custom barrels

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mike Crawford

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With all the talk about guns being guaranteed to shot 1 inch or your money back .. Is there any real need to do a custom gun.. When I was younger there was a guy with a gun with a Green Mountain barrel on it ..
It shoot real good and I always thought the custom barrels were suppose to real accurate..
But if yuo can buy a thompson centre gun with 5-R-rifling or a green mountain barrel with 5-R- rifling what is the deal... Nicer wood .. made to fit ...But no better accuracy than a store shelve rifle :????
 
Not always about accuracy. Some guys like a certain make and model of action, certain bottom metal, certain stocks, and certain chamberings. If the cartridge you want doesn't come in your preferred action, you can have one made as opposed to settling for an action you didn't want.

When I couldn't find a Sako 75 finnlight in .260, I bought a shilen barrrel and had it contoured and fitted to my existing action. The plus side is it shoots as good as a factory Sako...:D
 
Often installing a match grade custom barrel will get accuracy levels in the .300's depending on the cartridge...
 
I have a AIA Enfield in 7.62x39 that I want to have a 12" custom manufactured barrel made fore it.
You can't legally have the barrel cut down shorter then 18 1/2 "but it is is legal to have a custom barrel made by a custom manufacture!
I love NR short barrelled rifles for hunting
 
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blargon said:
Not always about accuracy. Some guys like a certain make and model of action, certain bottom metal, certain stocks, and certain chamberings. If the cartridge you want doesn't come in your preferred action, you can have one made as opposed to settling for an action you didn't want.

When I couldn't find a Sako 75 finnlight in .260, I bought a shilen barrrel and had it contoured and fitted to my existing action. The plus side is it shoots as good as a factory Sako...:D
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I think this is probably the best reason people go custom
 
With all the talk about guns being guaranteed to shot 1 inch or your money back .. Is there any real need to do a custom gun..
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With very few exceptions, no. You might want a different cartridge, but there are almost certainly several that would do the same job. You might get better accuracy, but unless you're building a varmint or target rifle it may not make any practical difference in the field. You couldn't swing a dead cat in a gun-shop without knocking over several 500 yard big game rifles (with decent loads). Many of them cost the same as good barrel. The gun-smithing will pay for a great or at least high-end of decent scope for it.

Lightweight? Nope, that's covered. Reliable? Well, lots of rifles work and a lot of "custom rifles" don't work any better. Weather-proof or durable? That's done too.

What's left? Well there will always be a tiny market for walnut and blued works of art, but you can probably count the Canadian smiths doing that on your fingers. You may not need both hands. There are plenty of shooters that will pay for tiny groups, on the belief that tiny groups are their own reward. Wildcatters will continue to produce similar cartridges that have all been done before, or may as well have.

Some custom features might have merit, like mag conversions or sighting systems.

Honestly, there are few good reasons for building rifles. I have no idea why I keep doing it.
 
blargon said:
Not always about accuracy. Some guys like a certain make and model of action, certain bottom metal, certain stocks, and certain chamberings. If the cartridge you want doesn't come in your preferred action, you can have one made as opposed to settling for an action you didn't want.

When I couldn't find a Sako 75 finnlight in .260, I bought a shilen barrrel and had it contoured and fitted to my existing action. The plus side is it shoots as good as a factory Sako...:D
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This is why I have done it. At the time I wanted a new, SS, Model Classic in 338wm and none were available in Canada at the time (that I could find). So I built one from a NIB 7mmrm. Worked out very well.
 
I guess you'd have to define what "custom rifle" means to you, as opposed to custom features on a factory rifle like barrel change or stock change. I'm having my Sako Safari stock upgraded to an exhibition piece of wood, does this make a custom rifle or just a restocked Sako? I think most custom or semi custom rifles are a matter of personalization of that fire arm for specific reasons. My 700 Ti is in a Brown Precision Kevlar stock to decrease weight and make it the lightest rifle I've ever owned or handled, my 300 Wby is in a Brown Psn glass stock made for a Sako because I like the design and fit better than the one made for Remington 700s. Many of my rifles are rebarreled, some are rechambered, many are not in their original stocks, but are any of them what one would term as a "custom rifle"...............or maybe just Bubba'd..........If you're just talking barrel changes then it's usually just to change calibers or play with a wildcat or replace a shot out barrel.
With the accuracy of factory barrels and ammo these days, changing a barrel to attain better accuracy on a hunting rifle, is most likely a waste of money................
 
I guess that is more what I am asking .. Say ...Buddy has a custom rifle .. nice wood etc and a douglas or green mountain or what ever custom barrel .. Would you expect that gun to shoot better groups than a factory rifle in the same caliber
 
As long as the gun powers that be continue to hamstring the .22-250 and other excellent cartridges with barrel that are 1-14" or 1-12" or some such nonsense cstom barrels are necessary. Also, If you want a new .17 remington, you need a custom barrel and a gunsmiths phone number.
 
mike Crawford said:
I guess that is more what I am asking .. Say ...Buddy has a custom rifle .. nice wood etc and a douglas or green mountain or what ever custom barrel .. Would you expect that gun to shoot better groups than a factory rifle in the same caliber
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On average, yes. How much better will depend on which individual factory barrel you compare it to. There are many factory rifles that shoot well enough for most purposes, but the odds of a custom barrel shooting like crap are slight. Whether the difference is worth it to you is a whole nuther thing.
 
Dogleg said:
On average, yes. How much better will depend on which individual factory barrel you compare it to. There are many factory rifles that shoot well enough for most purposes, but the odds of a custom barrel shooting like crap are slight. Whether the difference is worth it to you is a whole nuther thing.
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It is rarely the barrel that shoots like crap, rather the chassis that it is sitting in and the interface with the receiver... possibly a poorly cut chamber by a "sub-standard" machinist/gunsmith, which can cause poor performance out of an otherwise expensive and well made barrel.
 
Custom barrels will shoot better than factory barrels because the work has been put into the process of making them.
Most factory barrels are button rifled or hammer forged then chambered and installed where as custom barrels will be given a few more steps, such as STRESS RELIEVING and LAPPING which is what makes a barrel be very consistent.

There are factory rifles guaranteed to shoot 1/2 moa but custom barrels will take you to the next level .

If factory made rifles were so accurate out of the box competition shooters would have no reason to build customs to be competitive :) .
 
Accuracy, whether applicable to your needs or not, is only one reason to go to a custom barrel. You might want a barrel that is 28" long or even longer. You might want a barrel that is fluted, or fluted in an unusual way, and the factory barrel is too light a contour for the caliber to do it safely. You might want a barrel that is made to an unusually light or an unusually heavy contour. You might want stainless where only carbon steel is available or vice-versa. Your barrel might foul badly, and you want one that won't. You might want a nonstandard caliber such as .12, .14, or .23. You might have reason to want a specific rate of twist, perhaps you shoot one specific bullet, and you would like the ideal rate of twist for that particular bullet, or perhaps want a specific style of rifling and a gain twist that is easier on the bullet, or maybe you're tired of factory barrels having insufficient twist to stabilize your favorite mono-metal hunting bullet, or heavy for caliber VLD. But when it comes to accuracy, accuracy is the term for consistency and tight tolerances, and as good as factory barrel have become in recent years, they still aren't made within the same tolerances as a good custom barrel.
 
coyote said:
Custom barrels will shoot better than factory barrels because the work has been put into the process of making them.
Most factory barrels are button rifled or hammer forged then chambered and installed where as custom barrels will be given a few more steps, such as STRESS RELIEVING and LAPPING which is what makes a barrel be very consistent.

There are factory rifles guaranteed to shoot 1/2 moa but custom barrels will take you to the next level .

If factory made rifles were so accurate out of the box competition shooters would have no reason to build customs to be competitive :) .
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There is always the exception to this though, I built an 8mm RM on a Douglas air gauged, pre contoured barrel and Sako L61R action, that I could not get to shoot better than 2 1/2" @ 100 mtrs, I recrowned, rechambered, rebedded ..........did everything and could not get better than 2 1/2" @ 100, rebarreled to 300 WM (an old Sako 30-06 barrel I had) and it shot 3/4" groups with the first load I tried...........had to have been the barrel..........
 
c-fbmi said:
There is always the exception to this though, I built an 8mm RM on a Douglas air gauged, pre contoured barrel and Sako L61R action, that I could not get to shoot better than 2 1/2" @ 100 mtrs, I recrowned, rechambered, rebedded ..........did everything and could not get better than 2 1/2" @ 100, rebarreled to 300 WM (an old Sako 30-06 barrel I had) and it shot 3/4" groups with the first load I tried...........had to have been the barrel..........
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Could possibly have been a bad one ,

There is always a possibility for a barrel to be a dud and not shoot but in the custom barrel world it is rather rare imo.
 
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