Gunsmithing 14.5" Barrel on Savage

[GBTX01]

I have a Savage that has been sitting in the back of the safe for a few years now. I am thinking about turning it into a dedicated subsonic 308 to be mated with my YHM QD 7.62 Phantom. I decided to go with .308 for conservation of calibers, I don't need another wildcat round to have to stock brass and reloading dies for. I want the rifle to be easy to move with and light.

Here is my question. I would like a 14.5" barrel and have the YHM QD flash suppressor perm mounted on the barrel giving me my overall barrel length of 16.5". Can the YHM FH be perm mounted to meet ATF requirements and is that something most barrel makers are willing to do or do I need to find a seperate gunsmith to make that modification?

I would think that going with a short barrel on a subsonic gun will have no negative affects on accuracy or velocity since I only need to get it up to that 900-1000fps range. Any thoughts on that issue?

Thanks.

 

[sinarms]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

You could probably get by with it at 14.5 and have that attached but I would probably just go the 16.1". I made a 300/221 fireball barrel for a gun that was 16.1" and it worked great. He was thinking about haveing it threaded but hasn't done it yet.

 

[bohem]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

You're going to need a 1:8 to stabilize a 220 or 240gr bullet at those speeds, I'm not sure if you're going to take the barrel currently on the rifle (is it already a 308?) and just cut it back or are you going to get a new barrel on it?

I don't know of any factory tube on a 308 with the twist that will stabilize those bullets.

Other than that, it sounds to me like a pretty solid plan you've got there.

 

[GBTX01]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

I am thinking about either a 10" or 8" twist. I'll be getting a new barrel. I haven't decided which barrel I want yet. I just wanted to double check that you could perm install the FS first.

I am just starting to do my research on bullet design and weights. I am leaning toward the round nose design. I realize that the BC is about half that of the SMK and like bullets, but I think that soft point round nose would expand more reliably at the subsonic velocities than a Gameking or ballistic tip. But like I said that is all theory right now as I really haven't done enough research yet.

If you want to stay subsonic then Velocity is a fixed number, so that only leaves Mass to change to get more energy. With that theory I'd think that a 220 or 240gr bullet would have the most energy. The trick is finding a bullet that will reliably expand at that subsonic velocities.

In a subsonic rifle, I think would rather have a bullet that expands reliably to .5", dumping most of its energy into it's target and is only a 1.5 or 2MOA bullet than a lawn dart (SMK or Scenar) that is .5MOA but mostly a thru and thru bullet. The max range I would use this gun is 200yds and much more likely to be a 100yd and in gun. At those ranges I don't think that bullet proformance is more important. At high velocities I don't think expansion is near as important.

Since I'm building it from scratch I don't see any reason to not go with an 8" twist. I already have two other 308 with slower twists.

 

[sinarms]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

Might as well get a custom barrel the way you want it then so its exactly what you want.

 

[jefds12345]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

Who ever builds one first please post a pic, I want to build one to.

 

[ggarrett1911]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

Here's a couple of pics of my 16" Savage 10FP 308 folder & my 18" AI AE MK1. The Savage is my dedicated subsonic rifle. It has the factory 1 in 10 twist barrel cut to 16" with an SAS muzzlebrake for use with the SAS suppressor. Also has a little gen 1+ NV scope on it in these pics. The hunting load for this rifle is FGMM brass, CCI or Wolf large pistol primers, 10.2 grains of Trailboss, topped with 170 grain Hornady flat points for night hunting. These work very well for me out to 175 yards on game and are quite accurate. I have some 220 grain round nose bullets to load up and see if they'll stabilize in the 10 twist (without the can on it first, of course!). It does shoot full power ammo pretty well, just not like the AI does. The Choate stock is OK for my purposes of making the rifle as compact as possible, so it stays on there for now (still hoping for an folding AI Savage chassis one day LOL!).

The AI is cut to 18" and has the SAS brake on it as well. This is my compact full power rifle. It will shoot the subsonic loads also, but the Savage seems to shoot them better with it's faster twist. However this one shines with full power 178 AMAX & 175 Berger VLD loads out to 600 yards (farthest I've gotten to take it as of now), so that's what stays in it until I get more time to try some more sub loads in it.

The Savage by itself...

With the suppressor...

The AI AE with suppressor...

Thought these pics might help out on the barrel length question... obviously, I'd just go 16" to avoid the additional hassle of having the brake pinned or soldered on LOL! Also, on the twist... if you think you might run full power ammo through it, I'd probably stick with a 1 in 10 twist for a little more flexibility with lighter bullets. As always IMHO, YMMV, etc., etc. Any way you decide to go, good luck with it... subsonic guns are tons of fun & addicting as hell!

 

[sinarms]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

here is a 16" 300 whisper barrel I made for a guy

 

[GBTX01]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

Those are some sharp loking rifles!

 

[chainring]

Re: 14.5" Barrel on Savage

Here's my build in progress. Stock barrel is 18, and new barrel to be installed is 16 - lined up on the lug for length comparison.