Aftermarket rifle barrel quality.

Magmalis

Magmalis

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North of Edmonton
I posted in this forum because it's what my rifles fall under but this could be for other forums also.

What's everyone's opinions on aftermarket barrels?

I have had a few barrels now and have friends with even more variety but I have owned Hart, Krieger and now a Bartlein barrels. I have shot and cleaned others such as Leijia, Jury, Benchmark, Christianson carbon wrapped and Proof Research carbon wrapped.

All were accurate ate and some more so than others. I know this could be alot to do with the smithing since very few were done by the same Smith but the standouts were the Leijia, Krieger and now the Bartlein.

The Bartlein performed amazingly and when I went to clean it there was no fowling after my first treatment of Wipeout and patches. I tried twice more but just wasted product on a clean barrel. I have never had a barrel pick up so little copper and I was shooting dirt rats for hours, probably 500 plus rounds that day.

I gravitate towards cut rifleing but the Leijia was also amazing so in quality and accuracy but it is a 50 cal so it's hard to compare to smaller calibers.

I will try and get 1 of my bartlein too but maybe this link works excuse the mess https://imgur.com/f8nd8wg
Kreiger barreled rifle.
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I find the two barrels that JC of JC Custom Barrels made me also stay very clean, and don't see any copper fouling when I clean them.
 
Do you find Bartleins have a shorter life than other barrels? I am getting great accuracy and very little carbon or copper buildup in mine same as you but I have heard they are a bit softer than other barrels and can wear out faster.
 
I have only had my 223 out for 1 real session as it is only a week old so I am unsure on barrel life. The original Remington barrel had a strange life though.

When it was new it shot fine but would not stabilize 75g bullets with a 1:9 twist. Then at around 4000 rounds it could magically stabilize the 75g and even 80g seamed fine tested out to 300yrds. The accuracy fell of a little at around 8000 and lasted until around 1600 where it was no longer minute of gopher at 100yrds. It was a heavy barrel micro groove rifled barrel I believe it had 8 lands.

The Bartlein is a 1:7 and rips the jackets off of 36g varmint grenades about 30yrds out of the the barrel but seams fine with everything I have put through it that's heavier. I have not tried 90g bullets yet.
 
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Roddy said:
Do you find Bartleins have a shorter life than other barrels? I am getting great accuracy and very little carbon or copper buildup in mine same as you but I have heard they are a bit softer than other barrels and can wear out faster.
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Barrels that don't last quite as long, or last surprisingly long can happen to all of them.
Everyone who makes stuff out of metal is at the mercy of whatever the steel mill puts out, not much most barrel makers can do about it and there's only a few mills/suppliers left making barrel steel/stainless. Most of it is ok, but it can easily vary a few points of hardness between batches and manufacturer, stress left in there varies too, alloy %'s, how well it mixed, and so on. Get a new batch in, see what you got to change to deal with it, rinse and repeat... Same mess with the stuff I make.
And of course just one factor, what someone shoots in it matters to.
 
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A Bartlein was one of the worst barrels for copper fouling that I have ever seen after the first shot during break in. However it cleaned very easy with just a couple patches of Sweet's. 2 more shots produced less copper fouling each time. The next 5 shots produced next to zero fouling. Cleaned it after those 5 and called it broken in. As many of you know I only clean when the groups open up.

I have shot Bartlein, a few MacClennen, a few Kreigers and an Obermeyer. I can't say that any one barrel shot better than any other barrel. Barrel life is around 3-3.5 seconds. I will be having a JC Custom 1:7, 30 inch Palma contour put on my .223 next week. The plan for this year is to shoot .223 at the short range matches out to 600 yards, and keep the .308 for the longs.
 
maynard said:
A Bartlein was one of the worst barrels for copper fouling that I have ever seen after the first shot during break in. However it cleaned very easy with just a couple patches of Sweet's. 2 more shots produced less copper fouling each time. The next 5 shots produced next to zero fouling. Cleaned it after those 5 and called it broken in. As many of you know I only clean when the groups open up.

I have shot Bartlein, a few MacClennen, a few Kreigers and an Obermeyer. I can't say that any one barrel shot better than any other barrel. Barrel life is around 3-3.5 seconds. I will be having a JC Custom 1:7, 30 inch Palma contour put on my .223 next week. The plan for this year is to shoot .223 at the short range matches out to 600 yards, and keep the .308 for the longs.
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Just fitted a JC Custom .308, 1:12 yesterday. 28" Light Palma, plus a brake. Should be trying it within the week. Ordered it when I visited his shop.
 
tiriaq said:
Just fitted a JC Custom .308, 1:12 yesterday. 28" Light Palma, plus a brake. Should be trying it within the week. Ordered it when I visited his shop.
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Let me know how it works.
I have a friend with one that took a while to break in but I blame him for getting an undersized bore diameter. He got a .224 barrel bored to .217 instead of the usual .219 as he plans to reuse the barrel when it gets shot out by cutting length off the muzzle and chamber. The barrel was accurate the whole time just dirty and collected alot of copper for a bit.
 
Magmalis said:
Let me know how it works.
I have a friend with one that took a while to break in but I blame him for getting an undersized bore diameter. He got a .224 barrel bored to .217 instead of the usual .219 as he plans to reuse the barrel when it gets shot out by cutting length off the muzzle and chamber. The barrel was accurate the whole time just dirty and collected alot of copper for a bit.
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Re-chambering to extend life is a good strategy. But the wear is in the throat, not the length of the barrel.

Order the barrel with a 4" straight shank. When it is opening up the groups, cut 2" off the shank and re-chamber. It is almost new.
 
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