Comments on: Criterion Barrel on Savage LRPV — Pre-Fit Does the Trick

By: Guy

Guy — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 21:55:37 +0000

Savage used to be a excellent value, lower price and shoot very very well with there button rifled factory barrels. Unfortunately the company appears to sold one to many times and no longer can be counted on to shot well out of the box. Ive always contended it comes down to bullets and barrels, the rest is a very small piece of the pie.

By: Boyd Allen

Boyd Allen — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:29:40 +0000

As a matter of fact, if one were to tally up the total costs involved in multiple trips to the range, and components,and put any value on one’s time, not making a barrel change may be the more expensive alternative. IMO good barrels “want” to shoot, and for that reason finding a suitable load for one is generally a pretty straightforward affair. I should add, that in my opinion, spending much effort on load development for a rifle that has not
been properly bedded, is a major waste of time.

One of the problems that can occur with factory barrels, that can only be seen at the target, is unrelieved stress. Even if you were to fix the dimensional, and interior finish issues, this might still cause problems.

I have have had good luck with varmint weight factory Savage barrels, but I do not expect them to keep up with my aftermarket barrels, for a variety of reasons, including chamber dimensions, and the method by which they are chambered.

By: Editor

Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:51:58 +0000

Mike wrote: “Did he try fire lapping? Like the Tubb final finish.It might have solve the problem for 70$.”

Editor: I doubt it. I did use the Tubb Final Finish on my .260 Rem barrel that split groups. It main no difference what-soever in terms of the split groups and there was zero improvement in accuracy.

By: fdshuster

fdshuster — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:10:20 +0000

A quote from the January 2000 issue of “Precision Shooting” magazine: An executive with one of the largest rifle manufacturers in the United States recently remarked to a “Precision Shooting” writer that it costs them approximately $15.00 to make a rifle barrel.

By: geo

geo — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:17:24 +0000

Is this a problem that Savage would fix under warranty?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:27:19 +0000

I seriously doubt that this barrel was so bad that the only fix was a aftermarket barrel. I have gotten a couple of barrels, throughout the years that people claimed “I did everything and this piece of crap will not shoot,” And them barrels was the best shooting barrels I have ever had. The problem was the shooter was addressing problem not related to the barrel such as the myth of floating the tang, and removing the middle screw, and torquing the action. If he would have learned the barrel he might have found that he had a barrel that shoots as good as his new Criterion. Well I guess you can throw money at a problem, I am glad he is happy, and it worked out for him.

EDITOR: Patrick, you could be right. But we think the owner gave this barrel AMPLE opportunity to prove itself, and his fixes included cutting a new chamber — an expensive proposition. You wrote: “If he would have learned the barrel” What does that mean? In my experience with dozens of barrels, a truly exceptional barrel will start grouping small within a handful of rounds. A good barrel should “come in” within 25 rounds, though accuracy may improve after 100 rounds (particularly with a cut-rifled barrel). If anything, with this barrel, I think the owner would have saved himself time, money, and aggravation if he had gone the custom barrel route sooner, not later!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:14:07 +0000

Did he tried fire lapping? Like the Tubb final finish.It might have solve the problem for 70$. Anyway I would be curious to see before and after result on that barrel.