Tittle gives you the rundown. Years ago, I bought a Savage Hog 308; it has a 20” medium weight threaded barrel. It was my first and will be my last Savage. At the time, it was one of the only affordable factory guns with a threaded barrel, which is why I bought it. It has never been a good shooting gun with anything I’ve put in it from FGMM 168 to a variety of hand loads not to mention that my RCBS X die will barely push the shoulder back far enough for a reload to chamber in it; my Hornady die will not. It’s also always been the most difficult to clean of any I’ve owned. About a year ago, I bought a bore scope and discovered why. Here are three different photos of three different spots in the barrel.
- Thread starter KYAggie
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That's a normal savage barrel, and it looks pretty clean. I have a couple like that they shoot well and I don't notice them hard to clean. I also have a marlin microgroove barrel worse than that but I don't hear complaints about the marlin barrels for some reason. It shoots and cleans fine
I restocked tge gun in a Oryx Chassis, but it did not improve the groups. I had a Tubbs Final Finish kit sitting on the shelf and I figured, why not, what could it hurt? First I shot a group with FGMM 168, then I let the fun begin. I’ll post pictures of the three same spots as I progress through the five different grits. They are labeled counting down from 5.
The results. It shoots basically the same. I wish I would have shot a 5 shot group the first time, it likely would have been larger. Also, can you imagine if I had stopped at three shots on this target? I would have been singing Tubbs praises, but a five shot group tells all, or at least a little more. It cleans easier, but not even close to as easy as my PVA 6.5 barrel on my Origin. I’ll try some load development with some Nosler 155 and 175 Custom Competitions I have on hand with H4895 and maybe TAC, but I don’t have much hope. I’m seriously considering a X-Caliber barrel that’s on sale right now or maybe a Criterion from NSS. Or I could sell it off and buy a Tikka or a Solus from PVA……..decisions decisions.
Yeah, it was clean after 50+ patches of Boretech C4, then Eliminator, and I didn’t count how many with JB. Took over 1.5 hours.
I’ve got a 1898 30-40 Krag that looks worse as well as a Ruger 77 7 Mag I bought in the early 80’s and they both shoot well and are easier to clean.
I’m actually not concerned by the looks considering what I paid for it, but I would like it to be a better shooter and not take so long to clean up.
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x-cal is having a 20% off I think is still going?
They are and it’s very tempting. I could grab a threaded barrel for about $400 in either 5R or 6 groove. I would likely go with a 1 in 10 twist, but they have 1 in 8 and 1 in 9. I’ve got a bunch of 155 Nosler Custom Comps and a bunch of mil surplus ammo so I figure 1 in 10 should do it as well as 5R unless someone really is convincing that a 6 groove is better. It has a 20” barrel on it now, and I like it, but I’ll have to look to see if I can get to 1000 yards with it, I might need a 24” barrel. I do occasionally run it suppressed.
just did a quote from them up to a 24" varmint profile (doesn't change the price on profiles) w/ 5/8x24tpi 10T 5R savage small shank @ $400.80.
It’s a Savage 11/111 in 308. Just like the one in the article.
www.gunsamerica.com
The Savage 11 Hog Hunter: Not your Average .308
The 11/111 Hog Hunter’s popularity has been driven in part by the growing prevalence of feral pigs in the United States.
www.gunsamerica.com May have missed it, but what did Savage have to say about your issue? Also, you might want to consider posting this on Savageshooters.com. Very helpful site when it comes to Savage firearms.
Tubbs FF isn't a miracle worker. Sometimes a turd is a turd. I used it on a 700 300WM barrel years back and it worked great at getting it easier to clean and not fouling as much and also helped with accuracy.
So you buy a cheap Savage Hog Hunter and expect it to be on par with a custom rifle ?
1+ MOA accuracy is the norm for a Hog rifle and believe it or not, some rifles shoot better fouled and not sparkly clean.
Put some type of optic on it and kill pigs with it, then re barreled it after the crappy factory barrel shits the bed.
1+ MOA accuracy is the norm for a Hog rifle and believe it or not, some rifles shoot better fouled and not sparkly clean.
Put some type of optic on it and kill pigs with it, then re barreled it after the crappy factory barrel shits the bed.
I‘ve not called them because I don’t believe they would consider the way this gun shoots to be an issue. Even before I ran Tubbs down the barrel, it was minute of deer, hog, or any other animal I would shoot with a 308 out to 300 yards, it just wouldn't, and so far, still won’t hold 1 moa five shot groups with any bullet. I have found that it will do 1.25-1.5 MOA with several loads, but that’s it. Interestingly, this one shoots the same in the cheap Tupperware stock that came on it as it does in the MDT Oryx, which leads me to believe it’s a barrel “issue”. I’m certain Savage would think the pictures of the barrel are completely normal as there are posts all over the internet with Savage barrels that look the same that shoot much better, in fact, I would say that’s more the norm. I’ll take a look at the Savage forum and see what I can dig up.
Well, you might be right as to Savage`s response, but Savage is known for out of the box accuracy, so I don`t know what they`d say about 1.25 to 1.5 MOA at 100 yards. Just one guy`s experience but my 110 and Model 12 LRPV will do far better than that. As for Savageshooters.com, Dave and Charlie b probably know as much about Savage rifles as anyone and are very helpful.
I really didn’t have any expectations of the Tubbs, I just happened to have bought it years ago and have been chicken to use it so far on any of my guns. This one fell into the, “it couldn‘t make it worse” category, so I thought it was a good test case. I‘ve posted the pictures so others could see exactly what it does to a barrel, just in case they are considering it. I‘m glad it worked out for you. Mine is easier to get the carbon out of now. I’m leaving the copper in to see if the groups get better over time. My next test is to fire about 50 mil surplus rounds through it and test it again without cleaning with the FGMM 168 to see if it’s improved.
Here’s another interesting data point. After shooting that five shot group with FGMM, I let it cool and put a three port Area 419 Hellfire brake on it and shot a three shot group. Let’s just say, this thing did not like the Hellfire, I’m not sure why, and never seen this happen on any rifle I’ve put a Hellfire on.
I had no expectations that it would shoot on par with a custom rifle like my Origin. Also, I bought it years ago before I became infected with the disease of wanting a less than MOA rifles thanks to the Hide
. Given most people’s experiences with Savages, even back then, I did think it would be very probable that it would shoot 1 moa and possibly even better. One would think a medium weight 20” barrel would do so, even with the way it looks inside, as most all Savages look this way.I might grab a barrel from X-Caliber or Criterion as the X-Caliber’s are on sale and I hear the Criterion’s will be going up in price next year, so now’s a good time to buy one of the, I just haven’t decided which one; I’m not sure it would even matter. But just for the heck of it, I have, after the Tubbs regiment, stopped cleaning with Eliminator and have just been using C4 on it to see what it will do once a little copper is laid down. We shall see.
I haven't shot it with hunting bullets in several years, who knows, maybe it will shoot 165 Accubonds better, just like my AR10 with a Faxon barrel does. That thing shoots 165 ABs better than the 155 and 175 Custom Comps. For certain, this Savage should still be minute of animal.
Yeah the Tubb FF is definitely something to only use in factory barrels and even then you might not need the full five sets of bullets. That barrel did from the looks of it though. The number 3 bullets in that kit are the same grit as the TMS rounds so down the road if you wanted to smooth out a throat then you could use them if you have any left.
Here's my review that some jackhole at SC put his name on but it was over there from the early 2000s. LOL
www.snipercountry.com
Here's my review that some jackhole at SC put his name on but it was over there from the early 2000s. LOL
David Tubbs Final Finish - Sniper Country
Everyone in the shooting community knows about David Tubb, one of the best competitive rifleman in history. In this article we talk about his product known as the "Final Finish".
www.snipercountry.com 
Sell that shit and start over with a pile of firearm Legos that don’t have the name Savage on them
. Believe me, I’ve strongly considered it. Several come to mind, like Tikka, Solus barreled action from PVA, etc. I keep fall back to my original thought for this gun which was an inexpensive rifle that might shoot 1 moa that I could loan out and use as beater/travel gun and not worry about it getting stolen like a custom gun. I kind of stepped out of that when I got the Oryx stock even though I got a really great buy on it. Heck, I even considered trading it for a CZ600 Lux before CZ completely screwed the pooch on that fine looking gun. Funny thing is, if I buy a barrel for it and don’t go with a sporter contour, I’m stepping out of the original reason I bought it anyway; I digress…….Probably kill a truck load of deer with the rifle the way it is, yrs ago it would be "plenty accurate" and ya never shoot more than 3 times per deer....but you want more accuracy, so rebarrel it with a quality barrel. A factory and lesser quality barrels can shoot good enough sometimes, but your chances really go up with a nice custom barrel, properly chambered.
I just purchased a 300 Win Mag Rem 700 ADL for its action,...but decided to shoot it first...scoped the barrel, it needed help, so I lapped it, then polished it, I put the action in an MDT stock, also threaded the barrel for a muzzle brake, installed a brake I had on hand.
Used only one powder, old deteriorating lot of imr 7828, and a few match bullets, and mixed head stamp range brass. It shot pretty good for a $540 rifle, in an aluminum chassis, a hand lapped barrel, and added muzzle brake. Never broke it in, never cleaned it, during the range trip. Storm was coming in, fog and raining, I fired 5 shots as quick as the scope was on the 5 went into .6" this barrel gets hot after 3 shots, and I did not allow it to cool. Too hot to touch but still shot decent groups. The cartridge overall lengths ran 3.6" still fit the detachable mag but past book COAL..up next to the rifling.
I just purchased a 300 Win Mag Rem 700 ADL for its action,...but decided to shoot it first...scoped the barrel, it needed help, so I lapped it, then polished it, I put the action in an MDT stock, also threaded the barrel for a muzzle brake, installed a brake I had on hand.
Used only one powder, old deteriorating lot of imr 7828, and a few match bullets, and mixed head stamp range brass. It shot pretty good for a $540 rifle, in an aluminum chassis, a hand lapped barrel, and added muzzle brake. Never broke it in, never cleaned it, during the range trip. Storm was coming in, fog and raining, I fired 5 shots as quick as the scope was on the 5 went into .6" this barrel gets hot after 3 shots, and I did not allow it to cool. Too hot to touch but still shot decent groups. The cartridge overall lengths ran 3.6" still fit the detachable mag but past book COAL..up next to the rifling.
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Inside if my barrel looks worse than yours.
Good observation! It definitely changed. I need to go back and use my Hornady OAL tool and see how much it changed, I’m guessing I need to seat my bullets further out to get the same jump to the lands. That could make a difference in groups for sure.
I had an almost identical 20” 308 barrel that shot every factory load I tried at around 1” groups. I bought my first reloading setup and 43.5 grains of Varget with a 175 SMK would put rounds touching at 100 yards. I can’t speak to other aftermarket barrel options but had good luck with Criterion barrels and excellent results with a Shilen Select Match barrel.
