What barrel do you folks recommend?

I picked up a Model 1999 action for a song. I am going to use a McMillian Pre64 stock the largest recommended contour is No. 4. This leaves Kreger off bc their SS barrels start much larger and heavier than I want.

Leaning to a Shelin chambered No 4.

What do you been there built that guys think or recommend?


The rifle is going to be 358STA.

Bergara.

My dad and I have built or rebarreled 7 rifles or so and all had McGowans. Everyone one of them was and is very accurate. Under an inch and 100 yards. I realize that is small sample size but we have had zero issues with the barrels and customer service was good. 2 7x57s and a 6.5-06 shoot half inch or under if I do my part.

I've had good luck with Douglas and one Pac Nor which is no longer available.

Douglas: super quality control and your choice of profiles.

I've had good luck with Shilen, Douglas, Kreiger, Pacnor, McGowen, and even both shaw and A&B ..

Shilen is a TINY business, located in the Heart of Texas, and makes really nice barrels. Of course there are lemons from all makers.

My pick would be for a Lylja barrel. Dan makes a good barrel and his 3 groove barrels are very easy to clean up.

Shilen, for sure. Krieger will do a stainless but will specify a different alloy than the usual one. Call and check.

Douglas; no question about it. All factors considered, including accuracy, quality, fast delivery, responsiveness to custom orders, and nice people to work with, Douglas beats them all. If you need a special contour, call Stan and talk to him; super nice guy. They have a huge CNC lathe that can make literally, any contour.
And their manufacturing process is better than most of the others. Fact.
I have had some negative results with some of the others....

I have used Brux, Benchmark, Krieger, Lilja, and Shilen. Pretty much listed in order of accuracy, but the best I have used is Bryan Blake's barrels. I have two of his barrels, one on a custom build he did, and they both shoot sub 1/2 MOA at 500 yards. Phenomenal accuracy with almost no load development.

If you don't feel comfortable with a new/no name guy, I would go with Brux, Bartlein, Benchmark, or Krieger.

If you want the best in accuracy, look at when competitive shooters are using - it ain't hard to Google.

I have Hobaugh, Krieger, and Brux on my current rifles and a Pacnor match grade in hand at my gun builder for the .404J he is building but still waiting on the LH GMA action (ordered mid last year). The barrels on my current rifles are all accurate. The Hobaugh barrrel on my 7mm RM is outstanding.

I will venture to say most of these barrels today have more ability within them for accuracy than the nuts behind the butts.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
I will venture to say most of these barrels today have more ability within them for accuracy than the nuts behind the butts.

I believe that statement to be true after the sampling of barrels I have.
I have had rifles barreled by McGowan and had my smith barrel rifles for me from Pac Nor, Lilja, Shilen, Bartlein and Douglas, the only ho hum barrel I have is the Douglas but it is acceptable.
All the others are incredibly accurate, I mean .5" shooters and I prefer ultra light pencil thin barrels.
I can't recommend any rifle barrel makers as I've had great examples from several of them.
Pick one and go forward you won't be disappointed.
Good luck with your project.

I would buy a Obermeyer barrel if I could get one.

You can buy a blank from Proof Research (they also sell non-carbon fiber ones) for about $330 and they are in stock 99% of the time.

Stockys Stocks has them.

So does Midway.

Bartlein and Benchmark would also be top choices.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
I will venture to say most of these barrels today have more ability within them for accuracy than the nuts behind the butts.

in *MY* case, the weakest link in the precision machine is the loose nut on the trigger .. ALL of my rifles shoot better than I can

I like Brux, Hart, and Shillen personally.

my 2 broughten barrels are excellent.

I always liked Obermyer barrels, but they are hard to come by. Today the best barrel out there is without a doubt a Lothar Walther..and Ive had good luck with Douglas...

My barrel from Shillen shipped today. This was much sooner than expected and quoted.

Some good news. As soon as it gets here, I will mail action and barrel to Western Kentucky to be put together.

I live and hunt Western Kentucky and shoot a couple of STA’s. Just curious who you are getting to put your rifle together. Frank Elliot at W.H. McGuns in Humbolt Tennessee has been my gunsmith for years and helped with both my rifles with excellent results. Good Shooting.

A gentleman who use to post on here named Rusty McGhee. His place is called Hill Top Gunshop out a good deal past Bowling Green. He is 4 hours from me.

He has bedded all my big bores. RIP of 458 Win fame uses him and got us together.

I think he built RIP’s 400 Whelen among others. Rusty is very unassuming in both his presence and his shop.

Thanks, always good to know a good gunsmith close by. I am in Kentucky Lake country that is not that far from BG. Those that actually build rifles are scarce these days. Good Shooting.

Our deer leases are around Hopkinsville. It seems near impossible to find anyone Trejo can work on Masuer/Model 70 controlled round feed action.

Seems everybody’s brother plumbers on the Model 700.

I have mostly Model 70 Winchester’s with Sako and Ruger here and there. Not a Remington around although I will never bad mouth them. I am just happy with controlled round feed because of the animals I hunt and the country they live in. All mine are super accurate, some took a while to get there but did. Good Shooting.

Would you care to share photos of your 358 STAs.

Thank you either way.

I would be glad to send pictures but I don’t have the expertise to put them on AR. I could send pictures on on my Apple Phone with your number. A private message would keep the number private. Good Shooting.

My Shilen barrel is here! Now I just have to wait on the stock. The quoted time is 5 months.