International Barrels my experience

Decker9 said:
My IBI is ready, so I messaged my gunsmith to make arrangements. I now receive word that he charges an extra $100 when chambering an IBI barrel, and doesn’t guaranty accuracy of the finished rifle if using an IBI (100% custom parts).

Really wondering if I should be finding a different gunsmith perhaps?
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I know your gunsmith through work he has done for me and from shooting events.

He has done excellent work for me, chambering, installing muzzle brakes, profiling barrels etc.

He is a straight shooter , very meticulous, and with that take any discussion on quality or quality control is taken to heart.

I've read this article with interest as I am close to a re-barrel, thought if I could save a few bucks, buy locally and support Canadian business, that would be worth a look at IBI.

For me I have to buy a barrel, get it cut, (maybe profiled), chambered and muzzle cut for a brake. Last time it was ~$1000-$1100.

I am not inclined to experiment due to the cost and time involved to do the work.

The above relates to a target rifle.
 
Hungry said:
I’ve posted this before, and I’ll be quick once again.

My .260 barrel on my AI was stupid accurate. My technique on the bench always sucked so getting my 108 Gr SCENARS printing under 0.300” was really a challenge. I just SUCK at shooting from the bench. Between burps and farts and heartbeats, this baby was boringly routine and accurate. I mean I did not have the skills to out shoot this barrel. My handloads could have been better and also the idiot behind the trigger coulda used a sorting out!! :eek:

If you are waiting to (metaphor warning :evil: ) pull the trigger then go right ahead. You will not regret this move. I’ve owned and competed with Krieger, Rob McLennan, Benchmark, and Douglas barrels in my competition career of 37 years and IBI is better than I can be. And for the record, I do have a bunch of DCRA NSCC gold medals, just not as many as Ryan IBI Longshot has. :dancingbanana:

I forgot to mention that I’m always shooting off an Atlas (real deal) bipod. Maybe one of these days I should use a more serious front rest?? LOL

Hope this helps…

Peace Be The Journey!

Cheers, Barney
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Imagine how it is when you have some joker behind you with a bullhorn yelling shoot faster. ;-)
MY IBI on my Savage 10BA shoots great and virtually zero copper fouling.
 
Decker9 said:
As I had mentioned, nothing at all against the gunsmith, he has his reasons. I appreciate honesty, which is what he was.

I will be making a couple phone calls on Monday to see if there’s another smith who’d like to take on the project.

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Hahaha ok. Call. I'll spin it for you.
 
There are more factors than just the barrel, but the few guys at my club that got IBI barrel had ok group but nothing outstanding and this, after quite a bit of load development. They are not newbies.
One fellow was quite disappointed with it when he ended up last on a match after spending much money get his .223 build with a IBI barrel.

On the little I have seen, I am reluctant to head that way and buy one. At the end, it is how it shoot that matter, not how pretty it look inside.
Shilen..kreiger..Benchmark win matches and shoot …that I know.
 
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IBI did have a rough start. My smith spun up one of their first 6.5 barrels, shoot like s**t, he was not happy.

But few years down the road, he is quite happy to use them and speaks highly of the finished product.
 
When IBI first came out there may have been some growing pains. We tried a couple and weren't happy and there is likely still some wonderful FB posts between us and Ryan. However we now almost exclusively use IBI and would choose them over most big name brands as Alpheus mentioned. They have come a long ways and we have confidently moved to them as our primary barrel and put our name and reputation behind that. Our shop does provide a full accuracy and workmanship guarantee on all our builds and we can confidently provide that using IBI barrels. We have had an excellent relationship and customer service from IBI for the past 2.5-3 years and install 80-100 barrels a season. We regularly expect our rifles to shoot sub 1/2moa with factory match ammunition and IBI barrels.

Now to be fair to this other smith, we also upcharge customers for outside sourced barrels as we are a full turnkey shop and profit provides insurance, warranty and inventory. Not sure if that is this other fellas case, but there may be a reason for upcharges for customer supplied parts. There is also a reputable brand we will not work with. This is not due to quality but due to support and warranty concerns from the dealer. Customers should have a stress free rifle build and the confidence knowing the rifle will shoot for the money they pay. Period. And there are lots of great smiths in Canada to choose from. If one wont do it, another will be there to support your project.
 
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I understand a lot of people have said that they didn't like IBI in the past but this is meant to be a snapshot of what I'm seeing in them right now. Just my experience but a lot of very good credible sources are agreeing here too that they are making some amazing barrels.
 
In the last week I've received and installed an IBI barrel for a Bergara B14r, and with Ryan walking me thru the headspace process it shoots very well. Very happy customer here! Won't be my last.
 
Of the two barrels I have I am 50/50. The first barrel (6.5 CM) was great right out of the box. Which prompted me to order another barrel. I ordered a .308 barrel and currently have issue with it. The throat is short. I measured max COAL with Hornady 168 ELD-M. Max measure is 2.770" not jammed but firmly seated in the throat. So approx .030 short of the recommended 2.800" Same issue when I tried 168 SST still can't reach spec COAL. Still waiting to hear back from them.
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Thier reamer is probably up to SAAMI spec but hornady bearing surfaces are LONG I'll take a look at my 168 eldms but seriously eldm bullets are often seated a bit deeper than you expect because their bearing surface is just so damn long. Like others said don't get to worked up over it it's better to be short than long.
 
kthomas said:
Nothing about it was a bash, and apparently I wasn't wrong.

I have nothing against IBI and wish them all the best in their ventures. Seems like most customers are pretty happy.

Happy shooting :sniper:
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As far as I know some people didn't like them initially, I can't comment personally but yes I can say thier sticks are up to snuff now from what I've seen. Like I said I don't want to go over what's already been said though...
 
Janeau said:
There are more factors than just the barrel, but the few guys at my club that got IBI barrel had ok group but nothing outstanding and this, after quite a bit of load development. They are not newbies.
One fellow was quite disappointed with it when he ended up last on a match after spending much money get his .223 build with a IBI barrel.

On the little I have seen, I am reluctant to head that way and buy one. At the end, it is how it shoot that matter, not how pretty it look inside.
Shilen..kreiger..Benchmark win matches and shoot …that I know.
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I have never shot or borescoped a badly made looking barrel that shot better than one that was well machined.
Cat
 
Western Canadian F-Class Championships are in the bag for 2022. Top 2 FTR guns were sporting IBI barrels, and I believe open winner was also IBI but don’t hold me to that 😜. Just saying!
 
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