Mcgowen Barrel Reviews

[PantherCity]

Just got my tikka prefit from McGowan yesterday, headspace was too short, and it won’t chamber the dummy rounds I sent him for custom throat or new Unfired brass. I’ll call them Monday but I expect a return label.


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[Sled]

Just got my tikka prefit from McGowan yesterday, headspace was too short, and it won’t chamber the dummy rounds I sent him for custom throat or new Unfired brass. I’ll call them Monday but I expect a return label.


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Good luck to you. I hope you catch Dan on a good day.

 

[The_Yetti]

I have one on a Remington 700 in 7x57 and it has a preference for lighter bullets. No sign of instability with heavier bullets, just seems to prefer 140gr bullets.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I've had lots of Mcgowen barrels. They've all been great, just got in two more.

That said never had one of their prefits


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[kswaterfowl]

Just got my tikka prefit from McGowan yesterday, headspace was too short, and it won’t chamber the dummy rounds I sent him for custom throat or new Unfired brass. I’ll call them Monday but I expect a return label.


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I hope you get it taken care of. But you will probably get the same speech I got about I shouldn't be installing barrels in my garage, and take it to a gunsmith.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I hope you get it taken care of. But you will probably get the same speech I got about I shouldn't be installing barrels in my garage, and take it to a gunsmith.

#gunplumbers

 

[kswaterfowl]

I told a gunsmith what Dan at McGowen said to me. He laughed and said he would install a prefit the exact same way as I did. He said it sounds like Dan is just making excuses.

 

[gbflyer]

Almost all barrel manufacturers provide prefits now.

You are right, however many of them have a Savage nut, not a shoulder. I’ve got a couple myself. Width of a human hair will put a barrel out of headspace, on either end. That’s a big ask for a barrel manufacturer to take responsibility for. It’s asking for the phone to ring is all I’m saying.

 

[kswaterfowl]

You are right, however many of them have a Savage nut, not a shoulder. I’ve got a couple myself. Width of a human hair will put a barrel out of headspace, on either end. That’s a big ask for a barrel manufacturer to take responsibility for. It’s asking for the phone to ring is all I’m saying.

They shouldn't offer shouldered prefits then, unless they have action in hand.

 

[Nosferatu]

I was considering using them for a build I've been thinking about for some time as I like supporting Montana businesses when I can.

After reading through this, there seems to be better options out there. I'm looking at a pretty well-optioned prefit, so the chances for something to be wrong is pretty high and I don't have the confidence they will take responsibility and resolve any issues. Shame.

 

[Tullis94]

I've had lots of Mcgowen barrels. They've all been great, just got in two more.

That said never had one of their prefits


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Your confidence in McGowen is actually the reason I decided on them. To be fair my barrel shoots amazing AND headspaced correctly. The machining quality was less than that of other prefits I have seen but I wasn't worried about that as long as it shot well. Which it did. My biggest issue is with Dan. He wasn't necessarily and ass, but not far from it, and was not interested in answering questions. HE is the reason am done with McGowen.

 

[Sled]

I told a gunsmith what Dan at McGowen said to me. He laughed and said he would install a prefit the exact same way as I did. He said it sounds like Dan is just making excuses.

Ok, here's my experience with McGowen:

My bad luck

 

[gbflyer]

They shouldn't offer shouldered prefits then, unless they have action in hand.

That would be the safe way to do it for sure. I don’t think many of the old players in the barrel building racket build shouldered prefits…Hart, Lilja, Krieger, etc.

 

[260284]

I shipped my barrel back on Friday 11/13 and got it back yesterday. Guess what, they did absolutely nothing to the barrel. I screwed it on my action and it still closes with no resistance on a no-go. I took it to a local gunsmith that has @kswaterfowl barrel. He measured our action and they are withing .001" of each other. My headspace was .007" long and @kswaterfowl is .005" too long.

 

[PantherCity]

Just got my tikka prefit from McGowan yesterday, headspace was too short, and it won’t chamber the dummy rounds I sent him for custom throat or new Unfired brass. I’ll call them Monday but I expect a return label.


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Update:

I called on Monday (11/22) and I said I wanted a return label and I would ship the barrel and action to them with the dummy rounds to make it right. They agreed and the next day they emailed me a UPS label and I shipped it back on Wednesday (11/23). I’ll post another update when I get it back and can see how it shoots.


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[Justin.Medcalf]

Just found this thread! I ordered a fast twist custom Mcgowen barrel for my Tika T3. It’s in 270 Winchester. I installed it and checked headspace and it won’t close on the Go gauge. This is my first shouldered prefit, I usually build off of savages so I just set my own headspace. I was expecting it to close on the Go gauge for sure because that’s the minimum but it won’t! I emailed them to see what they wanna do. Shoulda read this thread before I ordered I guess!

 

[z987k]

Has anyone had a barrel made to the correct spec recently?

 

[Beaverdog]

Just found this thread! I ordered a fast twist custom Mcgowen barrel for my Tika T3. It’s in 270 Winchester. I installed it and checked headspace and it won’t close on the Go gauge. This is my first shouldered prefit, I usually build off of savages so I just set my own headspace. I was expecting it to close on the Go gauge for sure because that’s the minimum but it won’t! I emailed them to see what they wanna do. Shoulda read this thread before I ordered I guess!

At least you got one of the more easily corrected issues like i did. If they dont want to correct the issue you could always rent a hand reamer and finish the chamber yourself. Still a shitty situation you shouldnt have to deal with either way though.

 

[PantherCity]

At least you got one of the more easily corrected issues like i did. If they dont want to correct the issue you could always rent a hand reamer and finish the chamber yourself. Still a shitty situation you shouldnt have to deal with either way though.

He shouldn’t have to fix it himself. I would call and be polite but firm in you’re expectations and request a return label to ship them the barrel and action. No FFL required when shipping it to the gunsmith and back.

Perhaps they should just start selling short chambered barrels and not advertise them as prefits.


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[PantherCity]

Has anyone had a barrel made to the correct spec recently?

My buddy ordered and received a tikka prefit in the exact same barrel I did (same chambering and contour/length) and received it about a month before I did. I installed his and it seems to be fine. I don’t think he has shot it yet.


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