Shaw barrels?

[boltfluter]

With the cost of components in today's world, buying anything but the best barrel you can get will cost you more money in the long run than if you bought the very best barrel to begin with!! Just something to consider.

Paul

 

[Orr89rocz]

I bought a Savage Elite Precision 6mm Creedmoor last year, just now getting around to shooting it due to work requirements. I have significant chatter marks on the lands and the grooves, just like others are sharing in this thread. I have had carbon ring issues causing pressure spikes and some stubborn copper deposits near the muzzle. All of this with only 50 rds down the tube. Butch's Bore Shine was not able to solve the issue, had to go with REM 40x with kroil for the carbon ring, and bore tech eliminator seems to be working the copper out quickly. I also have some worrisome gouges in the freebore area, hoping Tubb's final finish system wears those down a bit.

I have used Tubbs final finish bullets successfully in 3 other guns, just ordered them to work on this barrel. When it is clean, I can get 10 rounds to stack up .3 MOA. After 10, things start spreading out very quickly. I am confident that the Tubb bullets will make a needed difference.

They seemed to help mine. I had a lot of coppering and mediocre accuracy for a while til i used tubbs and got a few more rounds thru it. It shoots well now and no longer gets coppered. I have hit 10” steel at 1375 yards with it now pretty well and really shoots decent at 550 which is as far as i ever plan to shoot it on game anyway

for a match target guy i would agree spend money on the better barrels up front. For a guy having fun with a hunting gun, shaws stuff can work and be cheaper initially, but may need more break in. If you can tubbs off the bat and maybe say 50-100 rounds to get some once fired brass thru it, you should be good

 

[wbm]

Shaw barrels can be a "crap shoot"...put a Shaw 270 barrel on my neighbors Savage for him. Very accurate with premium factory ammunition and no other problems.

 

[pintopete]

What steered me away recently is that they replied that they have a reamer in the caliber I was interested in, and did not need my reamer. That was after explaining the bullet choice, twist, and lots of detail.

 

[justinp61]

With the cost of components in today's world, buying anything but the best barrel you can get will cost you more money in the long run than if you bought the very best barrel to begin with!! Just something to consider.

Paul

This is the point I came to, I bought a LH action and a Shilen SS Select Match barrel in 260. If my bases arrive this week I hope to put a few rounds down the tube.

The reason I decided to build is because I built one just like it in 22-250. The first group out of the Shilen was better than anything out of the Shaw on my mdl 16. Now to make up my mind if I want to part the Mdl 16 out or screw on a 308 barrel I have.

 

[Raptor]

I see were still in discussion about Shaw barrels. I have put quite a few rounds down range with mine now. My Shaw barrel shoots as well as I could ask esp for an AR. It is a solid .5 to .6 with several loads shooting 5 shot groups. It cleans up very easy and barely fouls at all. I am very pleased with mine....

 

[David Milisock]

This is the point I came to, I bought a LH action and a Shilen SS Select Match barrel in 260. If my bases arrive this week I hope to put a few rounds down the tube.

The reason I decided to build is because I built one just like it in 22-250. The first group out of the Shilen was better than anything out of the Shaw on my mdl 16. Now to make up my mind if I want to part the Mdl 16 out or screw on a 308 barrel I have.

I have Shilen, Douglas, Ballistic Advantage, (Remington, Howa factory) and McGowan barrels on my rifles. All shoot very well, the factory barrels shoot 1" at 300 yards, so does the Douglas, Ballistic Advantage and McGowan. The Shilen is on a 450 Marlin magnum custom heavy dangerous game rifle shooting 500 grain solids and soft points, it keeps all of them in one ragged hole at 50 yards with iron sights.

It may be hard to discern who's making good barrels but good customer service can be measured. I can recommend all the custom barrel makers listed.

 

[justinp61]

I finally got to shoot my Shilen barreled 260. It was shot at 200 yards the other day just to get a few rounds (6) down the barrel and on paper. Today I shot it at 100 with rounds loaded for the mdl 16 with the Shaw barrel, two different seating depths, .020" and .030" off the lands. The shaw with 100 rounds through has never even came close to this barrel with only 14 through it. IMO you do get what you pay for.

Rounds #12, 13 and 14, 100 yards, 39.5gr IMR4064, Sierra 120gr Pro Hunters.

 

[std7mag]

Nice, Justinp61.

But i've done the same with my Stevens 200 & E.R. Shaw sporter barrel in 250 Savage at 200 meters. Stupid me decided to see how tight a 5 shot group was & got caught out by the wind on my 5th shot.
75gr Sierra HP Varminter over Varmint powder.

Bloody freak'n thing won't let me attach a file!

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I have several Shaw barrels and every one is a really good shooter. I even won "high score target" at a local match shooting my Shaw 7mm-08. You will have a happier shooting life when you part ways with that bore scope,... I did long ago. I was freaking out over problems that did not exist. Go by what shows up on paper.

 

[AckleymanII]

After looking at Urbanrifleman's barrels, I would opt for a Wilson....hands down! I have three of them now including two 22/243 AI's that smoke the 60g Sierra at 4000-4100 depending on length...very smooth barrels that I have.

 

[justinp61]

I have several Shaw barrels and every one is a really good shooter. I even won "high score target" at a local match shooting my Shaw 7mm-08. You will have a happier shooting life when you part ways with that bore scope,... I did long ago. I was freaking out over problems that did not exist. Go by what shows up on paper.

So I should be happy with 2 1/2-3" with the occasional 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards? I'm not. Shaw has got my last dollar. I'll spend the extra and buy Shilens, for they've been a lot less heart ache.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[justinp61]

I haven't shot the Shaw barreled 260 in many months, thinking now I'll start cutting it off a couple inches at a time and see if it shoots any better. My guess is no but it's something to do on the lathe.

 

[mauser284]

Hammer forged rifling not for me! Barely OK for a hunting rifle(<20 shots/year), but not for a target file. With how quickly that barrel is going to load up with copper it's like your shooting down a different barrel every 10 round or so. By the time you smooth out all that copper holding chatter with Tubbs or a barrel compound you will roundoff all the nice sharp edges of your lands and grooves.

Silly not to spend the extra $100 or so to go with a Shilen, Hart, Douglas or similar button rifled barrel. By the time you get that smoothed out enough to stop the rapid copper build up you will have induced more wear and decreased the barrel's life by more than what you saved.

E.R. Shaw barrels are not CHF they are button rifles just like Shilen, Lija, Criterion, Hart, LW and almost all premium barrels manufactured in the USA. A well made CHF barrel would never be this rough inside unless they purposefully tossed dirt in the bore and went out of their way to dirty up the mandrel before hammering. Most modern CHF barrels look really good. With CHF it comes down to how clean the OEM keeps the mandrel and how often tooling is repaired and replaced.

 

[mauser284]

E.R. Shaw could not afford modern radial hammer forging equipment with out a huge loan hard to imagine given the economy and inflation!

 

[moorepower]

My comment is not directed at anyone. Is it not an amazing time when we can bitch about rifles only shooting 1/2" groups because of the junk barrels! Not that long ago, a 1" group from a hunting rifle was considered good.

 

[justinp61]

My comment is not directed at anyone. Is it not an amazing time when we can bitch about rifles only shooting 1/2" groups because of the junk barrels! Not that long ago, a 1" group from a hunting rifle was considered good.

If the Shaw barrel on this rifle had shot 1“ this thread wouldn’t exist. Our deer season came in last Saturday. So earlier last week I got the LH Shilen barreled 260 out and shot it to check its zero. Straight out of the safe with the 120 gr Sierras loaded last year it shot three just over 1/2” center to center.

The mdl 16 with the Shaw is in the back of the safe, out of sight and out of mind.

 

[moorepower]

If the Shaw barrel on this rifle had shot 1“ this thread wouldn’t exist. Our deer season came in last Saturday. So earlier last week I got the LH Shilen barreled 260 out and shot it to check its zero. Straight out of the safe with the 120 gr Sierras loaded last year it shot three just over 1/2” center to center.

The mdl 16 with the Shaw is in the back of the safe, out of sight and out of mind.

Reread my first sentence. I have 3 Shilen prefits, so I understand where your coming from. I also have a bunch of factory Salvage barrels, that look far worse than the one in the photo's that all shoot sub 1/2", that many here would call a tomato stake and order a new barrel, even if it shot 1/2" groups. I have a Remington 788 that barely shot 1" groups with handloads and was very picky on what bullet would shoot. I ran the whole Tubb's firelap series down the barrel, and now it shoots pretty much everything I care to shoot from 1/2-3/4", that does not copper foul. I saw a add for a Sako L46 from the 50's, bragging that their .222 will shoot 1" groups with match ammo, and that's where I based my comment. If it was my barrel, and Shaw did not replace, I would firelap and see how it shoots.

 

[justinp61]

Reread my first sentence. I have 3 Shilen prefits, so I understand where your coming from. I also have a bunch of factory Salvage barrels, that look far worse than the one in the photo's that all shoot sub 1/2", that many here would call a tomato stake and order a new barrel, even if it shot 1/2" groups. I have a Remington 788 that barely shot 1" groups with handloads and was very picky on what bullet would shoot. I ran the whole Tubb's firelap series down the barrel, and now it shoots pretty much everything I care to shoot from 1/2-3/4", that does not copper foul. I saw a add for a Sako L46 from the 50's, bragging that their .222 will shoot 1" groups with match ammo, and that's where I based my comment. If it was my barrel, and Shaw did not replace, I would firelap and see how it shoots.

I was merely stating that if my barrel would've shot 1" all would've been well. One of these days I may try the Tubbs system, but as scarce as primers are it won't be anytime soon. I've already wasted over 100 loads on it. Some lessons are hard learned I suppose.

 

[Orr89rocz]

I did the tubbs thing on my 257 and it cleaned up the bore well. First hundred or so rounds copper fouled terribly. I had ok groups but nothing fantastic and wasn’t consistent. After fire lapping i did a new load series with sierra tipped gamekings and now it will do 3 shots in one ragged hole on a good day, if i do my part. No longer coppers