SmallCaliberCentral

Looking to upgrade the barrel on my Savage 204 w varmint contour barrel. I looked at Pac-Nor's site and am still not sure how to order. Rick mentioned that it was possible to get a shorter throat in his barrel. Any guidance would be appreciated.

This is what I think I want. Pac-Nor 11 twist to shoot 39sbk.

Don't plan on going any heavier than 40 grain on the bullet.

My other options are a Shilen 10 twist or a McGowen 11 twist from Northlander on Savageshooters site for a little less than 300.00.

Thanks
Okey

Okey

I own a Pac-Nor but never ordered one. 6BR 14 twist bought used on the web. After scrubbing R-10X carbon out of the throat for a couple weeks its a very accurate barrel. Has served me well.
I too have looked at thier site and come away a little confused. Best bet is to call them and order it to your specs.

Shilens also shoot well. Very few complaints. As you probably know Northlander is a great guy to do business with. Custom throating through Shilen will usually raise the price substantially on a Sav prefit. My Shilen 6BR 8 twist was $500 just because of the large shank as opposed to the small. Maybe Jim could help keep the price down I ordered mine direct before Jim started dealing with Shilen.

McGowen..... I have two. The 11 twist in 204 shoots pretty good. I don't use it much as I have no need for a custom class 204. It did teach me the 11 twist was a vast improvement over Sav's factory 12 when it came to the 40 V-Max.
The other a large shank 243W. This tube needed quite a bit of work to get shooting. Obviously it bypassed the hand lapping station. Coppered something fierce. Haven't shot that barrel much either as the Shilen 6BR finally arrived. Someday I will.

Both of these McGowens came with shiney marks in the bore. From the crown down into the bore roughly 1/4". Leads me to believe they used a piloted crown cutting tool that spit metal shavings into the bore or something along those lines.

Not something you should see in a custom tube. Not even a factory tube.

I'd recommend Benchmark barrels for full custom spec Savage prefits. No idea if they do 20 cal bores though. They have no website.
All that said Pac-Nor might be your best bet.

okey: Just call Penny at Pac-Nor, and she'll walk you through it. Once you know what you want, just print out the order form and mail it in with payment. My last barrel from them was an 11 twist with a 204 Ruger Match chamber; came in exactly as ordered and right on time. It shoots bugholes too. They're very easy to do business with in every regard from my years of experience with them.

jo191145 wrote: I'd recommend Benchmark barrels for full custom spec Savage prefits. No idea if they do 20 cal bores though. They have no website.

If you want info on Benchmark Barrels, give Kevin Rayhill a call at Stockade! He can give you some info on them!

Actually the number for BenchMark barrels is (360) 652-2594

My last Sav prefit was a Benchmark. My next one will be a Benchmark also. Thats about as high of praise as I give for thier workmanship, prices and timely delivery. These guys do "real" custom work for little or no extra charge. They consider every barrel they sell custom so I quess they feel no need to charge extra for something different
I'm just not sure if they do 20's

Still nothing wrong with a Pac-Nor or Shilen. Fine barrelmakers by anyones standards.
Okey should be delighted with the accuracy of his new upgrade.

I was leaning towards Shilen but was afraid it would have the long throat and sloppy chamber my factory barrel had.

I've heard a lot of good things about Benchmark but can't find much information about them.


Thanks for all that replied.

Since I first visited this site less than a year ago I have acquired 2 .204s, 1 Leopold LR scope. Replaced my dies with Redding bushing dies and have 2 204um T Shirts on order. Thanks to all that have posted that lead me in this direction… I Think.

Okey

Generally speaking custom barrels never have sloppy chambers with huge dimensions, its not good for sales


You can contact both Shilen and Pac-Nor and they should email you prints of their reamers. Then compare.

The 11 twist by Pac-Nor will do the job for 40's. I think most custom 12 twists will handle the 40's well. Its factory 12's that seem to be finicky.
My McGowen 11 twist does'nt seem to like the Nosler 40's much but I did'nt force the issue. The 39bk and 40 V-Max will shoot dots and finding a load is easy.
A Pac-Nor or Shilen should be quite a bit better quality yet.

Don't forget to order new brass

jo191145 wrote:
Don't forget to order new brass

Hmmm... Didn't consider new brass. Not that I mind buying new. I have 1000 pieces of Winchester that mics out the right dimension loaded. I also have 500 Remingtons that are to thick to use without turning the necks. Was going to use the Remingtons for my other 204.

I'm always game to learn something new. A previous fired case that has been full length sized is not a good idea in a non sloppy chamber?

Thanks
Okey

New barrel/chamber = New Brass (always)

Do yourself a favor and start out fresh, you'll be glad you did, I promise.

Rick in Oregon wrote:New barrel/chamber = New Brass (always)

Do yourself a favor and start out fresh, you'll be glad you did, I promise.

I will order it tomorrow.

Okey

Its the web of the brass that will be a problem. Once that web gets blown out to fit a sloppy chamber its very near impossible to get it back.
Standard sizers do not size the web. Theres a few methods others have employed to try resizing the web on brass. All cost money and time. None are quarenteed to work. All are quarenteed to be frustrating
I know FL sized brass from my Savage will not fit my McGowen. Hangs up at the web.

When your new tube arrives it will be easy to check. Drop a piece of FL sized old Win brass in the chamber. Measure the protrusion from case head to barrel. If the depth guage on your calipers reads .150" or a hair less it should work. Odds are very high it won't.

Even if you get it to chamber it may show hard extraction after firing. Concentrate on your new brass. Once your blissfully happy with your new custom tube try chambering some old stuff. With the groups your shooting with new brass and barrel you'll be smiling as you dump that old brass in the trash

Ok, I know you'll save it but it sounded funnier my way- Have Fun.

Thanks for the explanation. I enjoy time spent prepping brass so new brass isn't a big deal.

Thanks
Okey

Spent the afternoon measuring new, fired and resized brass. I understand what you meant about the web area. It will be interesting to compare them to brass shot from a tighter chamber.

Okey

Same with my Shilen and Pac-Nor barrels, those fired in the Shilen won't fit in the Pac-Nor when sized in a Redding or RCBS FL die. So I ordered a Forster FL die and it sizes the web so they fit both. Too much trouble to segregate brass for different barrels, unless I use Winchester in one and Remington in the other.

Pac-Nor .204 barrels are three groove, pressure and velocity may be higher than a 4 to 6 groove. I know my 1:8.5" twist barrel develops 4,110 fps average velocity with the same load that runs at 4,085 fps in the 1:12" twist 5 groove. Don't be afraid to go with a faster twist 1:11" or even faster if you are going to use heavy bullets Berger recommends a 1:9" twist for the 50 grain HPBT or 1:8" for the 55 grain HPBT.

Good point, Wrangler. Okey: out of the four 204 rifles I own, every one of them has 400 rounds of dedicated brass, all loaded in 100 round plastic boxes, all packed in individual .50 Cal ammo cans. None of the cases from one rifle will fit in any of the others, even if F/L sized......see what we mean?