I know we've seen this quite a bit here but, it's always good to hear it again.

What's your favorite After-Market bbl?

Groups?

Reloader

I'm fond of Pac-Nor barrels. And the people who make them are great to work with.

quote:

What's your favorite After-Market bbl?

For what?

For top accuracy, Hart.

For varmint and tactical rifles, Shilen or Douglas.

For big game rifles, Douglas.

I've had very good experiences with all of them.

I have a Hart on my 40-X in 222 Rem. It shines there.

I don't see the point in spending Hart money on a big game, shot in the field, rifle. Douglas has always handled that quite well for me, giving me all of the practical accuracy that I can use.

But for long range competition, varmints, etc, I like Shilen or Douglas. They seem to both shoot well, and seem to be a good value for the money spent.

Another vote for Pac-Nor.

The only ones that I have are Pac Nors
my 300 rum in mod 70 with the three grove pacnor and 180 xxx put SIX rounds into .435 @ 100yrds . My new 338 ultra it was its first time to the range and from a clean barrel it would put #2and 3 in the same hole it is a pacnor three grove to mod 70.

Douglas for hunting and varminting....XX garde.

Douglas ..... no problems with them.

I have use sveral high grade douglas barrels and have had good luck with them.

I like Hart Barrels on my 22-250. Excellent quality. But on the hunting stuff, Pac-Nor, Shilen and Douglas are all good.

BigBullet

For the best bang for the buck, I would go with Lothar Walthers. I have had good luck with Shilen and Van Horn but less luck with Douglas. I haven't tried much else.

Krieger, Rock Springs, Lilja.
lawndart

another vote for Pac_nor.

Jerry

Mixed bag, heres my good barrels and who makes them:

Douglas XX 2 ea. 7x57, 30-338
Lilja 1 ea. 30-338
Lothar 1 ea. 7x75
Shilen 1 ea. 280 Rem
Krieger 1 ea. 308

And I'mm going to list it, I know its a factory barrel but it shoots with or outshoots all of the above.

Remington 5R milspec 1 ea.

I have used these on rifles I got talked out of and sold:

Hart 1 ea 1000 yd, 30-338
Lilja 1 ea. 1000 yd, 338-378 Weatherby


Most of these are heavy countors, smallest was a #2 contour.

None are bad, they are all good barrels or I would be changing them. Hart, Lilja, Krieger and the stock Remington are the most accurate. Lothar makes a great barrel, and the Shilen match grade are both top notch barrels. The bottom of my heap would be Douglas, and I have no complaints, one rifle is getting .67 MOA with a Douglas, on one of my favorite rifles.
The above list are all safe bets, never had a bad barrel out of any of the above, and I have had some truelly exceptional barrrels from the above.

I'm on a cut rifling kick now ( although my last two were buttoned ) and my next couple will be Obermeyer and Krieger.

I've had good results with Douglas barrels and great results with Krieger...wanting to give Lothar Walther a go!

I like my PacNor's, and I like my Harts, etc etc etc. A good match tube is a good match tube,..period.

Among the benchrest rifle elite, Krieger is the cat"s meow at present.

Lilja, from personal experience.

Kreiger from friend's experience.

I have had good luck with cheaper barrels from Bauska, and (gasp) A&B for bigger bores and rifles bound to be open sighted--what accuracy loss you might experience (and I have one $100 A&B that;s a tack driver) won't matter with those applications--and I can build yet more rifles....

Lilja barrels are VERY nice though....

Schulz & Larsen

Obermeyer .308" with .298" lands, 5R 1-11" twist for 30-06.

Krieger 25-06 1-10"

I've only had 2 diff. kinds; PacNor & McGowen. I am pretty much off McGowen, my .338-06 is just too picky, but I have several PacNor bbl. rifles & they are all great shooters. Nice bbl. of the money.

Krieger above all others, though I would not turn down a Rock or an Obermeyer.

Below that, I'd definitely go for a Pac-Nor or a Lothar-Walther.

I have experience with the others mentioned, though I'm sure they are also very good.

So far over the last 20 years I've used Shilen 6 times, Douglas 4 times, Pac-Nor once, Hart once, Adams and Bennett once, Lothar Walther once and Kreiger twice. Knock on wood, only one of them (a Shilen) has been less than satisfactory. Says a lot about today's makers.

Next in line that I plan to try are a 9.3 from Half-Moon Rifle Shop for 9.3 x 62 project and one from Montana Rifle Co. for my 376 Styer.

Don't forget Badger.

Douglas, my '06 shoots everything I try into under an inch at 100 yards.

I have used Border, Krieger, Schneider, Lilja, Sako "match grade" and Heym have been nothing but great.

The only rotten egg I have experienced is Lothar Walther, it produced "patterns" not groups. Had the same experience with a Dakota 76, which also had L-W barrel.

Cheers
/JOHAN

My last 3 aftermarket barrels have been Harts, and I've been more than satisfied. Because they're hand lapped and
well polished there's relatively little copper fouling to deal with, and there's not much out there that's more accurate than Harts. They're expensive, but if you want a good product be prepared to pay a good price. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Shilen, as I am a Benchrest competitor. I use them on my hunting rifles also. I had a good Kreiger once and 2 good Harts. I have used 35-40 Shilens and found they have a much higher percentage of good ones. Butch

In the past I used Douglas barrels with good luck but my current smith seems to favor Shilen. He is careful not to pick Shilen however just saying that he can get them faster.

I would go with the flow the next time unless it's a match rifle and then I would like a Hart.

My gunsmith is Bobby Hart. That should say it all.

I suppose he would screw a Shilen or Douglas barrel onto my action, but I always thought it to be sacrilegious. The stainless barrels his cousin makes have always worked just fine for me.