I recently got a blank from a maker that is a lightweight contour in SS but there is a very slight "curve" to it. I talked to the maker and they said all lightweight SS barrels will have a curve to them. Is that true?? Will it still be a accurate barrel or should I toss it and get another one for my "dream" rifle that has kinda become a nightmare all the sudden. Barrel cost 200++ bucks. FNMauser

I have had one or two bent or curved barrels, but if that fella is right I've been very fortunate for the many that were straight.

The one that really stands out in my memory was straight on the outside but curved on the inside. It must have been bored and rifled and than turned between centers. both ends were on center but looking down it you could see the bend.If you have any control over it return the barrel and get your money back.I vote that this guy is giving you a bunch of roger

Seems a little stange to me.

All lightweight SS barrel will have a slight curve to them? That's a new one on me. I'd be askin' for an exchange or refund. Who's barrels are these anyway? I'd like to know so I don't wind up buying one someday and have to ask for a refund or exchange myself. I wouldn't use it on my "dream rifle".

I will state that all barrels have a bore that could be called curved. Some have very little and some more than others. You cannot drill a 24-28" blank perfectly straight. The outside contour is probably straight or is more straight than the bore. I have seen curved benchrest barrels shoot very well. Sometimes it takes a while to get them on paper after putting them on. I am not as concerned about the curve as much as the consistant size of the bore with a light choke preferable. I want the twist rate to be very constant, and most importantly as stress free as possible. Butch

Button rifling creates a large amount of radial stress on a barrel and if the barrel is not properly stress relieved after rifling and before conturing it can bend and/or bluge slightly as that stress is released as a diameter of the barrel is turned down.

The top barrel makers that use button rifling also take great care in buying steel that is very homogeneous and of a very uniform hardness for the entire length of the bar.

If you don't mind me asking, who made the barrel?

Hey Mauser!

If you decide to get rid of that barrel let me know. I might send it to my son in Baghdad so he can shoot around corners at the Haji's!

every barrel has some degree of curve to it. What exactly does this barrel look like? You woul dbe surprised at how little heat it takes to "spring" a barrel in a lathe. Has any machine work been doen to it at all? The bore will never be perfectly staright. THe outside contour of the barrel can be turned when the barrel is between centers. as soon as you make a cut at either end of the barrel, then the bore is no longer centered in relation to the outer contour. Depending on how much English the bore has, this can really make the barrel turn off center.

CROOKED BARRELS CAN SHOOT! It may not look pretty on the lathe, but they shoot. Shilen doesn't straighten anything, and I think more national benchrest matches have been won with Shilens than any other brand. Put some SHilens in a lathe and see just how far out they are. I call them Shilen Bannana Barrels. I have one that is so crooked I say you can only see hale a caliber of hole when looking through it. but it sure shoots.

I am guessing you have not done a lot of barreling, as most folks get surprised when they see just how far out some barrels are. This does not affect the accuracy of the barrels and once they are on the action you never know anyway. When you get to light contours, you up the chances of having a bow that shows up in the barrel. And the more turning you do on it, the worse you can make it in a hurry. I am sure it is just fine. It is impossible to get a barrel that is perfectly straight. The key is to fit and chember it correctly and you will be fine.

Thanks Mark! Your right, this is my first barrel. I posted cause I was very concerned and now I'm not. I'll put that sucker on and see how it shoots. Call my gunsmith tomorrow. Thanks guys, thats a load off my feble mind. FNMauser

Put it on with the bend going up and it will make the rifle shoot flatter. I actually had a well known gunsmith tell me that one time.

It won't make it shoot flatter, but it may make you need less elevation on your scope to zero.

It will be fine. The crookedest barrels I have seen have been Obermeyers, and they shoot just fine.

John

I'm under the impression that Savage goes to a lot of troubel to get there barrels straight and is one of the reasons Savages shoot...........not that I like them.

As stated above, if at all possible install the barrel with the curvature at 12 o'clock at the muzzle...think ski-jump. If installed at 3 or 9 o'clock it is possible to run into windage considerations as range is increased. We have installed many more "crooked" barrels than straight ones, and with excellent results. And we did have one of the cheaper barrels that, when looking down the bore, only a half-moon opening was visible! When I straightened it visually it would not go into the inletting...the top line of the forearm was too narrow. I took it back part way to get it into the stock and just laughed at the customer when he picked it up (it was his bbl, we did not supply it) told him the story and tale of woe. I told him that thing was so crooked, and stressed from my messing with it, that if he held them on a 2' square target at 100 yds I would be surprised. He called back laughing at me...that gun never shot over 1 1/4" groups, with a couple factory loads around the 3/4 mark. I keep getting reminded I don't know everthing and what I do know is under question.

I take my whiskey and barrels straight!

Most of the barrel makers use boring set ups that will have a maximum of .005" run out over the entire length of the barrel. While that ain't "perfectly" straight...it's about as close as you can get when boring a tiny little hole down the middle of a 28 or 30 inch bar of steel.

I would hardly describe a .005" run out over that length as being a "Bannana' shape, or curved.

Ever shoot pool with a curved cue stick? You might pay attention to the loacation of the curve and which direction we're heading at the "muzzle", but you can still make the ball go where you want it.

i'd ask for a new barrel or a refund.

I would hate to think of going to the bother of chambering a barrel when all I could see was 1/2 a hole in it..........I'd use the crooked bbl for a tent stake if I couldent get a refund or replacement bbl. I dont think the saying "strait shooter" came from anything crooked. Rifle or man..........

Just for the hell of it I called Shilen today and spoke to Doug about this very topic. He pretty much laughed his ass off over the "Banana-Barrel" comment.

He told me that the bore (which is all that really counts) of their barrels and those of the other custom makers never have more than a couple thousands of an inch of total run-out over the entire length after boring, rifling, and lapping. That's pretty friggin straight.

But...what the hell would he know about rifle barrels?

quote:

Originally posted by fnmauser:
I recently got a blank from a maker that is a lightweight contour in SS but there is a very slight "curve" to it. I talked to the maker and they said all lightweight SS barrels will have a curve to them. Is that true?? Will it still be a accurate barrel or should I toss it and get another one for my "dream" rifle that has kinda become a nightmare all the sudden. Barrel cost 200++ bucks. FNMauser

Hey Mauser,

Don't waste your time messing with a bent barrel. It will always be on your mind that the barrel isn't right. If you paid $200+ for the barrel, it better be straight. I have a SS Pac-Nor Super match barrel and it only cost me $240. They're SS Match barrels are only $210. This rifle shoots 1/2" five shot groups at 200yds. It is my dream rifle!!!!!!!!

I have a friend who has a skinny hunting barrel made by Kreiger chambered in 338/378 Weatherby that shoots like my varmint rifles. Three shots into 7/16" at 200yds and five shot into 3 3/4" at 550yds. Now that's good grouping for a skinny barrel. His SS barrel set him back $280.

Your gunsmith is going to charge you the same weither the barrel is straight or crooked. Add that to the price of the barrel and the price of somebodies goof just went up. Correct it know while you still have a chance. Think about it. $200+ for the barrel, $125 for fluteing, $175 to have it threaded and chambered, $150 for a brake. That's a minimum of $375 up to $650 spent on a bent barrel. It's easier and cheaper to fix it know than wait till later and take a chance to see if it works. Been there, done that, and paid for it. It's your choice. Can you live with it if the barrel doesn't shoot? I would want any barrel I buy to be straight and stress free. I found this out the hard way by trying to cut corners. My first barrel I shot about 150 rounds through it before I got mad enough to change it. It now has the Pac-Nor Super Match SS barrel and shoots like a dream.

Catch you later.

Once i looked down center of the barrel from the chamber end of a 30-06 TC & could only see 3/4 of the muzzle! The outside of that barrel was straight too. Thats pretty damn crooked in my book.

I am staying out of the back-and-forth here, just want to point out that I really like the Shilen-Bananna-Barrel, as stated in my original post on it. May be crooked, but man, it shoots! Didn't want anyone thinking I was bashing the barrel

quote:

Originally posted by SST:
Ever shoot pool with a curved cue stick? You might pay attention to the loacation of the curve and which direction we're heading at the "muzzle", but you can still make the ball go where you want it.

True to a point, but the cue stick running through your finger at odd angles will cause the cuestick to put unintended english on the ball, causing swerve or squirt (cueball not going in a straight line after contact).

It's kinda like watching the ESPN trick shooting when they're putting "massey" on the ball, causing it to make extremely vicious curves, only not quite as dramatic.

The curved barrel is a real factor that's apparent from any manufacturer of barrel, but it's impact on notable accuracy is neglegible.

But that's guns.....not pool.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick 0311:
Just for the hell of it I called Shilen today and spoke to Doug about this very topic. He pretty much laughed his ass off over the "Banana-Barrel" comment.

He told me that the bore (which is all that really counts) of their barrels and those of the other custom makers never have more than a couple thousands of an inch of total run-out over the entire length after boring, rifling, and lapping. That's pretty friggin straight.

But...what the hell would he know about rifle barrels?

I believe what Mark was saying, which I agree with completely is not the runnout of the inside of the barrel, but the concentricity of the inside of the barrel to the outside.
If Shilen or anybody else can hold that number to +/-.002" from one end to the other......I'd love to see it, but the BS meter would be going into overload.

What your friend was describing was the runnout within the bore from front to back and how uniform the dimension is. This is not hard at all to hold to the tolerance that he explained, but to keep that concentric to the outside of the barrel throughout its length, would be nearly impossible.

For instance, the level of uniformity of wall thickness in the area of the chamber would be much closer than say the muzzle, where the taper of barrel has reduced, thus more material has been removed, causing stresses within the material.

When you put a barrel between centers, dialed in from the bore, you'd see a lot of runnout on the outside of the barrel, even though the bore was very true.
This is the big reason that sometimes you have a hard time getting the small tapered barrels to shoot. The outside has more or less warped around a little during the turning process, causing the wall thickness to vary in places as well as its concentricity with the bore itself.