About to order my .360 Nitro Express No. 2 reamer and need to settle on a barrel so that I know the pilot will fit the land diameter. Is there really all that much difference between, say, Shilen, Krieger, Douglas, Lothar Walther that an average shooter like myself would actually notice in the field? My guess is, no. Barrel is going to be fitted to a Ruger No. 1.

Afaik, the cip standard for the 9.3mm bore diameter is .354". This is what my CZ barrel measures. The 4 Douglas barrels that I've used all take a .358" pilot. I can't speak for the other brands but I would suspect that the American Standard of .004" deep rifling would remain similar across the board there. Best thing to do would be to get a reamer that takes interchangeable pilots and then get the one or two that best fit your barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I only use Douglas barrels, which I keep in stock. They are the best shooters, and certainly, the most responsive company.
Yes, the bore diameters are .358 which is exactly where they should be for a 9.3mm.

Just between me, you and half empty bottle of corn squeezins. I have always been perplexed by how the Europeans love to cut their bores to what logic and mathematics would dictate to be, undersized. I suppose their logic is good enough for them, but swaging all surfaces of the bullet always seemed to be a good way to create an off center ogive when the bullet enters the throat. The body of the bullet and the ogive are theoretically centered to one another from the bullet maker. Why not use 50% of the bullet body as a bearing area to maintain this instead of sqitchinizing it and chancing messing that up ?

Or maybe I'm just nutz. I have been accused of that many times before.

You aren't nuts. Wait; ok, at least on this subject, you aren't.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
You aren't nuts. Wait; ok, at least on this subject, you aren't.

Sometimes I wonder ! LOL

Actually, I have put that question to several European barrel makers over the years and they always fall back on the classic, I don't want to discuss it with an idiot look, followed by the: "proper seal" excuse. Or answer, depending on how you want to take it. When I push them further and point out that they're dealing with a fluid and not a gas and that it doesn't have to seal all that well over a fraction of a millisecond at 60,000 PSI they just get that fed up look the way a Frenchman does when some fool burns the rue in cooking class and throw up their hands in the air and storm away. I get the distinct feeling that they feel that, it's the way grandpa did it and if it was good enough for him, it's good enough for eternity. They seem to be incapable of three dimensional thinking. But, no ones ever proved that our way is really better than theirs so I guess it's a moot point. I just find the whole thing somewhat amusing, or maddening I guess.

Not sure, but I have never had a Lothar Walther barrel that would not shoot 1/2 inch for 3 shots or over an inch for 5 shots that I recall. I have used a lot of Douglas barrels and I like them..I suppose most of the barrels you named are excellent..If I was trying to save some bucks, I'd go with a Douglas..If its a high dollar gun I'd opt for a LW...just my take on the subject.

You could get a reamer with a live (removable) pilot.