The .460 S&W Magnum Bolt Action Rifle Project: Part 5: Ordering the Barrel

Confident that my rifle could feed the .460 from the magazine I ordered my barrel from McGowen. They offer a lot of options for barrels so I’ll walk you through the options I selected, and why I selected them.

Stainless Steel Barrel: Not a hard choice here, I’d rather not deal with bluing or some other finish on the metal.

16.5” long. The .460 S&W Mag is a handgun cartridge. Will I get more velocity out of a 20 or 24” barrel? Probably. Will it matter for the intended use of this rifle? Not at all. I’m not going to be shooting past 200 yard with this guy more than likely. A few extra FPS won’t matter. I’m keeping this barrel as short as possible to keep it as handy as possible.

Bore Diameter: 45P because that’s the proper bore diameter for 45ACP, 45 Colt, 454 Casull, and .460 S&W from McGowen.

Twist: 1-16”: I took a complete wag here. The T/C Katahdin uses that twist. I also looked at buying that rifle, so I figured I should trust their decision enough to go with their twist rate.

Contour: Savage Varmint. It is the same profile barrel as the one I’m taking off in .308 Winchester so the stock will handle it nicely. Yes, it will add weight, but to reduce the recoil of .460 S&W and compensate for the weight reduction from the shorter barrel I’d like to add a little weight for recoil reduction. Plus, a stiff bull barrel can’t hurt consistency.

Action Threading: Savage Standard/Small because that’s what my short action receiver takes

Chambering: 460 S&W Magnum – a custom chamber that McGowen will rent a reamer for.

Recoil Lug Size: Factory because I’m not changing the stock out.

Muzzle Threading: .578x28. I don’t own a suppressor yet, but I do plan on buying a suppressor that will function on this platform. Subsonic .45 colt out of this thing would be fun, and putting a suppressor on the end of this short barrel shouldn’t be a problem.

Why did I go with McGowen? They were quick to respond to my emails asking about the .460 S&W chamber in a 45P rifle barrel, willing to do it, explained everything completely when answering my questions. Working with McGowen so far has been great. Their lead time is anywhere from 4-10 weeks. I have a few things to work on while I wait for that, but expect posts to slow down until I get the barrel and am ready to put it on and headspace it. They are using a stock profiled barrel so that could speed things up but I have a lot of odd customization like the chamber and muzzle threading that might slow things down. Their front end guy even emailed me about my "non-standard barrel threading" because they put down .578x24 on the Work Order. When I sent in my payment information (mailed them a letter with CC info) for the finished work I included a copy of my original online deposit where I specified .578x28. When they got the letter they corrected the order form and sent me confirmation. A bit of mistake and worry when ordering, but I am confident after my emails with them that they understand I want to be able to put a .45 can on here sometime in the future and will put the correct threads on.

At this point PTG has shipped my new bolt face and gauges, so when those arrive I'll be able to put the new bolt face on and make sure it works, and then be waiting for the barrel if it does. I should probably look at getting the barrel wrench, rosin, and get the barrel blocks made for my vice soon...eh?

Next time: I get my new bolt face and install that in the bolt.

Part 1: The Beginning

Part 2: Proving the concept and making the parts list

Part 3: Rifle Acquisition

Part 4: Modify Magazine for rimmed cartridges

Part 5: Ordering the custom 460 S&W Chambered barrel

Part 6: New Bolt Face

Part 7: More Fuckups and a Completed Bolt

Part 8: Fine tuning

Part 9: New Magazine

Part 10: Barrel Installation

Part 11: Test Fire

Part 12: Iron Sight selection and installation

Part 13: Optics or not?