best way to get to smokeless 45

[jeremylong]

Got a buddy wanting a gun like mine.. (he cant have mine). So he is wanting to buy a new stainless savage and try to sell the factory stainless barrel. Then screw on a DD special.
Would anyone buy the barrel? I searched and did not find any for sale. Have any of you guys sold them? Just curious. I know mine(blued) is under my reloading bench.

Also, I assume pacnor is still making them, correct?

Any other method to get to smokeless 45 for about the same money?

[lwh723]

He won't get much out of the barrel. $100 max. I think I got $70 shipped for mine and I threw in some bullets.

[10ga]

Buy an Encore frame and get a barrel for it from SMI (there is a link on the forum). Encore frame with stock and forearm less then 4C. SMI barrel, custom for 45, 3.5C +- That makes ...........$750 for a 45! Bases, rings, glass it'll total a K if you get decent stuff. I was looking around at Natchez and etc... and they are pretty much sold out of MLIIs now. Too late for this season if you want a 45 it seems. Yes, I'm in the market for a stainless MLII barrel. I'll drop it on a promo Savage from the big box store and have a new smokeless ML for under $400. My $.02, Bob

[fishhawk]

Members, correct me if I'm wrong but I considered taking my sons Stevens 200 in 22-250 and putting the "DD" Pacnor barrel on it. It would need a Petes breechplug or a bolt modification for primers. New Stevens 200's can be bought for $300-$350. Used$? Synthetic stock isn't very good, nor is the trigger. But both can be improved with some work or possibly upgraded. Any caliber that uses the .308 boltface should work with a Petes breechplug. I,m only guessing that the barrel shanks are the same, if no one knows for sure I can try my barrel that came off my 10ml when I went Pacnor, but I bet at least Rossman knows the answer! This is the cheapest way I have thought of at least for a bolt gun.

[craigf]

I can think of two different options.

Option 1, find a used savage center fire with a 308 bolt head. Basically all short actions have either a .223 or a .308 bolt head. Also a long action in 30-06 can work as well. (bolt head are $21 a piece from Brownells also) Get a used rifle, order a pac-nor 45 barrel, buy a 45 acp breach plug and you are set. Dave D can help with the telling you what exact barrel to order.

Option 2, do all of the above but purchase a new Stevens rifle instead of going used.

You can also do this with a remington rifle that has a 308 bolt, it has to be 308 though.

Hope this helps

fishhawk, you beat me to the punch!

[dave d.]

:)Fish I'm pretty sure that rifle in sa uses a small shank which would work but maybe someone will chime in that knows for sure.

[craigf]

For Savage shank size, all are small shank expect for the ML, target actions, and magnum calibers. Some early magnums were small shank and there may have been some early MLIs in small shank. Short and long actions have no difference on shank size other than magnums are long actions.

[jeremylong]

Well he ordered a new SS savage and was planning on ordering the DD special on monday. That was until he came to the cow pasture today to check out the noise.
I was helping another buddy out that got a 50 late last year. Well, with the old barnes original and 66 grains of 4198 he was doing some fine shooting today at 205 yards. It was shooting 2 inch groups. It was quite warm so we stuck the sabots and bullets and the ramrod into the cooler of ice to cool and put the chilled rod into the gun after shooting. First time I tried that. It worked well and waited 15 minutes between shots.
Buddy number one made a few adjustemts and hit the 3 inch orange circle two times. Buddy number two (the one wanting the 45) just happened to pull up at that time. buddy one shot again and knocked the center out of the target. Now, buddy number two looked at me and said "why do I need the 45?"
Only thing I could say is recoil.