Mcgowen Barrel Reviews

[kswaterfowl]

I swore off Mcgowen after my first experience with them on a 6 creedmoor barrel. Then I decided to take a chance with them again after they got rid of Dan. I think I will stick with preferred from here on out.

 

[bojangles808]

I swore off Mcgowen after my first experience with them on a 6 creedmoor barrel. Then I decided to take a chance with them again after they got rid of Dan. I think I will stick with preferred from here on out.

That sucks sry. Keep us updated how they handle it

 

[khuber84]

Hasn't this been a reoccurring issue with Mcgowan prefits? Save yourself the time and headache, find a good smith and have that guy fit your barrels. It'll be quicker and likely pain free. If the extra $150 is a deal breaker, you've chosen the wrong hobby to invest in, no offense. Quality costs a little more or a lot of money depending on the situation, and it's generally worth it.

 

[atmat]

Hasn't this been a reoccurring issue with Mcgowan prefits? Save yourself the time and headache, find a good smith and have that guy fit your barrels. It'll be quicker and likely pain free. If the extra $150 is a deal breaker, you've chosen the wrong hobby to invest in, no offense. Quality costs a little more or a lot of money depending on the situation, and it's generally worth it.

Totally agree. Their prefit service seems terrible, but folks are having success with the blanks. Just get a blank.

 

[kswaterfowl]

Hasn't this been a reoccurring issue with Mcgowan prefits? Save yourself the time and headache, find a good smith and have that guy fit your barrels. It'll be quicker and likely pain free. If the extra $150 is a deal breaker, you've chosen the wrong hobby to invest in, no offense. Quality costs a little more or a lot of money depending on the situation, and it's generally worth it.

Ive done multiple guns that were chambered by a smith, and multiple with prefits. Most people wouldn't be able to shoot the difference between my brux barrels and my preferred prefits. But I will save myself the headache of using mcgowen again.

 

[Packmansion]

Big thing for me is not cost it's dealing with people. PBB all the way.

 

[MuleyFever]

I have my 4th Mcgowen TIkka prefit on the way to me now. Should be able to shoot it next weekend. Hoping it shoots as well as my other 3 do. It does suck there are so many bad reports though. I did have to send one back but they made it right.

 

[Mike D Texas]

6 creedmoor, saami length. This was with all factory ammo. It is a Mcgowen tikka prefit. Passed the go, no-go gauge test.

Interesting that the shoulder datum dimensions are correct but the leade isn’t. Must be an out of spec reamer.

 

[khuber84]

Interesting that the shoulder datum dimensions are correct but the leade isn’t. Must be an out of spec reamer.

Likely heavily worn reamer freebore/leade area. I mean they should be able take a round of factory ammo that has low runout, drop it in the chamber, turn the barrel upside down and it should fall right out if there is proper chamber clearances. If you have to push the round into the chamber all the way till shoulder seats up with force, something is fn wrong. A go/no-go gauge doesn't mean crap other than headspace. The neck/freebore/leade dimensions are equally important as headspace. These areas take the most load during chambering and will go undersized earleir than the rest the reamer.

 

[wind gypsy]

I had the same marring on bullets with a 6cm PVA prefit and it only got worse after shooting. Eventually sent it back it was out of spec. they likely got too cute with the chambering. Unfortunately I have a 6cm McGowan on the way, I hope it's not that bad

PBB isn't immune to similar issues. There's a thread on LRH that has pics of a 6cm chamber with the freebore being smaller dimension than the grooves. I dont recall that it was ever clarified if the reamer was worn or if the groove dimensions were large..

Most everyone sends a turd out occasionally but I'd bet its a lot less frequent with the right smith chambering premium barrels.

 

[HandgunHTR]

This all can be summed up using the three Pillars of Service. Price, Quality, Speed. You can really only have two of the three.

You want it fast and good? It ain't going to be cheap. You want good and cheap? It ain't going to be fast. You want fast and cheap? It ain't going to be good. That is a pretty common rule of thumb to remember.

That being said, I have used McGowen blanks on two different handgun builds and both worked out just fine. This was before shouldered prefits were really a thing, so both were smith built guns.
I have since used a McGowen Remage prefit on a build and it shoots very well (or at least it did on my action) and I picked up a Tikka shouldered prefit from the classifieds here that is a bonefide hammer. I also recently built a .22 Creedmoor for my best friend that used a C6 barrel (C6 uses McGowen blanks) and it shoots extremely well too.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Hasn't this been a reoccurring issue with Mcgowan prefits? Save yourself the time and headache, find a good smith and have that guy fit your barrels. It'll be quicker and likely pain free. If the extra $150 is a deal breaker, you've chosen the wrong hobby to invest in, no offense. Quality costs a little more or a lot of money depending on the situation, and it's generally worth it.

This is the route I go, and honestly it's barely more expensive than the prefit in the end. I like the guarantee from the smith that it's ready to rock when I get it in hand.