Le'ssee....

At the moment I have

7 Hart
7 Schneider
5 Rock
5 Marquart
5 Sportco
4 Musgrave
3 Shilen
3 Douglas
3 Walther
2 Lilja
2 Harris
1 Atkinson
1 Black Mountain
1 Ron Smith
1 Schultz & Larsen

and probably some others I have forgotten to count, all used to barrel or re-barrel actions for special purposes.

That's 50 after-market barrels from 15 makers, if I counted right, and there isn't a bad one in the bunch.

Some of them which were installed by others I removed, re-threaded, and re-chambered, and sometimes re-bedded/recrowned to improve accuracy, but the barrels themselves have all served very well.

The only ones of the bunch which I consider inexpensive/bordering on cheap, are the Sportcos (Omark Australia) and I used them very well in full bore (high power) competition...made the Governor General's 50 with them 4 times in 5 years.

I honestly think the chances of getting a poor barrel from any current after-market manufacturer are very, very slim.

As to which is the best? Probably whichever maker had the best day on the particular day your new barrel was made....

The answer is...

I have no idea.

I've been to Lilja and was blown away by what a great staff they had and the process they go through to ensure each barrel meets the ridiculously high quality standard.

However, even Dan Lilja mentioned that there are a lot of great barrel makers out there. I assume that the other makers have similar systems to Lilja's.

If I were you, I'd pick a good one that's as close as possible to your location and never look back.

I have only had two custom barrels so my experience is very limited.I have a mach grade Shilen on a rem 700 action in 280AI. Sub moa easy to please great shooter. Before that I looked Harry Mcgowin in the eye and requested one of his best grade barrels in 06. Long story short barrel would never shoot from day one. Called Harry 6mos later frustrated with my purchase. He refused to back up his claim and product. I replaced it with the shilen and have been happy since. DONT" BUY McGOWAN CRAP.

Shilen is the best as far as I'm concerned. Almost of my rifles have shilen barrels on them.

The Kriegers I have shoot better than the Douglas' I have. The Obermeyer and the Brux shoot just as well. Wisconsin has some of the best in the world. Krieger, Obermeyer, Bartlein, Brux, Broughton, Badger. For me, if it absolutely, positively has to shoot, it's a Krieger. I know the guys at Bartlein. Met them when they worked at Krieger. Top notch, can't go wrong stuff from them, too. My latest is a Brux that put the first 4 in .40 at 100 yards from a .25-06.

Fast Ed

my high power target rifels have krieger 3 hunting rifels krieger 3 lija 1 shillen 1 douglas 2 any one of these will shoot under minute of angle with a good gunsmith. I like krieger and they are close and my gunsmith likes them.+ they shoot under 1/2 minute.