I know what's involved, and many rimfire smiths I have talked to actually thread their barrels onto 54 actions, just wondering about IBI as I have heard some good things about them and just recently bore scooped a 280AI IBI barrel and was very impressed with the quality.
I have a couple of other choices for barrels as well, but I was wondering if you have a preference for well built barrels, grauhanen?
Cat
Yes, many experienced rimfire smiths do thread the receivers to use with a threaded barrel. Many also glue the barrel when using Anschutz receivers, as described in the Border Barrels link, which was provided for readers in general.
If I was going through the time and cost of rebarreling an Anschutz with a custom, I'd want to be certain that it offered a very, very good chance of being the best I could get.
While IBI hasn't established a reputation in either .22LR BR or 3P shooting (it may yet), there are other choices that do have the reputations of being top quality rimfire barrels. For many Canadian .22LR shooters, the easy availability of IBI in Canada is the main attraction of that particular barrel. Another choice for the same reason would be currently available new factory Anschutz barrels.
In general, it's worth keeping in mind that a custom barrel in itself is not a guarantee of a certain level of performance. Certainly, not all custom barrels are equal. Indeed, not all custom barrels made by the same manufacturer are necessarily equal. That's why many very serious competitive BR shooters will test and choose from among several barrels to get the best results.
Among serious BR shooters, Shilen ratchet barrels are often recommended. There are others that appear regularly on winning equipment lists. Of course the availability of any American-sourced custom barrel is unknown, but many do have a long wait time.
All shooters should keep in mind that a custom barrel, even a very good one, is not a panacea for mediocre or poor ammo. In other words, no barrel, however good its pedigree, no matter to what action it's attached, can make mediocre ammo shoot well. Indifferent ammo will always shoot with indifferent results. An expensive, quality rifle or custom barrel is no shortcut to better performance. Without consistent, good ammo, results can never be good and consistent.