Custom Barrel Manufacturers

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jims

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I hope this does not open a Pandora's Box as everybody must have their individual preferences just as they do in trucks etc. If one was going to the expense of a quality aftermarket barrel which one would be the best or are they all generally similar, I am talking Krieger, McGowen, McMillian, Pac-Nor, Shilen etc. brand type barrels? Thanks
 
The local 6PPC shooters favor the Kreiger barrels, I asked them about the Douglas barrels and they said for the price of what they cost it is a very good barrel.
 
The two used the most here seem to be Pacnor and Douglas...Both with great results.
 
I have rifles with Douglas, Lilja, Lothar-Walther and Shilen barrels. They all shoot well.

When I was shooting high power, the guys I shot with called the Krieger barrels "master barrels" because generally you had to be a master to benefit from their accuracy potential (and cost).

jim
 
I have used amost all the best barrel makers products and they are all good. I hesitate to recommend a shooter spend over $300 for a blank because it is impossible to make a muzzle loader into a center fire bench rest rifle without very serious expense. Almost everyone is more interested in 200 to 300 yard accuracy in a game producing rifle.

If I were pressed I'd say Dan Lilja has a lot going for him as a top of the line producer. Krieger is so high priced I think you'd have to know more about the rifle than the gunsmith to justify it though forever you could say you bought the best.

Shilen in central Texas has gotten a lot of my business and their barrels have a lot to offer. Still I know Pac-Nor very well. It's difficult to get a better over all deal of quality, accuracy, and price for a premium product.
 
This is an interesting topic. When I shot on the teams in the Corp's, I was constantly bugging our Match armorer with rifle questions. One question I used to ask him was who made the best barrel and which one does the USMC use on the M40 series sniper rifles and on our match grade M-14's. Seems there was no one specific barrel they used. What he told me was that barrel making was no piece of cake and all the big barrel makers of the day ( mid 1980's) struggled with quality from time to time. They would order barrels from a specific manufacturer and build rifles with them, as long as they shot with spec and not to many were rejected from that lot, then they kept using them, once they got to many that were rejected, they went shopping again. So you would see different brand on our rifles. My MIA ( semi only M14 match grade) was built by a USMC match armorer at Quantico and has a Barnet on it, it shoots 1/2 moa. My M40A1 also built at Quantico has a another brand, not Shilen nor Douglas nor Krieger but for the life of me I can't remember which one right now.
Anyway what he told me was that the equipment used in barrel making wears out and was expensive and that sooner or later a few poor barrels make it out the door.
 
I have also used just every make of barrel over the past 20+ years of making custom rifles and muzzleloaders. I personally like Hart and Lilja for my benchrest and sniper rifle builds. But there are other high quality makes out there as well, like Schilen, Pac-Nor, Kreiger, Schnieder, McGowen, Douglas. I haven't used Pac-Nor or Kreiger, so I cant speak of them, other than I have heard nothing but good things about them.

In my shop I find out what the customer wants, in terms of price range, they are willing to pay for.

Top dollar: Hart or Lilja
Mid-range: Schilen
Economy: Mcgowen
 
I've used Douglas(3), Hart(2), and Kreiger(2). The Douglas barrels are REALLY good barrels for the money. The Kreigers are picky and the Harts are a WONDERFUL.
 
jims,

When you are working with a particular gunsmith, it is a good idea to follow his recommendations for the barrel maker: usually they have experience with that maker or makers, and that usually works "mo' bettah".

jim
 
If a person is planning on shooting sabotless, the land depth is absolutely critical. A 458 cal barrel with 0.004" land depth will be 0.450" between lands and will shoot the 0.450 Parkers very well. The same with a 408 PacNor with 0.004" lands for a 0.400" 200SST/0.400Barnes,etc. Now if the lands are 0.003" or 0.005" , then bad news. Land depth to even a 10,000 of an inch is a big deal.
 
If one is talking about muzzleloader barrels it is my understanding that my SMI Douglas .50 cal. is a bit oversized as compared to the Savage, T/C and Green Mountain. I am not sure why that is, if it is the land depth or what. However the SMI's seem to shoot the .458 saboted bullets much better than the .451 or .452's. So take that into account as you select your components. The NULA's are Douglas also, but seem to shoot a wider range of bullets well. I assume that they are the exact same barrel as the SMI but with a different breech plug.

Now with centerfires, I have seen that the Pac-nor's last a bit longer than the Douglas barrels (throat wear) in Savage replacement barrels.
 
In response to encoreguy, there are many fine barrel manufacturers out there today. Spencer and Bartlein are two others who make incredibly accurate barrels that super easy to clean. One factor which is a problem in shooting sabots is the plastic buildup in the barrel due to the fact that smokeless powder burns approximately 6x hotter than blackpowder. I routinely run 4 to 5 wet patches of acetone over my 50 cal brush through after every 5 shots when shooting for groups. This removes the plastic fouling completely. Follow up with your gun solvent on 2 to 3 patches, then 4 to 5 dry ones. This cured my problem in shooting .451 parker be in my smi encore. They shoot like a house of fire out of my smi encore when following this regimen. Hope this helps in shooting the .451-.452 bullets, it sure did for me.
 
Smokeless-And-,,Graupulver"-Barrels

Barrels-And-Arms-For-Alternative-Propellants-All-I-Do. All-One-Off-Custom-Projects.

Ever-Pleased, Projects-To-Undertake, Simply; ,,P.M."-If-You-Have-One.
 
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