Rough barrel

[500cadillac]

I just picked up my new 10ml yesterday and I noticed that the barrel is rougher than any rifle I've seen before. Whats the deal?

[jeff]

That would be a typical savage ml barrel. Sorry for the bad news.
Jeff~

[Deleted]

as Jeff said some are pretty rough but that dont mean it will not be a shooter. load er up and see...Bill

[bigmoose]

A little 220 grit lapping compound and a lot of elbow, will have it smooth as a babies butt.

Good Luck

[jims]

As mentioned, try it first before you do anything. Most shoot well even if they look rough.

[ET]

500Cadillac

The rough appearance I found is not the real primary concern but any burrs on the lands can put you in a knot with your groups. The easiest way to confirm this is by removing the BP and running a sabot load through the bore. Then look at the land impressions on the sabot. The edge of the lands should be defined with no jagged cutting or ragged appearance.


Ed

[mountainam]

I had the same deal with mine and solved it by firelapping the bore. I used .50cal LEE R.E.A.L. 320gr bullets and shot 30grs T7 with 10shots of 220 valve lapping compound followed by 10 @320grit to 10@400grit to 10@600grit and finally 10@ 800grit. It smoothed it out very nicely and it stopped the juking while trying to push a sabot down the bore. At first the bore was so bad that you could see the plastic peeling off the sabot while loading. Good Luck and Good Shooting!

[500cadillac]

Okay thanks for the info. I thought that for the price of these the barrel would be as good as a Handi Rifle.

[mountainam]

I know what you mean. But Savage is what Savage always was--- a good rifle for half the money of a Remington. You can still by a Sav 10 or maybe it's a Stevens (even less frills) in a .243 and .270 at my local Walmart for $329 or less, but you'd think there would be more to expect as in QC for $700 rifle. Don't get too dismayed the firelapping does wonders. I started out with Re-7 and Rem 300gr HP and got very impressive peformance. It has great lock-time. If the Savage and a handi-rifle could have their triggers touched off simultaneously, the Savage's bullet would cross the 250 yard mark while the Handi-rifle's hammer was still swinging in the air on it;s way to the strike the firing pin. Forge ahead and shoot it, you'll like it.

[500cadillac]

Do you fill the grooves of the R.E.A.L. with compound or do you imbed it?
Could I use smokeless for firelapping?

[jims]

Cadillac: There is nothing lost in shooting it as is first. If it shoots well you may be satisfied. You can not undue the lapping and potentially it could shoot worse after.

[mountainam]

500Cad, Fill the grooves. I also used a wool wad under it and coat it with compound also. Conicals are somewhat more difficult to set off with smokeless and you don't want to make a bigger mess by one not firing, so I'd refrain. Don't use BH209 either. Pyrodex will work too. You could aslo just shoot it as JIMS recommends, but if you've ever owned a decent ML you won't like it.

[rossman40]

I would have to agree with Jims and some of the others. Shoot first and see what you have. You can brush it half to death and then hit it with JB for a few hundred strokes and be OK, that is what I did basically with mine. IMO there is a fine line between being too rough and too smooth when using sabots. Too rough and you hurt the sabot, too smooth and you may not get a consistent pressure curve which would give you a large ES on your MVs.

[Deleted]

shoot it, shoot it, shoot it...

[tar12]

Shoot it first..most do not need anything else.