- Banned
- #1
Newtosavage
WKR
Last summer, while waiting on my custom .284 Win barrel from X-Caliber, I saw that Midway USA had some Shaw 7mm-08 stainless barrels in stock for $249, along with the barrel nut wrench and go and no-go gauges. I figured what the heck. I had Shaw make me a 6.5 Grendel barrel a while back and it was a shooter, so I wasn't too worried about this one. The listing said "sporter" profile, but I've learned most barrel manufacturer's idea of "sporter" is really what most rifle companies would call a "heavy sporter." Sure enough, the 24" Shaw barrel was a fair bit heavier profile than the standard Savage sporter barrel. Enough that I needed to open up the barrel channel in the factory stock a bit.
I chopped it down to 20" and recrowned it (like I do with all my .308-case based rifles) and the damn thing shot lights-out. 1/2-3/4 MOA consistently at 300 yards with several different bullets. But it was still heavier than I wanted. The barrel alone was 2 lbs. 7 oz. and that brought my total Lightweight Storm rifle weight to 7 lbs. 1 oz. with the Talley rings and 6x38 Weaver scope (10 oz.).
So looking for someone to flute this barrel to shave weight, I came across Twisted Barrel. Never heard of them but I don't know much about custom rifles either. For $110 plus shipping for six straight flutes, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I shipped off the barrel with the order form in the package, gave it a few days and then emailed the owner just to ask how long I could expect to wait. To my surprise, he replied with a tracking number. The job was already done (in one day) and the barrel was on it's way back already! I couldn't believe it.
It arrived the other day, and I have to say the fluting is much deeper than I expected. I saw examples of this deep fluting on his website, but you can't get a real good idea of just how deep in pictures. These flutes are the deepest I've ever seen on any barrel. For that reason, he removed about 2x as much weight as I was expecting, which isn't a bad thing. What started out as a 2 lb. 8 oz. 20" barrel (0.60" at the muzzle) ended up as a 2.0 lb. barrel exactly. He had removed 8 ounces of material in just 14" of fluting! Wow.
That brought the weight of my finished rifle down to just 6 lbs. 9 oz. and it looks great. Took it to the range yesterday to re-zero and had it zero'd in three shots. Let it cool and fired another three at 300 yards and it was spot-on. Looks like the fluting didn't change a thing.
A carbon fiber wrapped Proof Research 20" barrel in .308 weighs 2 lbs. and costs about $900. I have $370 in this Shaw barrel now and have a barrel nut wrench and go and no-go gauges. I'm pretty happy about that.
If you're thinking of having a heavy barrel fluted to drop some weight, I think Twisted Barrel is worth a try. I'm happy with my result, and especially the price and turnaround.
I'll post a few pics when I get a chance.
I chopped it down to 20" and recrowned it (like I do with all my .308-case based rifles) and the damn thing shot lights-out. 1/2-3/4 MOA consistently at 300 yards with several different bullets. But it was still heavier than I wanted. The barrel alone was 2 lbs. 7 oz. and that brought my total Lightweight Storm rifle weight to 7 lbs. 1 oz. with the Talley rings and 6x38 Weaver scope (10 oz.).
So looking for someone to flute this barrel to shave weight, I came across Twisted Barrel. Never heard of them but I don't know much about custom rifles either. For $110 plus shipping for six straight flutes, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I shipped off the barrel with the order form in the package, gave it a few days and then emailed the owner just to ask how long I could expect to wait. To my surprise, he replied with a tracking number. The job was already done (in one day) and the barrel was on it's way back already! I couldn't believe it.
It arrived the other day, and I have to say the fluting is much deeper than I expected. I saw examples of this deep fluting on his website, but you can't get a real good idea of just how deep in pictures. These flutes are the deepest I've ever seen on any barrel. For that reason, he removed about 2x as much weight as I was expecting, which isn't a bad thing. What started out as a 2 lb. 8 oz. 20" barrel (0.60" at the muzzle) ended up as a 2.0 lb. barrel exactly. He had removed 8 ounces of material in just 14" of fluting! Wow.
That brought the weight of my finished rifle down to just 6 lbs. 9 oz. and it looks great. Took it to the range yesterday to re-zero and had it zero'd in three shots. Let it cool and fired another three at 300 yards and it was spot-on. Looks like the fluting didn't change a thing.
A carbon fiber wrapped Proof Research 20" barrel in .308 weighs 2 lbs. and costs about $900. I have $370 in this Shaw barrel now and have a barrel nut wrench and go and no-go gauges. I'm pretty happy about that.
If you're thinking of having a heavy barrel fluted to drop some weight, I think Twisted Barrel is worth a try. I'm happy with my result, and especially the price and turnaround.
I'll post a few pics when I get a chance.
