I'm wondering how good factory barrels are when compared to Hart or Douglass barrels. I just had two rifles made, one a 257 and the other one a 270, both Weatherby's on different actions. The both shoot very well. The more I read on these forums, the more I find that serious hunters and shooters use aftermarket barrels. Just curious.

When you buy an after-market barrel from Douglas, Hart, etc., you decide on the contour, length, twist, and grade. If you are going to build a custom rifle, I think that it is usually worth the extra $$ to buy the best components that you can. The barrel that moves you, the action that moves you, the stock that moves you, the mounts that move you, and the scope that moves you. There are people who wouldn't think of shooting a Douglas barrel, just as there are those who won't own Shilen, Hart, Krieger, Walther, etc. Although there are no guarantees, the more you spend on a barrel, the more/better fractional performance you may get. Of course, the best barrel in the world can be beated by an A&B if it isn't installed properly. At least in theory, all the parts need to work together in harmony to be successful.

Jeff

Guaranteed to start an argument, but for most shooting (BR and long range the exceptions) the accuracy of factory barrels is more than accpetable.

??? serious hunters??? If a fellow has shot out the barrel of his rifle, he has a lot of different choices for a replacement. The same is true with a fellow that is "putting a rifle together", but I think anyone that buys a rifle and sends it off to be rebarrelled without shooting it isn't playing with a full deck.
And I'm as serious as a heart attack.

quote:

sends it off to be rebarrelled without shooting it isn't playing with a full deck.

I have done just that many times, I bought the rifle in a chambering I had zip interest in, and knew up front I was purchasing just the action. Actually I just bought a FN, with a 6mm barrel on it, I have no intention of fiddling with the 6mm barrel, it will go in the barrel stack, and I probably will either sell it or rebore it later if I have a need.

There are several members here building 404's on the WInchester 300 Ultra Mag rifles, I doubt any of them bothered to chamber the original 300 when they bought their rifles.

I think you you referencing to a guy that buys a rifle and decides to have a new barrel put on it just for the sake of having a name brand tube. IF this is the scenario you are describing I agree.

The original question was how does an aftermarket barrel compair to a factory barrel.

The only way to answer that is with a question, what do you want out of it? Will "minute of deer" be good enough, or are you looking for 1/4 inch groups?

Factory barrels are mass-produced, mass-machined, probably never stress relieved, and you get what you pay for.

If your expectations are more on the line of 1/4 inch groups, and I mean REAL 1/4 inch groups, factory barrels, and even factory actions aren't close to the task. Some actions can be worked over to bring them up to par, but a factory barrel will never perform the way you want.And it aint just a matter of having the local pipe fitter screw a good barrel on, it's gotta be done right.

So what are you looking for?

I agree with Rick on this. If you're not going to be shooting game at farther than 300 yds., almost any factory barrel is going to be good enough. I've put Remington 30-06 takeoff barrels on a couple of Mausers that I blueprinted recently. With PMP 150 Gr. factory ammo, both are shooting less than .75" average. One of them, I was just test firing yesterday. After 3 sighters, 3 bullets went into the same hole.