Bugger me. Got the price back off MAB for a 8mm barrel.

Hi,
Yes we do.
Fitting starts at $176
26" chrome moly barrel costs $298
26" stainless steel barrel costs $445
Plus return postage and handling
Cheers

$474 for the job. You can buy a whole bloody rifle for that.

Sprinter is maybe $50 cheaper. For an ex-mil rifle, rebarrelling is hardly ever worthwhile, did you ask whether fitting includes refitting the sights? Before the Aussie dollar went pair shaped, it was much better pricing getting your barrel from the States.
Cheers...
Con

No sights on this, this will be for a semi custom rifle Con. I'm going to put together the parts myself..I can afford to sit around and wait till (IF ) the dollar goes up again.

Geez Bakesy thats a good price,my 7mm mag is in the doctors ATM getting a new Mab stainless for around $600 fitted mate,ouch.

She needs it after nearly 30 years of banging away though.

You may be right Gryph. I have been in the wilderness for awhile.

Blakes,
I got a MAB Barrel fitted on my old Sako for one of my kids in 223 Rem. You can shoot clover leaf groups all day. My daughter loves it.
The barrel gave the Sako a new life for around $700.00
Now she wants to go hunting.

Bakes IMHO the only Aussie barrel worth getting is a Maddco and that restricts you to stainless. If you want a CM Barrel go Walther or Lilja.

I have a beautiful custom in 375 H&H done by Bob De Vries and stocked by Ross Waghorn. Shoots OK fouls like crazy. Spoke to Bob recently and he has switched over to Lothar Walther barrels since.

It was my first custom so I did not know any better but the finish on a MAB is really piss poor, had a look with a bore scope. Lots of machining marks, definitely not lapped. For the amount of $$$ I invested in the custom I would have gladly paid the $50 or $100 diff in the price of the barrel. Sadly the diff may not have even been that much at the time - I was just ignorant & heard of the reputation of MAB. Sprinter is pretty much the same. I have someone else's custom in 404J that I bought 2nd hand.

I was told that it was actually the wife Anne that knew how to make good barrels not the husband. When they spilt up the barrels were not up to the same std.

Take it for what its worth.

regards
JohnT

So JohnT i am starting to tremble thinking that i have thrown my good dollars away.
If what you say is true surely i could have it lapped.(if it dosent shoot well)

Something that I dont know about at all,where would one get a barrel lapped and what sort of dough is a bloke looking at?

This description came from Mabs new name website and is part of the reason I chose mab for my task,it reads bloody well for me too. The paste follows.

From Truck to Truck

Following is a comprehensive walk through the MAB factory, from unloading the steel truck to loading finished barrels onto a courier truck for dispatch. You will see every machine and process used in the manufacture of "buttoned " rifled barrels.

There is a large amount of data in the form of colour photos involved in this comprehensive description of the manufacture of a rifle barrel, so we have broken it up into a number of smaller pages. You can also click on the smaller 'thumbnail' pictures to view a full size picture.

Delivery and Cutting

Quality control started before the steel left the mills. Test certificates are issued and the steel is now tested and compared to specification.

Steel is cut to various lengths depending on the type of barrel being manufactured from 24" Sako to 31½" target barrels.

Blanks are loaded into computer controlled electric fired stress relieving ovens and soaked in a controlled environment for a total heat up – cool down cycle of 21 hours. The program cycle is determined by the data from the test certificates.

Barrels are cleaned, faced and centred. Every piece of barrel steel is inspected and a decision made as to which end will be the muzzle and which the chamber. All work from here on starts from one end of the piece of steel.

Drilling and Reaming

Deep hole drilling is conducted on a Howe twin spindle machine using a single flute drill where the barrel spins and the drill remains stationary except for being fed forward at a feed rate of 2/10" to 5/10" of a thousandth of an inch per revolution while the barrel spins between 2000 and 6000 rpm dependent on calibre. High pressure cutting fluid is supplied to the drill at up to 1600 PSI 11,000 KpA

Drills from .161" to 28 mm are used for barrel and action manufacture and some limited engineering work not associated with firearms, deep hole drilling being a speciality of M.A.B. Engineering.

At this stage, the barrel blank is stress relieved again.

More cleaning.

Reaming a few more thousandths of an inch from the inside of the barrel brings the final internal dimension to size. The barrel now is held stationery while the reamer is rotated and pulled through giving a mirror like finish. Pressure cutting oil, fed up the inside of the reamer, flushes out the swarf as the reamer does its job

The adage "cleanliness is next to Godliness" was drummed into me by my mother from when I was a child, but she never realised how true that was until you apply it to barrel machining. A barrel is cleaned and inspected by hand up to 16 times before the customer gets it.

Rifling

Button Rifling – the barrel is once again cleaned scrupulously and solvent dried. Then it is lubricated with a Teflon in suspension which goes in wet and is allowed to dry. A double button system is used in M.A.B. where the rifling section is some .011" bigger than the reamed hole in the piece of steel and the following smoothing (or burnishing) section just touches the top of the lands after they are pushed up or deformed or swaged – into the barrel.

A hydraulic ram pushes the button through the barrel, while the push rod is turned at the twist rate required.

Clean again, inspect Quality Assurance. Insert plugs and inert atmosphere.

Stress relieve again.

Clean again, inspect and saturate in rust preventative (CPD 32).

Batches of 25 are maximum as beyond this, quality assurance may go down because of boredom on the operator’s part.

As much expense goes into the working conditions of the staff as with the equipment and tooling as the final products are only as good as the persons driving the machines. Their attitudes reflect the quality of our products.

Profiling

All exterior profiling was conducted on the hydraulic sigmatic copying lathe where a stylus followed a template (an extended old barrel was often used for a one off). This machine has since been semi retired and is only used for development work or one off specials.

Today a Mori Seiki CNC – computer controlled lathe stores programs for hundreds of profiles and by the flick of a switch (ha ha), can change from Sako to MAB to BSA to target barrels.

The CNC not only does the job faster without an operator (except for loading and unloading) but is consistently more accurate on the sizing and less stress is created by the infinite ability to adjust speeds and feeds of the titanium cutter to match the steel and profiles being produced.

Inspection and Dispatch

Final inspection for straightness is conducted by eye using the light box principle of a century ago. The shadows are monitored while the barrel is slowly rotated.

No straightening takes place on M.A.B. barrels. They are produced from straight drilled holes and kept that way by skilled operators.

Stamping to match the orders and sizing of the barrel.

Linishing of exterior is conducted by hand and this finish cuts down the work needed by your gunsmith while fitting as only a touch-up is needed before blueing or final polishing.

By request or if the barrel is a stainless steel target Games Special, it can be then glass bead blasted to give a stippled anti-reflective finish.

Final inspection, packing and wrapping, ID tag and finally shipment.

The latest barrel I purchased was a Maddco #4 contour 22 cal 1 in 10 twist which I had chambered in 22-250 to shoot 60 - 70gn projectiles. The cost of the barrel alone, from my gunsmith, was $520.

It is the second Maddco barrel I've used and was very impressed with the first, I haven't fired this one yet.

Ian

FWIW, on 29 June (yep, peak $AU value) I ordered a PAC-NOR Supermatch S/S barrel, chambered, threaded crowned and contoured to my specs...

Cost me $AU420 landed... add $100 + a carton (the Oz blokes will know what I mean) for fitting and bedding the action...

Early days yet, but even with very basic load test and load development... this is one hell of a shooter... to give you an idea, at the range this arvo I was told that instead of shooting 3 shot groups, I should do 5 shot groups... ummm.... they were 5 shot groups.... they just looked like 3 shot groups...

Bob De Vries has used a lot of sprinter barrels on custom/high end rifles, but the quality on those barrels is REAL poor, they foul real bad, even thou he gets them to shoot well
If you want a quality barrel start with the walther barrels , you cant go wrong with them .
A step above the Walther barrels are the cut rifle barrels , like kreiger, Bartleins,Obermyer
and Rock barrels these barrels only cost $ 40 or 50 more than the button rifle barrels but the cost is soon forgotten when you start shooting them
i have had a few maddco barrels, they shoot well but prefer a walther as the steel is so much tougher, and ones throat are does not get worn out as quickley
im useing cut rifle barrels on all my rifles now, they are a cut obove the rest, any way you look at it
Daniel

quote:

Originally posted by gryphon1:
So JohnT i am starting to tremble thinking that i have thrown my good dollars away.
If what you say is true surely i could have it lapped.(if it dosent shoot well)

Gryphon1, read your quote from MAB site. Well at least they are honest - they do not claim to lapp it (MRC barrels claims they are lapped but clearly mine & a Mate's .30 cal barrels were not). In answer to your question if the barrel is already installed there are fire lapping kits sold though I have no experience with them. For reducing fouling there is also product called Ultra Bore Coat available on the 24hourcampfire site. Me, if it shot OK leave it, if not rebarrel.

If your barrel is still a blank, I'd sell it as I don't know who you could trust to lapp it.

With my 375 H&H barrel I've just leaft it alone. But mind you it still hurts when I think that I've spent well over $10K on a beautiful custom but it has that POS barrel attached purely cause I was too dumb & inexperienced to know better. The point is - No One told me so I am remedying that!

M98 absolutely right about Bob & Sprinters. I bought Bob's personal 404J and it has a Sprinter. Shoots very well but another copper mine of a barrel. Mind you in big calibres you are not going to fire several hundred rounds so cleaning is going to be harder but you won't be doing it so often that it matters.

My best advice to you would be to get a look in a barrel with a Hawkeye bore scope. More gunsmiths have them these days. Then you will really appreciate the difference between say a Walther or Lilja & a MAB or Sprinter. The finish is like polished chrome whereas an MAB is like a screw thread inside. Also no imperfections in the rifling or lands along the length of the barrel.

However, mind you a button rifled factory barrel like in a Savage or a Kimber will look the same as an MAB so they are certainly no worse than those. And if you read Kimber's adverts they only install "match grade" barrels! Match grade does not mean match grade. Buyer beware.

I believe MAB is under new ownership now and if they are committed to producing barrels the quality of say a Maddco - then ask to inspect their barrels with their bore scope & if they don't have one then any claims they have to QC is bullshit! How the hell would they know without the proper tools.

Also just because the barrel finish looks good does not guarantee that it will be a world beater but at least you've given yourself the best chance at it. (reverse is true too even if it looks like shit it still may shoot good - if this applies to you buy a Lotto ticket the planets must be in the right phase for you )

regards,
JohnT

JT
i was cleaning a friends barrel which Bob put together for him, it was accurate, but fouled like anything, i had problems cleaning the barrel with sweets, in the end used wipeout and that solved all the problems
Another advantage of cut rifle barrels is that there is no induced stress into the steel from being worked, they are basically stress neutral which is a big plus
Daniel

Geezus fellas all i want is a pipe on my Mod 70 7mm mag that will poke holes in sambar deer,the original Win barrel did me for nearly 30 years and dropped many many sambar,it probably was a piece of shit too when Winchester made it in your calculations but it produced the goods and probably did more days hunting in shitty winter conditions in one year than some of you blokes would do in ten.It has seen ten day hunts where it wasnt dry (or cleaned) and any rust was "shot out" and it has copped abuse all the time,I cant see the more expensive barrels coping any better,oh they might look nicer down the bore though...who gives a flying duck? I dont...all i want to do is go out and hunt some more deer and i dont need a wonderful shiny lapped bore to do so!

This new barrel will do me fine for sambar as its primary target,I am not out to shoot flies ffs!

The best thing for me to do is post pics of sambar dead on the ground taken with this new barrel...keep an eye out eh!

Daniel, same here used Sweets thought it was clean - big surprise under the bore scope. My solution was Wipeout as well. Pity its no longer avail. but I bought another product from Gunslick which is supposed to be the same.

I always wanted a cut rifled barrel but they seem pretty hard top get. Where do you get a Kreiger or Bartlein in Australia? I've asked for them but its usually a Lilja or Walther that ends up being available. Yeah I do like the concept that the blank is unstressed.

regards,
JohnT

Well Gryphon1 you did ask!

Good luck with the Sambar.

regards,
JohnT

M98,
DeVries used to use Sprinter barrels, as did many other 'smiths when you said "I want a new barrel" as it was the most cost effective for the 'smith. I think he now uses MAB barrels as his standard unless you ask for something better. My 458AccRel has a MAB 45cal tube and it's just fine, I have two Sprinters and they foul but are accurate. My 358Win barrel (a Sprinter) had 150shots through it before I remembered to clean it and it still shot its regular 1.25MOA. It always pays to remember that a good smith will make a poor barrel shoot acceptably, a poor smith can make a benchrest tube a dog.

I've now owned Sprinter, MAB and Lothar barrels and the most accurate was indeed the Lothar, but all 3 gave more than acceptable hunting accuracy.

gryphon, dont sweat it, MAB make good tubes unless you wanted a benchrest quality barrel.
Cheers...
Con

I reckon i have already said that Con...and like RR`s Merc`s Porsche's etc they are all the best gear so they say,but how many actually own them.

JT
wipe out is still avaliable, it leaves sweets bore solvent for dead, plus there is no chance of etching the barrel with wipe out as there is no ammonia, if you need some drop me a line and i can get you a batch with no problems, same goes for barrels, i get them from the U.S @ dealer prices...
no big deal
Daniel

M 98 isnt 500 nitro (NM) the importer for wipeout?
I was very impressed when introduced to it recently.

CON
i did say he gets the sprinter barrels to shoot well, and for most hunting situations they are more than adeqate, however my gripe is if your getting a barrel job done weather you use a bottom of the line barrel like sprinter, or a top of the line cut rifle tube like obermyer/kreiger etc your still paying the same to have the job done, so why not spend a few dollars extra and have a barrel which will complement the work of a top line smith, not that fitting and chambering a barrel is rocket science.
As far as accuracey goes , thats debateble, whats acceptable for one person , may not be acceptable for another, and the accuracey that one can get by in certain hunting situations may not be acceptable in another set of hunting situantions, but then its each to his own.
From my own experience there is nothing more that gives me confidence in a rifle than a group the size of my fist at 500 yards, you cannot do that with a average set up that groups 1.5-2.0 inches @ 100 yards....while it may be acceptable for most hunting situations , it just dosent cut it at the longer ranges when you need that extra bit of accuracey
Daniel

Daniel,

I am down to the last bit of my tin of Wipe Out. Have sent you a pm.

When I need another barrel I'll be sure to send you a pm.

Thank you very much for your help.

regards,
JohnT