Hi, I've been offered a Donnelly barrel. I don't know anything about him and can't find much either. Apparently he used to make barrels. The barrel I'm considering is for a .404 Dakota and it has .417/.423 land/groove measurements. It is a blank and apparently never been mounted.

Anyone know anything about him and his barrels?

quote:

Originally posted by PostDriver:
Hi, I've been offered a Donnelly barrel. I don't know anything about him and can't find much either. Apparently he used to make barrels. The barrel I'm considering is for a .404 Dakota and it has .417/.423 land/groove measurements. It is a blank and apparently never been mounted.Anyone know anything about him and his barrels?

C P Donelly is/was a long time barrel maker in S. Oregon out of Grants Pass. His barrels are high quality. I have one of his barrels in K Hornet on a Ruger #1, very accurate. I'm not sure if CP is still active in the business, I believe his son has taken over most of the shop operations. I believe they are currently known as Siskiyou Barrel Works. I spoke with him 4 or 5 years back, last ph# I have for him is 541 846 6604.

I have had the opportunity to share an elk camp with Chick Donnelly one season a while ago..

someone I know locally knows him real well, and hence I shared a camp with him....

Chick sold his business and name to a company out of Arizona about 4 months or so ago... his son works at a local auto body shop... he was training a younger guy by the name of Randy to take over, but I don't think that happened.. Randy was in our camp that season, and I hunted with him for the day....nice guy but he evidently didn't take over the business...

Chick is actually the last guy who was in business, that trained and worked for Parker Ackley... Donnelly was originally from Colorado..

If it is a barrel he did, then you have a high quality item there....It was probably sold for about $300.00 new, as that is what Chick quoted to do a barrel for me... I did have a 22.250 he did, but it has long since been shot out...

I have a 338/06 that was done by a person he knew very well, who had also worked for Ackley, up in Eugene by the name of Bob West....who was in his 80s...

Bob West was a down to earth guy, yet he put my barrel ahead of others he had waiting there, because I had been recommended by Chick...and some of the guys I was put ahead of were rifles there owned by Hank Williams Jr, and Tom Selleck and John Laraquette....I actually talked with Hank Williams Jr on speaker phone in Bob West's shop when Hank Jr called to talk about a gun project....

I really feel priviledged to have even met both of these guys!

I always thought it was funny.. that Chick Donnelly could have had any gun and caliber under the sun, out to hunt elk with....

so I asked him what he was out hunting with... he took me over to his old 72 International, and pulled out his rifle to show me....

"Same one I have been using since the 1950s"... Remington 721 chambered in a 30/06! with a old 4x Leupold Scope on it!

I think they still advertise in Rifle magazine. Thanks...Bill.

Yes, Chick's barrels are quite good. About 15 years ago my neighbor and I were in some negotiations with Chick to buy his business. It did not pan out because we couldn't get him to firm up a price...he was deathly afraid of losing much of it to the income tax man...so eventually we gave up.

Anyway, Chick didn't list a "match-grade" barrel, because they were all the same grade...excellent. His machinery was the last of Ackley's many sets of machines. Chick's barrels won 7 national championships in a row at Raton, so they aren't shabby! They are button-rifled barrels, if that means anything pro or con to anyone.....

I have heard that Mr. Donnelly has had a couple of bouts of cancer and has not made any barrels for at least a couple of years.

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
I have heard that Mr. Donnelly has had a couple of bouts of cancer and has not made any barrels for at least a couple of years.

He did have some bouts with Cancer, but he beat it via Chemo therapy.... he was still making barrels but at a slower pace... that was when he was training Randy also to take over the business...

Seafire/B17G,

Thanks for the update on Donnelly. I had wondered myself what became of him. I've not owned any of his products but know some who have and they are highly regarded.

Bob West is an interesting guy as well. I talked with him on the phone a couple of times and had him do a rebore job. It was perfect work and a 2 week turn around. I hear he has retired now though.

BT

Bob West was long a well respected barrel and gun maker, up until his retirement. Too bad a lot of the younger generation ever seems to have heard of him. Back in the 60's & 70's he made several rifles for Chas. Askins which were written up in The American Rifleman and which Charlie used to hunt both Africa and Alaska with.

I had a barrel installed by Bob West and he used a Donnelly barrel on it. I bought the barreling job at the guild banquet some years ago. Howard Homesley now has the rifle and he uses it for most of his hunting. It shoots very well and I shoot it better than he does. But then he is a rather poor shot anyway.