What's in a great barrel???

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Mnt monkey

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A hole right?? Just curious, what is the most accurate muzzleloader barrel you have ever shot or own currently?what barrel is the most forgiving with multiple bullets and loads?if you could pic one barrel for all your future guns,,who's barrel would it be?for me the most accurate has been a barrel nut Brux,,I have three #17 heavy Brux and one Krieger same taper,,,the lighter taper barrel nut out shot all three heavy taper
The most forgiving ,most accurate with multiple loads and bullets is a 1-20 wilson450-457,, I have a 1 in 20 twist Douglas that is right behind it,,, my cut rifle Brux and cut rifle Krieger are more accurate but they're not as forgiving with multiple loads as the button rifled barrels are. Seems like to me so many of us have learned so many little tricks to make a poor barrel shoot I wonder sometimes if we all know what a good barrel is. I shot my Douglas 1 and 20 Sunday evening , smokeless load with a 225 grain fury in a light blue,,, went ahead and ran three more shots of the northern precision 270 grain sharp point ran through a sizer right behind the Sabot load,,, the Douglas barrel will put a sabot load in the same place it puts a bore Rider ,just about will do that with any bullet between 250 and 300 grain you don't have to touch your scope not many barrels will do that,, by the way the Wilson barrel does that also again both of these barrels are not as accurate as my cut rifle barrels with a bore rider but with a broad choice of bullets they are hands down more accurate than my cut rifle.
 

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My most accurate is the .451 Wilson barrel on the Super 91. Next would be the .504 Wilson barrel on Super 91.
Don't have any current pictures of target's, but both fill the freezer every year. My avatar buck is one of the .451 kills! :lewis:
 
Accuracy has something to do with the person squeezing the trigger least we forget ;)

For what they were, I had a couple production barrels on Encore rifles that were top notch. My last I wish I still had.

My current Rock Creek is without question the most accurate of all. The barrel is only dependent upon the person on the trigger. It exceeds my expectations including the work Jeff put into it.
Rock Creek 1:19 twist, 8 grove heavy varmint barrel.... 1.250" for 5" then straight taper to .892" at 26", 28" OAL

I've had some really good days of shooting. My best day of shooting was an outstanding day and one I may never repeat.
The target shows 5 rounds in each diamond.



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I had an old sako years ago when I was young a 243 it would shoot every bullet from 58gr to 100 gr,, I have a Rock Creek on my 338 Norma it shoots absolutely phenomenal,, two of the most accurate barrels I currently shoot are Snider polygonal 6 mm. If you come from a bench rest Target background you expect your rifle barrels to perform and if not you get rid of them and replace them, muzzleloaders tend to just figure out how to do some barrel gymnastics and get their barrel to shoot ,anyway part of me respects that, and I'm interested in that, at the same time I wonder why muzzleloaders don't expect the quality of their bores and barrels to be that of Target shooters. I understand economically if you can't afford a quality barrel many of the days as a young man when I was building rifles I had to use as cheap components as I could ,, have yet to shoot a Green mountain barrel I recently was blessed with one from Michigan muzzy and I hope to shoot it soon. Before I learned of a lot of muzzleloaders love for Green mountain I would have considered them the bottom of the barrel for any kind of a centerfire build, and I can't help but wonder if the barrels were so good and so many people are fans of them why doesn't Green mountain build them anymore? Just wondering not trying to get all the Green mountain barrel guys pissed off.
 
Once I saw the constant accuracy of a 45 Cal smokeless, for the most part I walked away from all the other rifles ,calibers ,and types of shooting that I do ,,,or used to do,, since covid and the whole market and availability has changed I have gone back to shooting some centerfires and I'm in the process of turning some bolt action muzzleloaders back into centerfire,,, still going to keep four or five smokeless/blackhorn rifles and try to learn more about the traditional guns how to shoot them ,how to load them, and I'll eventually get around to build them,, most of all of my centerfires target rifle experience and distance shooting wasn't just focused on shooting but on building the rifles that I shot, I am an amateur bolt action rifle builder heavy on the amateur, I learned to build my own guns as a young man because I could not afford to buy a high-end custom rifles that I love to so much,, it was in all that time that I got a lot of exposure to other barrels, European made ,German made and American, I'm very interested and fascinated with rifle barrels, bore sizes ,different types of rifling and just the engineering of a rifle barrel. I'm surprised how poor a quality of barrel sometimes that a muzzleloader will put up with, but also find ways to make shoot.
 
I would ask this question why do most of the 45-70 break open actions make excellent muzzleloaders is it because of the action? I would submit to you it is the barrel many on this site including myself have had excellent phenomenal accuracy out of break open cheap 45-70 CVA rifles. I have not shot a 45-70 CVA converted but I've yet to read of anyone that has had one built and could not get them to shoot great. I had a CVA blued 45-70 for a couple of years never converted it however it was one of the most accurate rifles I've ever shot from the factory. When those of us who are in the muzzleloading world are pleading for 45-70 barrels to be used on our muzzleloaders something's messed up I think. If we know tomorrow that CVA or any other company was going to put a quality 45-70 barrel on a break open or a bolt gun I think many would start to investigate and get interested I know I would.
 
I have a NEF Handi Rifle, break action single shot chambered in the 280 Remington cartridge.
I don't know the twist or much anything else about the barrel but man that gun is dead accurate.
I'm no champion marksman but that gun makes me look like one, Lol. I don't shoot it much because the ammunition is hard to find.
 
45-70 muzzleloading company,, when we send out our original barrel request to the barrel makers will make sure and tell them that they are for 45-70 rifles and not muzzleloaders that way we get a better barrel! Will remove the plastic skirts maybe put some plastic pants on! I'm just making statements to make this point,, muzzleloading deserves better!
 
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