Mc Gowen barrels

[markb317]

I was wondering how many guy's have ordered .45 cal. barrels from them and when they ordered them. How long was the wait? How do they shoot?

[hoz]

I ordered mine last week, not here yet. Jon said 3-4 weeks

[Deleted]

still up in the air, mine has been ordered three weeks. only one or two guys have them up and running as far as I know...Bill

[spoonover]

One here. No groups over 2", a solid under 2" barrel! 18" twist is showing a liking for the 200 SST @ 100
Anyone live in the KC area, need some range time with someone that knows. Pioneer gun club members?

[fishhawk]

It will be 3-5 weeks before I have one together.

[markb317]

The reason I'm asking is that I was probably the first to order back in November , I talked to then on the 19th of Nov. to tell them just what I wanted. Still no barrel, every time I called they would say they had to order a tap that they have ordered three times. I talked to a lady in the office last week and she pulled up my order and went in the shop to see why my barrel had not been done and told me that they had it on the machineist desk and would be getting ahold of me in a couple days to get my credit card info..... Still no call or barrel.... What breech plug is everyone using, I sent my plug that I had Pete make,I am wondering if they are using my parts to check everyone elses barrel ?

[Richard]

Sounds fishy to me? I would try to nail them down to a date. If these other guys have gotten theirs already and you ordered yours in November, you should have yours already installed and been shootin' by now! I thought this started out as a 3 - 4 week deal?
Richard

[fishhawk]

Markb317, I have a small piece of McGowens ear, I forwarded your concerns to Dan that I have contact with there. Can't hurt!

[dannoboone]

Mine came last Thursday, and have been sitting on my hands each
time I come onto the board. Still don't know quite how to put this.
Jon from Savage-Barrels has put a lot of work into this, and although
I did not go through him, this will reflect on him. On the other hand,
you guys deserve to know a couple of facts.

I got a very similar "tap story". At one point was told that the tap
was in and that it would be out by the end of that week. At the
end of the next week, I emailed and it was still sitting at
Fastenal waiting to be picked up. I started to lose confidence
in the shop manager, and by the time I got it, he surely thinks I'm
the customer from Haites.

When I attempted to remove the breech plug from the barrel, it
would not budge until it was tightened down in my barrel vise.
Even at that, it was hard turning until about half way out, and
the wrench had to be used until the BP was completely out.
With the BP, out sprung a couple spiral pieces which appeared
to be the top parts of threads. Turned out to be exactly that.
The bottom BP threads in the barrel as well as the BP were
flattened, folded over, and a portion of the thread just gone.
I cleaned everything (filings from machining for the snout as
well as threading were still in the barrel), dressed up the
threading on the BP, and attempted to reinsert it. When the
snout reached the area cut out for it, there was a great deal
of binding involved. Next day I took it to work and turned the
snout down to compensate for whichever was out of alignment.
Then I was able to get it to bottom out .030" shy of my
instructions to them, but at least it now bottoms out with only
a portion of the bottom most thread in the barrel missing.

If ANYONE here knows how to get ahold of Ron (owner of
McGowen) personally, PLEASE PM me and let me know. I have
a few photos and Dan Wynnes' emails to send to him.

[spoonover]

I called on a Saturday when I ordered my barrel, talked to the owner. Said he just happened to be in working on some papers, might try AM Saturday.

My barrel shipped without BP threads and a two inches of barrel drop, barrel was threaded for a Remington CF 1/4" lug and all was precise. They being new to muzzle loaders, was reluctant to have them do the threading.

I had a cheaper tap to do the 11/16-16 threads. Did a Remington carbon steel first and had no problems? McGowen SS is much harder to work with. Use a better tap than I did and a lot of cutting oil if you try this at home.

Glad to have the tap for cleaning threads after shooting even though it is almost worn out.

Dannoboone I can ship my tap if you need to chase threads, let me know?

[fishhawk]

I've alerted the people I've worked with on the DMB project of this thread. How quickly and accurately these things are corrected will speak volumes.

[Deleted]

makes one wonder, hope this is the only snafoo we hear about. there are a lot of barrels on order

[guppy]

I had mine in four weeks or so, but I chambered it myself and only had them contour and thread it. I thought their stainless actually machined quite easy. If anyone needs a tap for savage plugs let me know I have a couple also.

[mcgowenbarrel]

Hi Guys. I wanted to come in here as there has been "obviously" some problems starting out making these barrels. I'm not going to reply to just one post but basically come in and let you know where we are at.

We did have some problems getting the taps to start with. Unfortunately I believe that the local company that we ordered them through "Fastenal" did not really order them as they stated. After many attempts to get the taps without luck I spoke with the manager of Fastenal and he ordered them for me. And as luck would have it they were here the very next week.

I'm not sure as to why there are some barrels that are lagging behind. I was in the office for 12 hours yesterday and went through my gunsmith's staging area for orders. I was completely disappointed and shocked to find that the original guy that sent his receiver, lug, etc in was still here. Now while I don't actually do the shipping, I should have known about this immediately. I will be speaking with my production manager first thing this morning concerning this order and find out what is holding it up. I have also talked with Jon at savage-barrels.com and told him that I have put an inventory order on the floor for the 45 cal's 1-22" twist in stainless steel and 25" long just like most are ordering right now in both the DMB-1 and DMB-2 contours.

I have also ordered the savage breech plugs directly from savage. they tell me these are the new version with the hex head.

We are working with fishhawk on these barrels and the breech plugs, etc to ensure that what you guys get is exactly what you want and that most importantly they are safe.

I welcome any comments or direct emails from any members on this board with suggestions, etc. You can email me directly at [e-mail]

Regards,

Dan

[Richard]

While I am not directly involved in this situation, since I already had two PN's before these became available, I appreciate the company principal coming forward with this message to those affected. To me, this is the sign of an "up front" guy, and I would not hesitate to do business him for confronting the problem head on.
Richard

[jims]

I think they need to be given a chance. They took a chance on us so to speak and there are often teething problems initially in getting something up and running.
I just hate it for the first guy to suffer but often the pioneer paves the way for the rest.

[fishhawk]

I've been in contact with them several times today. I am reviewing all aspects of the DMB barrel specs as well as informing them of unhappy customers. As you can see Dan is aware and dealing with the issues. Stay tuned...

[Deleted]

glad Dan chimed in, it makes us all feel better about the new" RELATIONSHIP"

[fishhawk]

Markb317 and dannoboone keep us posted of resolution efforts on your barrels.

[pointman]

Mar 24, 2011 9:57:01 GMT -5 Richard said:

While I am not directly involved in this situation, since I already had two PN's before these became available, I appreciate the company principal coming forward with this message to those affected. To me, this is the sign of an "up front" guy, and I would not hesitate to do business him for confronting the problem head on.
Richard

+1

[bigmoose]

I think Richard said it all.

[Jon]

Richard. Well put. I want to put together a 40 cal. in either a Remington ml or a Savage ml1. I'm now leaning towards a Remington I like the way the hunter bolt face looks and the lack of a barrel nut. Either way it will get a fullform die.
Jon

[Deleted]

well guys, 3-4 weeks is out the window. both Dan at Mcgowen and Jon at savage barrels said 6 weeks on all new orders. not trying to stir the pot but just letting you gents know.....Bill

[hoz]

Bill,

Is that 6 weeks on new orders from this point on or 6 weeks on all the barrels ordered since the DMB1 and DMB2 was introduced?

Thanks

[Deleted]

If I were guessing I would say 6 weeks from when I got the email, which was a couple days ago.....hopefully i will be wrong.I just hope markb and danno get their problems worked out so we can get some idea of how this dog is going to hunt...Bill

[fishhawk]

Guys, I'm still in contact with McGowen. There have been some questions from them about fairly large dimension variations throwing of the specs that were decided on after only measuring Mike Dawsons bolt and action that they had at their shop. It was the only one they had at the time. I think after I've spent a couple hours measuring six actions and two bolts that I have converted to Hunters kit that I've found the potential problem. If what I've found is the reason for their specs it poses no big issues. This setback may be why they have set the finish date back. I also know they have about twice their normal load of orders going right now. I'll keep you posted on the resolution of final specs and potential wait time.

[hoz]

Thanks Fish, I appreciate all the work you are doing!

[mike.dawson]

All my stuff is done and I can confirm that three actions sent to them measured different than mine as much as .025 different than mine. They have assembled my gun sans stock and shot a bunch of primers and got my action headspaced. Goes to bluing Friday as they do all their bluing on friday and shipping to me fed ex on monday. Dan tells me it looks really good, as soon as I get it it will be photographed and put up on a new post. For me it has been going onto 10 weeks so you guys waiting for 6 weeks is a drop in the bucket. We gat all summer to get these dialed in and I can wait. It has been frustrating waiting but Dan tels me iy will be worth it

This is what i got, #7 pacnor contour, 8 groove, 1:22 twist, 26 in barrel, 11 degree crown, fluted, chrome molly blued but it will be shipped to Lee at black ice for their job, the black ice is the only way to go

Mike

[Deleted]

anxious to see how it shoots

[Flatland Hunter]

Mar 31, 2011 6:23:37 GMT -5 mike.dawson said:

the black ice is the only way to go

Couldn't agree more! Love the job Lee did on my 4 ML's and Rem 700.