Winter storm has shut things down at work, so thought I might finally give a very belated report on the replacement barrel that Remington put on my 44 mag. Original barrel purchased in 2007, and best groups I could get were slightly less than 4 inches (100 yards) using Winchester 240gr JSP. Tried 8 different factory loads and a few handloads, and ALL produced groups in the 4-6 inch range. Sent barrel to Ilion plant in July 2008 (immediately after switchover from Gardiner) asking them to check it out. Eleven weeks later they returned gun to me with new barrel, with note that old barrel had rough poor rifling. New barrel lacked an extractor, which they immediately sent when I called them about it. Fit of the new barrel appeared very good, and it locked up nice and tight on .002 feeler gauge. Win 240gr JSP’s consistently produce 2-3” groups. Not a competition rifle, but I am satisfied with this for a pistol cartridge. Average 2.4” groups is good enough for deer hunting, and is pretty close to their 2” guarantee. However, unlike original barrel, this barrel’s VERY PICKY about ammo. Other full-power hunting loads seem to shoot OK, but light bullets (Rem 180gr JSP) shoot very poorly (4”-11”groups), as do lightly loaded 44 special rounds (5”-10” groups). Noticed I had to double my cleaning patches to get a tight fit, so I slugged the barrel, and groove diameter measured .431”. I may have gotten one of the old oversized barrels that they dug out of the old warehouse. Ordered some .432” gas-check SWC’s from Montana Bullets, and loaded over 8-9 grains of Unique they gave me 3”-4” groups with same POI as hunting load. This may end up being my plinking load, though Montana bullets are not as cheap as I would like for plinkers. Overall, I am happy that Remington improved the accuracy of this gun. I am disappointed about the oversize barrel, but I’m not feeling inclined to send it back for that. I’ll probably just learn how to load for it, and be done messing with it. I’ve got to start working with a 223 Ultra barrel that I ordered while they had my receiver, and I’m still trying to figure out how to get that one to shoot well.
By the way, I see that Oregon Trail Laser Cast are .431” diameter, and are nearly half the price of the Montana’s. Has anyone had good luck with Laser Cast bullets in overbored barrels? I see they're bevel-based (no gas check), and I HATE cleaning lead out, but maybe they won't lead so bad in the smoother rifling of this barrel.
Duane
