As most of you know Virgin Valley Custom Guns went "out of business" late last year leaving a huge hole in the custom TC barrel industry.

There is a now a new investor and Jeff and Kerry will be making barrels for them again. (They were the ones that made barrels for Virgin Valley)

They will be based about 20 miles west of where the old shop was. The new one's in St George Utah.

The name of the New Company is Match Grade Machine (MGM).

Their website isn't up yet but here's a contact number for them if you want to pre-order barrels.

435-628-0071

Give 'em a call and lend some support and show some interest!!!

Btw... Steve Stratton will continue on with his accessories business as Stratton Custom.

$bob$

Thanks, Bob. That's terrific news. I certainly plan on giving them a shot. But somebody please tell me that I don't need anything else with a 6mm bore diameter!

Bobby you need a 6mm bullberry from OTT

Looks like they have a few pages on their new website up and running.
http://www.matchgrademachine.com/gunshop/home.php

The website is up and running now guys. It has a full list of current inventory and you can also build and order your barrel on the site.

Check it out if you want. http://www.matchgrademachine.com

That's GREAT news Jeff!!!

$bob$

Jeff,
I will have to start planning my next encore barrel. My 6.5X55 swede barrel from VV is the most accurate barrel I have at present. The season is starting here now, but over the winter I will have to order a carbine barrel to complement the pistol I have now. Best of luck to you in this new endeavor.
Rick

Jeff - trying to put together an order on your website.........I must be doing something wrong. I am not ever getting to a screen to actually order anything.

Can you do a
.204 Ruger
23" SS Contender barrel full bull
14" spacing hanger bar
standard 4 hole scope mount

OK ....brain lock I figured it out.......

Thanks guys. Just so you know, this company is going to produce barrels with the quality you came to expect from Virgin Valley but without a lot of the problems we had there. This will be a much tighter ship.

The owner is very intent on providing a quicker turn around time (no more that 4 weeks) along with excellent support. Once we get all the kinks worked out of the system, I think you all will be very happy with the service and product.

If you guys have any more questions, shoot me an email jeff@matchgrademachine.com

I'll try to get you answered as quick as I can.

Thanks again, guys.

Also, if you guys have any suggestions that would make the web site better, go ahead and let me know. I'd like to make the new sight as user friendly as possible.

How about lowering the outrageous prices? The 600+ dollar mark is pretty out of bounds. Critisism perhaps,but the Encore is just a single shot firearm with no need for a second mortgage.

Jeff,

Great to see you guys back! The one barrel I regret most of all selling was my VVG 10" 357 max ss contender tube, live and learn.

Paul - got a 21" SS .357 max full bull VVCG for sale right now..........

Standard blue rifle barrels are $385 and $435 for stainless. The costs are slightly higher than VVC, but barrel blank costs have gone up dramatically in the past year due to steel shortages (China's using it all).

We really do try to keep the prices as low as we can.

Nobody is getting rich over here that's for sure.

small fish - how did you arrive at $600 for an Encore barrel???

The site & pricing is pretty much self-explanatory.

Saying $600 is too much for an Encore barrel is akin to saying $50,000 is too much for a Ford Ranger. Yes, you can drive the cost that high with custom accessories, etc., but you don't pay anywhere near that for the base/standard model.

Consider the labor that goes into making a custom contender/encore barrel, I'd say those are quite reasonable costs. One can spend that much putting a barrel on a bolt gun, and it's alot less work to thread a barrel blank to screw onto a bolt gun than it is to machine and weld a barrel block onto a single shot stub. Every other step in making the barrel is the same.

I've always been willing to pay custom prices for custom barrels.

I also own some factory barrels that are good for what you pay for them.

Keep up the good work Jeff. We're sure happy to see you back in business.

$bob$

LDHunter wrote:
"Keep up the good work Jeff. We're sure happy to see you back in business."

Well said, $bob$."

Bobby Tomeck,see it for yourself HERE

If you add $55 for stainless then you are pretty much up to and surpassing the $600 mark. I don't think I'll be ordering one of those anytime soon.

I understand it is "accessorised",but a $600 bbl is a $600 bbl. I am not knocking the quality or desirability of the piece but it is VERY expensive. It is not even stainless. I won't quibble over $40,but I just think it is alot of money for a blued Encore bbl.

I understand that it seems like alot of money for just a barrel, but every time you add on a feature, like the fluting and break, you add on machine time.

I will say you'd be hardpressed to get the tools required to build a barrel for 10 times the cost of one, and could easily spend 100 times the cost to produce your own.

The fact is that with a custom shop, most of the time isn't spent doing each step with a dedicated machine as fast as possible the way a manufacturer does it. Sure there are jigs and fixtures, but I don't see how a small company could keep one guy busy making mounting blocks all day long, another guy chambering, another guy drilling and tapping, another milling flutes, another muzzlebreaks, etc.

You pay extra for the custom shops ability to make the product exactly how you want it. They will never be anywhere near the price of a mass produced factory tube, as the flexibility required to produce custom products results in inefficiencies compared to a production facility.

small fish- No, see it for YOURSELF here: http://www.matchgrademachine.com/gunshop/product.php?pr...6&cat=287&bestseller

The base price is $370 for a standard Encore barrel. I believe the rifle-length barrels begin at $385 -- a far cry from $600 you're up in arms about.

What you are talking about is a MUZZLELOADER barrel, not exactly "standard" in the Encore. You never, ever mentioned muzzleloader in your previous posts...

Small Fish,
MGM also has Encore rifle barrels at the other end of the price extreme. For example, here's a 257 Weatherby Mag barrel (s/s) for $375 and a 257 Roberts Improved barrel (blued) for $325. ADmittedly, these are "basic" barrels w/o the accessories of the muzzleloader barrel you referenced, but they are custom barrels, nonetheless. http://www.matchgrademachine.com/gunshop/home.php?cat=319
If their work is anything like VVCG's was, we'll all be very pleased. I've really enjoyed my three VVCG barrels. Personally, I'm glad they're back in business. Gary T.

Gary T- You are right. And I took advantage of that tonight. After making sure I could locate dies, I ordered a 24" Contender barrel from MGM in 25 x 30-30 Improved for $300 -- a steal by anyone's standards. I CAN'T WAIT for it to get here and begin the load work. My previous VVCG barrels shot superbly, so it's with great anticipation I await this one.

And I ESPECIALLY like the fact that MGM has barrels in its existing inventory.

Bobby Tomeck,I didn't mean to confuse you or others or misstate facts BUT the fact of the matter is the bbl that I mentioned is the first one that I clicked on when visiting the new website.

I saw the prices of the muzzloader bbls and that was the last thing I saw before shutting down that window. I didn't need to look any further.

There was a thread on this forum some time ago about lowering custom bbl prices from the out of bounds range that some of us thought to be the norm. MGM is a good example of the outcome. The prices there are really fair to good. This new company(matchgrademachine)is on par with the others. This is my only point. The choice to buy or not to buy custom bbls is mine and mine alone (that's the way I see it and thats all that matters to me) and when I see custom bbl in that price range I wonder.

I'm looking into that steel price increase thing because I buy alot of heavy machinery and the rumor was that the prices were to go up but I simply haven't seen it. There is alot more steel in a $14,000 table saw than a 26" Encore bbl.

I'm glad that there is a new company out there selling Encore customs because that keeps everyone "in check".

small -
Consider that for $217 you can purchase a complete .204 Ruger break action rifle.

For $190 I bought .204 factory rifle barrel for my TC Contender.

I just ordered a .204 Ruger carbine rifle barrel from MGM that goes for over $400.

There are very good reasons I would do this...not the least of which is the quality of the product.

Most Handi rifles I have seen look like they were finished with a nail file and a rock.

Factory barrels are fine and typically shoot quite well but overall plain.

A true custom barrel is just that, mirror smooth Shilen blank, precise chamber and exactly what you would expect for accuracy from a barrel costing that much.

Take your average quality bolt rifle and have somebody put a Shilen barrel on it and see what it costs you.

Small fish,

I see your point and I can respect it completely. I will do my best to keep barrel costs as low as I can. I don't want be out of range for average hunters. I think everyone should be able to buy our barrels. We will be working on new production methods to cut costs in the future. The hard part is making things more efficient without sacrificing any quality.

Bobby,

I packaged your barrel up today. You should see it soon.

I have 7 barrels from VVCG. They are all examples of care and craftsmanship in the custom market. I'm very pleased with every one of them.

Jeff and Lair,sorry about the spelling, do an excellent job of ensuring that the utmost care is used when building each barrel.

To ensure that we get a high quality product the cost is a little more. Their starting with a high quality barrel. But when one considers the end result, fine accuracy. Then the cost is small.

Some spend $3000 on a hunt. Yet invest little in a quality product that is consistently capable of making a humane 1 shot kill on said animal.

I have bought from these fine craftsmen in the past and feel confident that there new offerings are every bit as accurate as there previous ones.

Best of luck to you fellas. Just keep doing what you do so well.

Had to add my two cents here. I'm one of the unfortunate ones who bought a stock barrel from TC that didn't shoot too well. Yes, I sent it back and it still didn't shoot that good. Now, to take the barrel that I spent $240 on and have it reworked into a match barrel and I arrive at the price that is slightly more thanthese custom barrels. You have to admit, TC quality control isn't the best. If it was, these guys wouldn't be in business.

I have a few custom barrels from all of the makers. It has been my experience that you can get lucky and get a shooter from TC stock barrels, but the premium makers are almost always shooters. Quality steel, hand lapping, proper crowning all contribute to the extreme accuracy of a custom barrel. Mass production does not allow barrel makers to impart these qualities; only the time and effort of a skilled craftsman. When you pay $300 or $400 for a custom barrel you get what you pay for both in terms of the quality of the item you have purchased and the service you receive after you have plunked down your hard earned bucks.

All said and done, before you buy from anyone, check out the Gary Reeder quality and lifetime warranty.

I think you could get a stubbed barrel by David white for less than that. From what I hear they shot real good. I can attest to saying they look dam good. Go to Mike Bellm's site for TC's. David has a colunm there.

I must preface this with the fact I have never, ever owned a stubbed barrel by David White. But I have conversed with a number of individuals who have a barrel or barrels from White and have read many of the psots regarding the stubbed barrels on the bellmtcs.com forum.

From what I gather, the accuracy is good but not on the same level as a barrel such as a Bullberry, SSK, Bellm, etc. Most report accuracy of around an inch or slightly under at 100 yards. Yes, that's more than sufficient for hunting purposes, but those of us spoiled by those tiny groups would not be terribly thrilled -- and a few would be downright disappointed.

My new MGM barrel is supposed to ship today..........UPS.
I ordered on Oct. 11th and it ships on Oct. 25th of the same year.....wow I am blown away. The last BB barrel I bought took over 8 months.

I've seen David White's work and was not impressed.

Mike Bellm's work is quite good and he's back to work full time again but I think he'll always be a small volume shop.

Bullberry has had serious quality control problems since the Strattons left. Some people might not know that the Strattons used to work at Bullberry. That's why the older Bullberry stuff was so good.

JD Jones' stuff is wonderful if a bit expensive and I imagine that his age and health are starting to take it's toll.

That's why I'm so excited that Jeff and Kerry found another investor and are back in business. I've followed their work for several years and what I've seen and almost all that I've heard of their work was always EXCELLENT!!!

$bob$

Bob-You are dead-on with the older Bullberry barrels. In fact, when I have a hankering for something different, I search the classifieds and auctions in hopes of finding an older Bullberry product. I have never seen or owned one that did't impress me with its accuracy.

I had one of the VVG's barrels from their shorty sale. It was nothing but problems. The stud spacing was to far apart and they told me to send in a Pachmyer adapter, they would drill out the holes bigger so I could get a forend on the barrel. That would work until I wanted to install my wood forend. The barrel also didn't shoot that well for being custom. I also had problems with the spring that held the extractor working it's way out. I even lost one.
If I order one it's going to be a while. I want to see if they have any QC issues this time around.

Anybody know if the hanger bars are still available? I need one for a 14 inch forearm.

Yes Alan, contact Steve Stratton at:

blksheep@infowest.com

and he'll hook you up real quick like. Just got yet another from him last week.

You can also get Steve at

http://www.strattoncustom.com