Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Got the EG back from McGowen Precision.

Well, it ended up being 34 weeks, but I got my EG back today. Much to my surprise, they reblued the entire rifle, not just the new barrel. The bluing on it had been pretty worn, so I was expecting it to look pretty mismatched. It isn't a show grade blue, but it certainly looks better than it did when it left. Forearm to barrel fit turned out pretty good; just had them contour copy the barrel that came off it.

It ended up taking me forever to get the front sight fit down to the dovetail, so I only ended up having enough time to put about 5 rounds downrange before it started raining. Just plopped some Rem green box through it to try to get it on paper. Went bang every time, but extraction was pretty stiff.

I'm gonna strip it down and clean it up good tonight, and keep my fingers crossed for some decent weather to get some groups on paper soon.

I can’t tell from the photo. I hope they didn’t blue the lever.

Details? Cartridge? Twist? Length?

Its a 1952 EG. It was a 300 Savage, but it had really bad headspace, and I was tired of head splitting brass constantly. New barrel is 250 Savage 1-10 twist.

They did blue the lever (and even the trigger) but there hadn't really been any case swirl left on the lever. It had a mega bubba d/t job anyway, and the buttstock drilled for a sling stud. Aside from the barrel and the tang, most of the bluing was gone before. I just thought they were bluing the barrel, not the action, so I was a bit shocked when I opened the case.

That'll be fun for you, and it's YOURS. I like it.

I wouldn't sweat it as long as you are happy with it...

I'll be happy if it's a shooter. I am pretty pleased with how it looks, though.

I was a bit concerned about the stiff extraction, but the chamber was pretty grimy. All I had done was run a couple patches the bore quick before I ran it out to shoot earlier. The factory loads are also probably warmer than the test loads I have cooked up for it. I was just using them to get it on paper and get more brass.

Fun fact for future reference... they measured the barrel length from the end of the chamber, not the threads.

I went to put it away last night, and it wouldn't fit under the shelf in the safe where I'd had it previously. It's almost 2" longer than the factory 26" barrel. I hadn't even noticed before that. That'll give me a nice long sight plane.

I went ahead and threw the scope I had on it before back on it last night, too. Old steel tube Weaver K6 that I robbed from an old 22 Mag on see-thru mounts that were on the rifle when I originally bought it.

The factory barrel should have been 24"....no?

I'll measure it later when I'm home. It was 24 or 26. I got it back with the rifle. This new barrel is over 27" from the end of the reciever to the end of the barrel.

I've always heard the correct way to measure barrel length is from the bolt face to the muzzle.

Close the bolt and stick a cleaning rod down the barrel and mark it at the muzzle crown. That's always been spot on for the 99s I checked.

Looks like I may get a weather window to go back out and see what it will do this afternoon. Hourly forecast is showing a gap in the rain from about noon-4pm, and I typically get home around 2.

Nice. And if you want to spiiffy up the lever I think threr's a burgeoning cottage industry for color case hardening going on these days.

Well, it was raining a bit, but I said fugg it and shot anyway. I get 'em to shoot 'em, so let it rain.

Got it on paper with the old factory Rem green box, then shot some test loads. Green box still extracted a bit stiff, but easier than yesterday. Handloads all extracted easy; none of them were hot.

Accurate 4064 ended up being the winner, but IMR4320 was a real close runner up. IMR3031 and H4895 shot ok, but not great.

Best of the bunch; 4 shot 100 yard group with A4064 and Barnes 80gr TTSX. Good enough for me. I already have a bunch of A4064 because my 303 Savage likes it, so that was a big plus having it shoot best.



I did the bolt face to crown measurement with the cleaning rod, just about 27.5" Can't complain about the results, though. 😁

Wow! that's pretty near a Long Tom.

Nice shootin'!!

The rifle gets the credit, I'm not a very good shot.

Ran out of adjustment on the scope, so I'm just gonna yank it and use the peep from now on. It had been pretty close to its limits when I had it zeroed with the original barrel. Dang gooberwocky tap holes... pretty sure someone drilled it by hand while they were drunk. I didn't realize how bad they were until the first time I had pulled the bases off.

That looks like a 1/2" group at 100 yards. Not sure an old lever gun can do much better. You need a Schutzen buttplate on it.

You should be able to reach out and touch em with that rig.

I like straight plates/pads. Never been especially fond of the crescents. The one thing I may change on my 1873 Cimarron is lopping the stock off a smidge so I can put a straight plate on it.

This EG was a good shooter before as a 300, it just ate brass constantly because of headspace. It wasn't quite this good, but MOA. It's certainly a lot more pleasant to shoot now. Those 80 grainers are really soft recoiling compared to 130s through the 300. I'm pretty recoil shy... got a bad neck and shoulders.




Once I get it dialed in, I'll probably see what kind of groups I can shoot at 200. I'm sure the rifle is more accurate than I am. Generally, if I can keep them inside 6" at that distance, it's a good day. My shooting really drops off past 150 or so.



I'll probably leave it as is. I like how it matches the receiver now.

John one fo the gunsmith;s that works at mcGowen is a pretty darn good 99 smith, every gun i have sent comes back a great shooter, they have the barrels for a 99 dialed in to especially if thay have a blank to follow, everyone is slow!!!!!