collet neck sizing die
3) Redding body die
4) Whidden Gunworks seating die

my plan is to run the new Lapua brass through the Lee collet neck sizer, chamfer the in and out of the Lapua's and then go shoot 'em. i will then neck size only for as long as needed and then bump shoulders to the proper head space with the body die.

any comments or suggestions on the way forward to meet my goal is appreciated.

 

[Zero333]

I use Lapua 308 & 243 brass and Winchester 308 & 243 brass. I have to weigh sort the Winchester brass but after sorting it, it shoots as good as the Lapua brass.

You can improve your groups marginally if you set up BR type wind flags along the 100 yards of bullet travel and learn to read them.

If your groups average 0.3" then this is all you will get out of this set up. If you want to shrink your groups even more then you have to get the barreled action bedded into a BR type stock, turn necks, anneal, BR front/rear rests etc etc... What I'm saying is, I would be plenty happy with this kind of performance out of your setup.

 

[swadiver]

I use Lapua 308 & 243 brass and Winchester 308 & 243 brass. I have to weigh sort the Winchester brass but after sorting it, it shoots as good as the Lapua brass.

You can improve your groups marginally if you set up BR type wind flags along the 100 yards of bullet travel and learn to read them.

If your groups average 0.3" then this is all you will get out of this set up. If you want to shrink your groups even more then you have to get the barreled action bedded into a BR type stock, turn necks, anneal, BR front/rear rests etc etc... What I'm saying is, I would be plenty happy with this kind of performance out of your setup.

thanks for the input. i not willing to disagree with you on this. being pretty new at this precision game, i was not clear as to what i could expect accuracy wise with this setup. i am going to continue to try to shrink the groups further withe some of the new gizmos i ordered and consider my next move. eventually i would like to do some F Class competitions, but i am not too worried at this point whether i am competitive or not. just want to have some fun and learn more about long range precision shooting

 

[Zero333]

You have a perfect F/TR rifle. That's what I would look into doing if I was you. F/TR is F-class for 308/223 scoped rifles and F/TR operating costs are less than F-open.