• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

Changing barrel hard?

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

Guest

Banned
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
4,151
Location
Some city, some country
Hello, is changing a barrel hard and what are my options with a AV .270 #57xx49 Fiberclass? It may be just me but, I think it is time 4 a new barrel. My buddies T3 270 is outshooting me.

Prefer Sako but, am open to aftermarket ones if available as I will never sell this rifle with all the cool memories it has. If aftermarket, how do I know what will work and is there a writeup on changing barrel/headspace?

Thanks

Btw, I just joined...is the site moving soon?
 
Hiya and welcome. Yeah, club is moving to Yahoo. Below is a post entitled The future of the Club - it will get you there.

Unless you have more experience than you indicate, you would likely benefit from the services of a good gunsmith for rebarreling. Unless you have a barrel vice, action wrench, cheater, and go/no go gauges laying around and the knowledge, skill and experience to use them, you can pay a smith to do a fussy job right for you.

I'd be suprised if you barrel is "shot out". Hard to give any advice without more info. Questions in no particular order -

Did your rifle used to shoot better?
What size groups are we talking about - Buddy's?
What have you done to find a load your rifle likes?
Factory or handloads?
Bullet weight/load?
What kind of scope and mounts?
Cleaning routine?
Have you and Buddy switched rifles?
Have you checked?
. tightness of action screws
. tightness of mounts/rings
. stock bearing on barrel
. nick on crown
Group shape - walking?
Tried a different scope?

Hopefully, we can get you going. T3s can be good competition.

Dick
 
I agree with Dick. It is pretty rare for the barrel on a caliber like .270 get enough use that it is "shot out", although it can happen if you shoot a lot, particularly if you shoot exended strings of shots through a hot barrel.

Even "shot out" barrels can exhibit pretty good accuracy. I have a Sako .264 Winchester that I purchased in 1965 and have put "lord knows" how many rounds through. Its first inch of bore looks like alligator hide -- that is the metal is literally burned from all of the powder that has gone down the tube -- but it still shoots as accurately as the day it came out of the box.

Check out all of the things that Dick suggests before going to the trouble and expense of replacing your barrel.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome.

I bought it used 7-8 years ago.

Me 3-4 MOA No walking, T3 Around 1MOA+

I have tried maybe 30-40 Factory Boxes in that time.

130G Winchester Silvertips were the best a while back when they were easy to find, but not a whole lot.
I did not measure much back then. It has not changed much in the time I have owned it. My main ammo has been Hornady 130/140 G light mags and SST's. They all seem to shoot about the same as most cheap ammo like rem core loc, so I wanted the Light mags for Elk.

The crown was recently cleaned up as I was hoping it was the issue-no go.

I always scrub barrel with brass brush at least a dozen times after each time out.

Copper build up is fast and visable on corners of rifling after a few shots...is that normal? I use the copper solvent to pull it out now.

Bought a new scope and it is tight...old scope went on the new Ar-15 hbar...it shoots 7-10 shots under 3/4moa so it is definetly not the scope and shouldn't be my shooting....maybe this is why I want to really improve the ol' trusty Sako. What I used to be happy with is overshadowed by all these new guns.

I hate the idea of buying a new sub-moa rifle and seeing this one gather dust.

Scott
 
Ok Scott -

3-4 MOA!!! Man, that sucks huge! If we can't get a Sako, even with a worn barrel, to shoot any old box of factories into 2". I'll sure be suprised. You may have a few problems piled on top of each other. Well, at least we can check off a few things...

I'm not familiar with the Fiberclass, so we'll have to feel our way along.

Guard screws - Don't know if your Fiberclass is pillar bedded or not. If not, you're looking for 40-45 inch pounds - with pillars 60-65. Imagine they used some sort of an abuttment in the stock for the recoil lug to mate to - is there evidence of bedding there? You may need to skim bed to tighten up the fittment.

Barrel/stock interference. Can you find any evidence of unequal pressure along the channel? Might be simplest to just make sure it's free-floating. Some of the composites are not real rigid, and even having your front rest too far forward flexes stock up into the barrel. Bipods can be a problem too.

Barrel - I've yet to see a factory barrel that didn't jacket foul - some are lots worse than others. Your proceedure seems decent, but who knows about the previous owner... There's lots of good solvents now to take care of copper fouling. I'm suspicious that you might have a ring of baked on carbon in the throat and forward. The stuff can get layered with copper, and be a real bear to get out. A few years back, I started using HollandsWitches Brew (think I got it through Sinclairs) on badly neglected bores. I'd like to see you use a bore guide, and clean it until you get clean patches coming out. Once you get it good and clean, you can revert back to your normal routine with Bore-Tech, or what ever.

It would be really nice if you could get a peek in the bore with a good borescope. A person who's looked in a bunch of barrels, to evaluate would be a plus too. The first time you look at any factory barrel can kind of freak you out...

Questions:

. You're not fighting the trigger, are you? Should be plenty adjustable.
. What type of scope mounts are you using?
. Are you noticing any type of pressure signs? stiff bolt throw - primers

Let's start with that. Dick
 
Think I'll take your advice and have someone look at it.

My first Rifle.

[SakoCollectors.com] Changing barrel hard?



Scott
 
Found some Winchester 130ST, "New Limb Saver" anti vibartion device, and Hornady SST 130 that I had been shooting for years.

Results

1 foul shot
5 Win ST's with LS....1.9" not bad!!
5 Win ST's w/o LS.....1.6" great
4 Hornady w/o LS.....2.5" Standard results
4 Hornady with LS....2.5 Standard results
3 Win ST's w/o LS....1.0" Fantastic

Most of the problem was the ammo.

My gun likes the cheep stuff better...go figure. I remember getting pretty good groups when using this along time ago, I really didn't start measuring anything until a few years after I bought it 9 years ago. 6-7 years I have assumed that Hornady was not to blame just my shooting. All that practicing and expensive ammo wasted. Upside is maybe it made me a better shooter.
Limb Saver Did not help( I only tried one postion though-they say to move it around)

I noticed that the Silver tips had a horizontal spread of only .5 inch.
I think they shoot brilliantly, however must have some velocity issues. Some seem to be seated deeper than others. Maybe I need to try some other ammo too, or just start reloading.

I'm so glad the barrel was not shot out. I can deal with 1-1.6 MOA.
2.5-4 MOA was bugging me.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top