Did my first barrel swap this morning

[Nature Boy]

changed the barrel on my son’s (14) Savage model 12 BVSS.

Ordered everything I needed from Northland Shooter Supply including the Shillen 1:7 28” bull barrel.

He shot it in stock trim in his first F Class match last month. He did OK but with the original 1:9 the heaviest bullet I could get to stabilize was the 69g SMKs. Hopefully with this new barrel I’ll get some good loads with 80g-90g pills which will allow him to be competitive with the .308s at 600 yards.

Swap was very, very easy.

 

[TonyInFla]

Nice job. I have the same rifle in factory configuration and really like it. Wish your son good luck with it.

 

[Demi-human]

Looking good! I hope it serves him well.
Mine was an F/TR and came with a seven twist. I have some eighty eldms to try soon.
Got to love those Sinclair bipods! Cool feet!

 

[horsemen61]

Very cool Op can you please walk us through what you needed to do the swap and how you did the swap not to hijack your thread?

 

[Nature Boy]

Very cool Op can you please walk us through what you needed to do the swap and how you did the swap not to hijack your thread?

I just did what most do these days and watched a video. Here’s the one I used.



One thing I did differently was leave the go gage in the chamber when I tightened the barrel nut. Didn’t do that the first time and when I checked after assembly the go gage wouldn’t go indicating the barrel must have turned with the nut. Maybe thats the way everyone does it but it wasn’t clear in the video

 

[LoonWulf]

Nice work! While it ain't rocket science, it's still an accomplishment in it's own right.

As to leaving the gauge in some do, some don't. I always do, but that means your chamber is set for theoretical, functional "minimum".
If you shoot factory ammo, eventually you'll probably find one that won't go, or at least that's been my experience.
When I do rifles for other folks I'll usually tighten the barrel up on the go guage, then back it of slightly, and hold the barrel as tighten the barrel nut.
After that check both go and nongo.

For myself I set it tight on the go guage and leave it in as I tighten the barrel nut.

 

[Legionnaire]

Good job. After building my first Remage on a Model 7 action, I'm hooked. I have a McGowan barrel in .260 Ackley arriving today and plan to do the assembly this weekend. It will be kind of a Frankengun and won't look anywhere near as pretty as your son's. Second-hand 700 SA bought on the Hide, Grayboe stock bought on sale, second-hand Timney from AR15.com, etc. I may rattle-can the whole thing before I'm finished ... kind of hoping for an ugly shooter.

 

[someguy2800]

I personally don't use gauges, I size a piece of fired brass in my die then I use the brass as a gauge and adjust to get the feel i want when closing the bolt. I set it to where I can just feel a tiny bit of resistance camming the bolt home then mark it and turn it back a tiny bit. My goal is to have to brass grow a thousandth or two when fired.

 

[rbernie]

Since none of the rifles I have built are constructed for long range precision work, I screw the barrel in until it touches the go gauge, back it out about 10° of rotation, and then tighten the lock nut with the go gauge still in the chamber and the barrel being held in place. My theory is that the go gauge will act as a stop in case the barrel rotates as the nut is tightened, but I have the barrel just off minimum headspace spec to accommodate some variance in ammunition dimension.

From memory - the difference between the minimum ‘go’ and being able to close on a ‘no go’ gauge is probably 30° of barrel rotation. I have a math at home somewhere, based on the barrel thread pitch, but I’m reasonably comfortable with my memory that ~30° of rotation is the difference between closing on the go gauge and closing on a no go gauge.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Since none of the rifles I have built are constructed for long range precision work, I screw the barrel in until it touches the go gauge, back it out about 10° of rotation

Put a piece of scotch tape on the 'case head' of the go gauge. That will be ideal.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Swap was very, very easy.

If you start with a Model 10/12, and simply put on a good drop-in barrel from Shilen/PACNOR/etc. you end up with a great shooting rifle at a bargain price.

I have several of these. Love every one.

 

[Nature Boy]

I was finally able to get to the range today and try this rifle with new barrel

Did the shoot/clean/shoot/clean till there was no visible copper showing (~50 rounds)

Next I shot 25 at 100 yards using my pet .223 load, 69g SMKs, 25.3g of Varget, 205M primers and Nosler brass. All 25 just under 1 MOA



I tell you what I’m really liking. My 4.5-14x50 Leupold wasn’t strong enough for 600 yards so I’ve been looking for something used at a reasonable price. Found this Nightforce BR 12-42x56 for a great deal. What a nice scope. Perfect for this rifle and it’s new purpose. I may be fighting my son for who gets to shoot it



Waiting on some 90g VLDs to arrive so I can work up a load that will shoot at 600.

 

[taliv]

man i love those old nightforce benchrests. i had one on my etronx 6xc

25 rounds... dang good shooting!! nice round group

that load was almost exactly what i used for the short lines in CMP/NRA HP

 

[Creed Bennett]

I personally don't use gauges, I size a piece of fired brass in my die then I use the brass as a gauge and adjust to get the feel i want when closing the bolt. I set it to where I can just feel a tiny bit of resistance camming the bolt home then mark it and turn it back a tiny bit. My goal is to have to brass grow a thousandth or two when fired.

I was wondering why this wouldn’t work. I’m glad to see someone that actually does this and it apparently works for you. I’m a big Savage fan and bought a old Savage model 10 that had been really abused to experiment with. I also purchased the barrel vice and action wrench. I haven’t had the chance to use it all yet because I had to quit my job due to health reasons and don’t have any disposable income at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be going back to work soon and can afford a barrel and the go/nogo gauges to get everything set correctly. I’m also planning on experimenting with the sized case as a headspace gauge. The rifle or victim in this case is a 243 so I can get the proper gauges and be able to use them on quite a few cartridges that are in the 308 family.
Someguy2800, have you used the cartridge case as a gauge for quite a few other barrel swaps with success?

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I tell you what I’m really liking. My 4.5-14x50 Leupold wasn’t strong enough for 600 yards so I’ve been looking for something used at a reasonable price. Found this Nightforce BR 12-42x56 for a great deal. What a nice scope. Perfect for this rifle and it’s new purpose. I may be fighting my son for who gets to shoot it

That is a great combo!

Savage BVSS/Nightforce

• RugerOldArmy
• Feb 11, 2018

.22-250 before PAC-NOR barrel

 

[Nature Boy]

That is a great combo!

Savage BVSS/Nightforce

• RugerOldArmy
• Feb 11, 2018

.22-250 before PAC-NOR barrel

Twins!

Question for you.

When setting up this scope I ran out of elevation travel (down) so at 100 yards I’m 2” high of POA.

Did you have the same problem?

It’s not a big issue. It would have been more of a problem if it went the other way

 

[RugerOldArmy]

When setting up this scope I ran out of elevation travel (down) so at 100 yards I’m 2” high of POA.

Did you have the same problem?

I didn't run into that. Curiously, I have a 20 MOA base. All things being equal, I'd have expected mine to be more likely to have had that issue, than yours.

 

[Nature Boy]

I didn't run into that. Curiously, I have a 20 MOA base. All things being equal, I'd have expected mine to be more likely to have had that issue, than yours.

I have the same base as you.

Is there a zero stop on these scopes?

It also looks like the ring heights are similar

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Yes, there is the ability to change the zero stop on the scope. I recall setting turrets to zero when sighted in.

I think we have the same rings, based on your picture.

 

[Nature Boy]

Yes, there is the ability to change the zero stop on the scope. I recall setting turrets to zero when sighted in.

I think we have the same rings, based on your picture.

I bet I hit the zero stop. I'll investigate that

How odd though that we have almost identical set ups

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I bet I hit the zero stop. I'll investigate that

How odd though that we have almost identical set ups

Indeed. Note that what I'm referring to simply zeros the turrets. It isn't like the NXS 'zero stop' design, where you have a clutch in the top turret, so once sighted in you can't adjust the elevation 'sub zero'. Hopefully, I didn't mislead you in my ignorance.

 

[Nature Boy]

Indeed. Note that what I'm referring to simply zeros the turrets. It isn't like the NXS 'zero stop' design, where you have a clutch in the top turret, so once sighted in you can't adjust the elevation 'sub zero'. Hopefully, I didn't mislead you in my ignorance.

Well then I'm back to thinking that I'm out of down elevation adjustment. Since it will be shooting at distances longer that 100 yard that shouldn't be an issue, except for load development, which I do exclusively at 100 yards.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I can't imagine it is things like excess bedding under your base, or a non-centered bore on your Shilen. (I didn't glass bed under my base, it is just torqued down and loc-tite-ed.)

Nor is it the difference in cartridge/load, for mine is a .22-250...here is a load test pic with a 100 yard target...40 V-Max at the top of .22-250 velocity range shooting 1/2" low.

IMG_0759

• RugerOldArmy
• Feb 8, 2018

.22-250 load development with IMR 8208XBR / 40 Gr V-Max @200 Yards

Maybe we're asking too much for our action/rings/base/scope to be too similar? I had assumed that the 40 elevation MOA range was +/- 40. It may only be 40 MOA, and with our 20 MOA bases we're near the bottom of the range, and any tiny variability in dimensions or scope construction shows up? I love the scope, but that would be a bummer.