[ekaphoto]

I am looking at rebarreling a rifle. My question is what is the best bbls. I currently have one with a douglass. The one on there before was a Shilen. I know Hart, kreiger, etc. I hsve been out of shooting for a while, so I don't know if quality control has gone down with any. Any to stay away from etc.

As a side note, the Shilen customer service can't be beat. In 1989 I had a rifle built. About 3-4 years later, and not that many rounds later the groups would open up. It got worse and worse. After on and off tweakng the scope etc the bbl was the only thing left. I replaced it with a douglas and great groups. Later some one mentiond I should call shilen and tell them because they had gotten a bad batch of bbls about that time and no one knew why they went bad. This was 10 years later. I e-mailed Shilen outlining what happened and even told them it was 10 years previous. Their response was send it back for replacement. I did and another was sent to me immedatly.

 

[mlammers]

All the ones you listed are great. I am working with ER Shaw right now. They are a smaller company, but do make great barrels, and best of all they will let you custom spec a barrel on the site, and order online, and all contours are the same price. Options are for fluting etc, and they will even barrel the action for you, and refinish(I have not used those services though) for fairly decent price. Just food for thought.

 

[mele]

Does anyone else have experience with these ER Shaw barrels? I'd like to know more about their contours... they only offer a 1-5....

In terms of the original question:
The barrels you have mentioned are all still good. Some others to consider would be Lilja, MT Rifleman and Broughtons

MEL

 

[Crazdgunman]

Welp...what barrel maker wins the most in the Camp Perry and Palma matches?

I might be wrong, but I think the answer might be Hart barrels.

 

[Kenshin]

Hey all,
Well I can honestly say I've never had a bad barrel{knock on wood here}. I've always been really lucky to have a good craftsmen to install my aftermaket parts and toys.
My favorite barrel companies are Lilja, Hart, Kreiger, Obemeyer, and H-S Precision. I've also got sheilin barrels on some of my rifles and do love them. My wife likes her 22-250 with a sheilin.

The only hang up I have is that the barrel maker only produces "one" type of match grade barrel. If they start producing different lines on barrel quality that seems a little sketchy.

I feel that the best thing you can do is to have a good gunsmith install your barrel. Propper bedding, headspacing, and a good crowning job are key. I also listen to my gunsmith. When he speaks or offers advice I listen. When I was going to build my 6.5-284 I was going to use a stollie or a Bat action because that's what I herd everyone was doing. I went to my gunsmith with my idea and he said why spend all that money on an action that I will never utilize. Get a howa action and save a bunch of money. I did and my rifle is killer.

The other big hang-up my gumsmith has is people who don't know what they want. Know what you want or at least know exactly what you want to to use the rifle for. What twist rate, what barrel length,what type of ammo will you shoot?? Don't ask for a Palma rig when you want a big game mountain rifle. {you might laugh but it happens more than you think}
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Kenshin