Looking to re-barrel one of my favorite guns. I have always had a factory gun and their barrel in the past. I have looked at several different makers and have settled on these two.

I am looking at a #3 contour stainless barrel in .284 at a 1-9 twist. It will be chambered for a 280 Rem. the same as it is replacing.

Any comments welcome

Wayne

Quality for either is going to be top notch. If the prices are about the same then I'd go with whoever has the shortest backlog. I'm a big Shilen fan. I've got several Shilen barrels and triggers, delighted with all of them.

I've never had a Lilja barrel, but I do have six Shilens. The Shilens have very smooth, apparently very uniform bores, and all have been exceedingly accurate.

I don't think you can go wrong buying the best barrel either company makes. BTW, PacNor makes an excellent barrel, too.

George

Just curious. You say you're going back to a 1:9 twist. Do you intend to shoot 175gr bullets? I went to a 1:11 twist for my 7-08AI, since I knew I wouldn't be shooting anything heavier than 140's from this rifle. My 7 Rem Mag has a 1:9.5 twist, because I used to shoot the 175's out of it. I'm in the process of building a 7mmSAUM, but I will use a 1:10 twist in it. I figure I won't use bullets heavier than 160gr in that one.

Flip a coin, you'll make the right call.

If it was my choice, I would go with the Lilja every time.



Why? Because I like to be able to do precise chambering without having to have a drawer full of reamer pilots.



Although Shilen guarantees 0.0002" variation from end to end, one has to ask the question, variation from WHICH size?



My experience with Shilen .30 bores is that some are 0.3000"

bore, some are 0.3002", some 0.3007", and one as big as 0.3015" land diameters. Matter of fact, I have a full set of JGS .30 pilots just for using Shilen (& Harris) barrels.



I like to have my pilots no smaller than -0.0002" of actual land size. With Liljas & Harts I haven't needed anything but 0.2998" and 0.3000" pilots for the .30 bores. That hasn't been my experience with Shilens.



That doesn't mean Shilen barrels aren't accurate when chambered with the correct size reamer pilot. They can be really, really accurate. But, you don't want a gunsmith chambering a 0.3006" Shilen barrel, or larger, with a fixed 0.3000" pilot reamer.



Bench rest quality 'smiths will make a pilot to fit and there will be no problem. But a neighborhood 'smith may not do that, and a bigger barrel may give you some chamber misalignment. Any misalignment, in turn, may adversely affect accuracy.



I'd play it safe and go with the Lilja because I can predict pretty well which size the bore will be uniform to...and it will probably fit Joe Doak's 0.2999" or 0.3000" pilot.



My opinion, my experience, and I'm stuck with it. YMMV.



AC