I have 2 identical rifles, almost. 700 action with cleaned up original triggers. lapped lugs, squared bolt face, Sako extractors. Actions and 2" of barrel bedded to HS Precision sporter stocks. 26" barrels chambered with the same 6.5-06 reamer, 11 degree crown with custom muzzle brakes. The difference, one barrel is Rock Creek the other Shilen. Both guns will shoot several bullet makes in the half inch range and better with little difficulty. The RC cleans with ease, but the Shilen pulls copper like mad. This is the first rough Shilen barrel I have had in half a dozen. With all of the new custom builders out there is this a sign of things to come? Are barrel makers so backlogged they are beginning to skip a step or two? I cannot argue with the accuracy, but this gun is like cleaning a new factory Remington. Anyone else getting un-lapped barrels?

Standard CM Shilens are not lapped; only select match grades and Stainless are. They still should not be rough.
Rock barrels are cut rifled so they have to be lapped to make them smooth; Shilens are button rifled and are (usually) smooth as built.
There is a theory that a perfectly smooth barrel will foul more than one lapped with abrasive grit.
Use some JB, or Corbin diamond lapping compound and see what happens.
I no longer use standard grade Shilens but that is another story.

Shilen will lap your CM if requested. Have you gone to the trouble to contact Shilen? They can't help you if they don't know about it.

How is the accuracy? I have one Shilen that is rough (at least in terms of how long it takes for a BR9 patch soaked overnight to come out the same color it went in), but it is still very accurate.

You'd be surprised how good you can lap one of those barrels out yourself before chambering. All button barrels are drilled, reamed, buttoned, then contoured. The only difference between high dollar ones and cheap ones are casting a lap and lapping the damned thing out. They are stress relieved after the buttoning too, but the critical step would be casting a lead lap in the bore and taking out the reamer marks along with making sure the muzzle didn't get larger than the breech end while contouring...it can take awhile to
lap out tight spots on the breech end and that would be where the higher cost comes from. Most of the makers won't pre-lap the bore after reaming and before buttoning as it takes a damned good lubricant to prevent the button from sticking and pulling off the pull rod. That said, it's surprising to me how well a Douglas will shoot as the last few I've installed had reamer marks as bad as some factory tubes. Lapping them out felt like dragging your knuckles across a washboard, but they still shot awefully well.

Shilen and Bartlein for sure lap after reaming.

Butch,
I wonder if Shilen pre-laps ALL their barrels before buttoning? I've borescoped a few that sure didn't look like it...probably the chrome moly ones I'm sure. The cut rifle barrels are a different matter, and yes I believe most of them do pre-lap before rifling...with doing it that way it pretty much makes the final lap a piece of cake.

I have not contacted Shilen. The gun is supremely accurate, and I guess really I am not complaining. I enjoy cleaning rifles on crappy, don't want to leave the house days. I was mostly just wondering if it was more trend or mirage. I have only been using custom barrels for about 15 years and the dozen or so up until now have always amazed me at the ease of getting them copper free compared to most factory guns.

The best way to lap a barrel if its accurate to start with is shoot it a lot, probably 250 rounds as a rule of thumb...If it shoots, that's all that counts, the other will fix itself in time.