Best bang for the buck in new barrels
- Thread starter joey.45
- Start date
There are several Canadian barrel makers. The only one I've dealt with is Ted Gaillard and his barrels have been top notch ( I've had 4). Mystic Precision a site sponsor imports barrels including Shilen which have a good reputation. There is little difference in cost between top notch barrels but even more important is who fits the barrel for you. Others will post regarding their experiences with other makers. Good luck on your project.
I cannot say whether it is representative of all their barrels or not, but I recently acquired a McGowan from Mysticplayer.
I had it put on a LA Magnum 700 action, chambered in 308 Norma Mag.
[Leeper did the smithing]
It is a zinger, with accuracy quite a bit better than I usually expect from any sporter barrel.
I have had great success with Krieger, Shilen, Hart, Gaillard, Pac-Nor, Lilja, etc.
I agree that it is more likely who does the smithing than whose barrel it is.
Regards, Eagleye.
I had it put on a LA Magnum 700 action, chambered in 308 Norma Mag.
[Leeper did the smithing]
It is a zinger, with accuracy quite a bit better than I usually expect from any sporter barrel.
I have had great success with Krieger, Shilen, Hart, Gaillard, Pac-Nor, Lilja, etc.
I agree that it is more likely who does the smithing than whose barrel it is.
Regards, Eagleye.
I foud Krieger, Gaillard and Mclennan barrels verry top notch.
I heard and seen good thing about Lilja but don't own one.
but it all come down to who install the said barrel, IT WILL make or break all the deal.
I heard and seen good thing about Lilja but don't own one.
but it all come down to who install the said barrel, IT WILL make or break all the deal.
I had Bill Leeper contour, chamber and install a Shilen SS match tube for me in .260. It started as a #7 Varmint barrel, but now is a lightweight contour (#1 ish), .540" at the muzzle. Shoots sub-moa consistently and I couldn't be happier with it.
As stated, there are many good barrel makers, but the smith is where it counts.
That's where getting a Gaillard barrel put on by Ted or his nephew has an advantage. If by some fluke it doesn't shoot, then there's only one guy to talk to.
For shure it will shoot if Ted handle the work, and I do approve what you just said at 100 %, but again, same apply if you choose to go with Robert Mclennan. I never had a single word to speak after he smith any of my rifle.
Well, I had a 25" stainless bull barrel (1.25" dia.) with fluting and powder coating installed, head spaced and bedded at corlanes for a bit over $800.
For me $1200 said and done for a new barrel is too much. But I dont need 1 hole groups at 1000 yards either.
About the same as buying a new rifle. Say $425-600 for the barrel, $250 to thread and chamber, 150 to true up the action (optional), 150 to bed it. You can do that yourself if money is tight.
It's a lot cheaper to rebarrel than it is to shoot it out in the first place; and if it's any consulation you will probably make some of it back during load developement. It's so easy to spend the price of a good barrel on components while trying to make a turd shoot.
It's just too bad Ted wont work on Sako's...
He's done a few, he just doesn't talk about it much.
He even did a couple winchesters for me.
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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I got Juan Valdez to twist a new Shilen on a Savage for me..Came in quite a bit under that and it shoots.
Its easy to get to 2 grand with extras. There's not much use squareing a 700 action without machineing the lug, and why not just put a Holland on instead? Bead-blasting or blueing the new barrel isn't free either. Then there's triggers, do you pay the gunsmith or pay Jewel? Gun's not any better than it's trigger.
Paying for pillar bedding might get you thinking that putting more money into a beaver food handle may not be as rewarding as Devconing it into a McMillan. I mean, you're in that deep already right? Perhaps you will need another recoil pad? Add 50 and another 50 to grind it.
Did someone mention brakes? Say what you want about them, they do what they say. Tack on the price of another barrel to cover that.
Did cleaning up the lug recesses lead to too much clearance at the bolt root? Loseing your primary extraction ain't all good, so add the price of refitting the bolt handle. Do you really want to move the old handle on that old bolt? An oversized bolt body will take care of that slop that didn't bother you before you reallized that squareing the lugs doesn't mean much when the cocked bolt doesn't let the lugs sit on those nicely machined recesses. This would be a good time to reflect on custom actions, since it is so easy to tweak a Remington until it costs more than a Stiller. While you're brooding about life's injustices, consider whether you are saveing anything by getting the neighborhood gun mechanic to marry all the parts you rounded up yourself, when you could have just picked up the phone and ordered a completed product from a big-name builder and be done with it. That can lead to paying more on tax than you budgetted for a rebarrel.
It's a bit of a slippery slope, once you get on it.
