Mcgowen barrels

[crankycalico]

Finally found this sight. Noticed they make replacement barrels for the Mosin Nagant family. EXPENSIVE but very interesting...

however, do they really deliver what they claim to in quality?

[country gent]

I have a McGowen barrel on my C Sharps 38-55 Highwall 30" 1-12 twist that is a very good lead bullet shooter. Tapered octagon contour. A friend has several on his long range pistols. All are good shooters. Mine is smooth thru its length and no tight or loose spots in its length. The bore scope shows an smooth even finish thru it length with clean corners. They are good high quality barrels

[Texas by God]

I used a McGowen barrel to convert a Siamese Mauser to 30-40 Krag back in 1977. Back then my accuracy yardstick was my 22-250 Rem 788. The 30-40 could hang with it for 3 shots with 180 gr Speer HCRN bullets. My friend and co-worker talked me out of it and it's been his family's venison getter since. His friends think he means 30-30 when he mentions it; he says "No- 30-40! It's ten more.";-)

[John Taylor]

I use to use McGowen but after a problem that they would not take care of I chose not to use them anymore. I had two barrel that were about .003" to small on the groove diameter. They told me the shop tested them with a pin gauge. I ask how they checked groove diameter with a pin gauge and never got an answer. My stock man got a bad barrel from them and was told it was not one of their barrels.

[tomme boy]

luck of the draw with them. Sometimes they are great. Sometimes not so great. Depends on what you get.

[crankycalico]

Then is there a good company that can do what a person needs reasonably?

[Texas by God]

ER Shaw has provided excellent barrels to me 7 times in row. They fitted 5, I fit 2. My wife still has her .250 Sav and it is flawless.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[EDG]

Sure there are good companies but you are likely to spend way more on a custom barrel than the value of a Mosin Nagant. One is an 80 to 100 year old military surplus item. The other is a single custom item with NO economies of scale.
If you want a match quality barrel are you prepared to buy a match quality chamber reamer?
You are talking about an old rifle that will not increase in value no matter what you do to it.


Then is there a good company that can do what a person needs reasonably?

[country gent]

Many good barrel makers are out there. Hart, Krieger, Pac Nor, Lilja, Douglas, Shillen, Brux and Green Mountain come to mind. Also some smaller specialty niche makers. These barrels may or may not be chambered may or may not be threaded ( if they are chances are they are short .050-.100 to time the barrel) These are top of the mark barrels. Criterion is also there the button rifling division of Krieger. Sime will contour to your old barrel also.

[clodhopper]

I bought a McGowen 45 raptor barrel for AR 10, The feed ramp was not even close to working.
Unlikely to buy another barrel from them.

[Hardcast416taylor]

There`s a .416 Taylor barrel on my Model 70 from McGowen when I swapped the .300 Win. Mag. barrel off it when the rifle was new. Very accurate with either `J` or lead boolets.Robert

[waksupi]

The good machinists from McGowan set up Xcaliber barrels, west of Kalispell a few years back. I inspected a batch of their barrels, all were good. No idea on the McGowan quality now.

http://www.x-caliber.net/company

[GARD72977]

I bought a McGowen 45 raptor barrel for AR 10, The feed ramp was not even close to working.
Unlikely to buy another barrel from them.

I would guess the 45 raptor is still in the experimental stages. If they are supplying barrells Im sure that there is a bullet profile that feeds.

Im wanting a bolt gun but resisting for the exact reason .

[John Taylor]

The good machinists from McGowan set up Xcaliber barrels, west of Kalispell a few years back. I inspected a batch of their barrels, all were good. No idea on the McGowan quality now.

http://www.x-caliber.net/company

I have been using X-caliber barrels for a while and I'm happy with them. I'm a dealer for Green Mountain but they don't always have what I need. Also use Shilen and Douglas. Had a problem with a Shaw barrel several years back. I was doing a half round/octagon with an integral rib and it warped. When I called them they tried to tell me I got it to hot. I asked them about their stress relief and they said it was to military specs. They did send me a new barrel but that did not take care of all the time I had into machining it.

[phaessler]

They arent Harry McGowan, I know that much.....

Enlightening to find X-caliber though, thank you

[popper]

Have a 1:10 McGowan barrel on BO carbine, it is great. The owner there had some heart problems a while back and it took a while to get it. Actually I sent the upper, H.G. and extension to them and they put it together for me. I've looked at xcaliber but not gotten anything. They did have a good assortment of calibers.

[Kraschenbirn]

They arent Harry McGowan, I know that much.....

Enlightening to find X-caliber though, thank you

I knew Harry and still have one M700 that he, personally, rebarreled for me many years ago. Last year I called the Montana # when I was thinking of 'upgrading' another M700 and wasn't terribly impressed with the people with whom I spoke.

Bill