On another thread, Clark mentioned that he has an A&B barrel that is very rough, and copper fouls quite badly.

Is that a common experience?

I had visions of putting one on a Mauser for an additional hunting rifle, 1 MOA, nothing special. But now I'm concerned that the internal finish may make that unattractive.

What are your experiences?

I firelapped mine (which I would not do to any better brand) and it works well. One thing I know for sure; when you buy one you got it for life. They don't sell well second hand, even im the white.

I have a 35 caliber one that started as a 35 whelen ackley, and was re-chambered as a 350 Rigby. It is rough, and takes a long time to get all the copper out. I use JB compound, and Barnes CR-10, and I can spend an hour or two alternating between the two, and still have faint blue patches come out.

That said, it will put 3 shots into a 5/8"-3/4" group, and I can fire 100 rounds through barrel, and not see accuracy degrade. As a servicable hunting barrel, they are fine. If you are someone that has to get all copper out after each range session, spend more money on a better barrel. If you can live with yourself putting the gun away dirty, and giving it a good scrubbing once a year, then be happy with it.

I quite worrying about getting clean patches, and have been more then happy with range and field performance.

I bought 2 different .257 barrels from Midway, that were A&B.

The first, prethreaded and short chambered copper fouled worse than anything I'd ever seen in my life. I was given a Tubbs firelapping kit, and it didn't even faze it, that I could tell. HOURS could be spent cleaning this thing, even with JB or I0SSO. Weird. Sold it on Ebay for more than I had in it....and sold it honestly as a fouler. 1 1/2" groups were the norm.

So, I decided to give them another chance for some reason. This barrel I purchased as a blank from Midway. Eliminated a variable by borrowing a "known good" floating pilot reamer from a friend. Chambered, threaded, and it shot into 1 1/2", and copper fouled like a sumbitch. No worse(ha!), than the last one, but certainly not any better. Sold this one on Ebay for more than I had in it, and was honest again.

Two different actions, played with bedding, swapped striker assemblies, crowns, blah, blah, blah. Just couldn't make either shoot.

Given the price of the barrel, I could have lived with the accuracy on a "loaner rifle", but the copper fouling drove me nuts.

Ended up putting a stainless Shilen on one, and a chrome moly Shilen on the other....the chrome moly fouls a bit, the stainless virtually non-existant.

I have seen my friend use several of these. One shot very well. Some were acceptable (1 1/2" 3 shots at 100yds). The last few would not do better than 2". Every one, even the shoter, fouled very badly. I'm not exactly sure what an A&B costs, but I don't think it is much less than a Douglas or a Pacnor that does not have a finish ground surface finish. It takes the same amount of work to barrel up a DOuglas as it does an A&B

When MIdway introduced the A&B barrels in late 99 ` early 2000, I got two that are bent 1/2" and one that is rough like a file.

I also got a number that look ok, and it is my fualt for putting a rough one an action and shooting it.

Let the buyer beware,

I have a 308 ss hb fluted 24" on a mauser 98.
shoots 168mk 1/2" groups and does not copper.
To clean, just a couple wet patches and a few dry
light oil and I guess I am one of the luky ones.

Ouch! That's mostly bad experience.

Hivelosity, you might want to consider a trip to Vegas...

Well, that kinda puts an end to that particular daydream. A&B's are on sale for $90, and I figured it would be a pretty cheap custom rifle. My limited experience with Pac Nor has been excellent, so I think I'll save up a few extra bucks and go that route.

Thanks, everyone.

I had purchased an A+B barrel in stainless. Prethreaded and short chambered for the swift. It wasn't all that terrible to clean but it did shoot like an expensive barrel. 5 shot groups hovered around 1/2 inch.

the most expensive part of doing the barreling, if you can't do it yourself, is the labor, not the barrel, spend a bit extra and get a Douglas which is a good field rifle barrel. The only advantage I can see in an A&B is if you have reasonable skills and are installing yourself and need one prethreaded and short chambered since you don't have a lathe.

since I have to pay for all barreling I might have done I would spend more and get something that is less likely to frustrate me.

Red

2 or 3 yr. ago Midway had a deal with A+B barrel and a synthetic stock for $99. I got 6 combo's. These were threaded and short chambered. I sold the stocks and 1 barrel, a 416. I reamed the 7mm, 30 cal and 338 to Gibbs, the 35 to Brown- Whelan and the other 416 came as a Taylor. The only one that won't shoot into an inch is the 7mm. and I haven't really fooled with it much. The 416Taylor shoots less than 3/4" with Hornady,GS, and Northfork bullets. They do seem to copper foul but I haven't firelapped them. For hunting rifles over .270 or so I see nothing wrong with them. I have Douglas, Shilen and PacNor barrels on varmint rifles and have found them to be as good as the guy who fits them. Just my .02 Your mileage may vary. Mark

I screwed one of their SS fluted barrels into a mauser action I had lying around. Lapped bolt & lugs, timney trigger, glassed in stock. Leupold scope. No problems at all with fouling but I still can't get it to shoot under an inch.
I could deal with a fouling problem, but accuracy problems are really annoying.

installed a 35 whelan on a cheapy savage. shoots 1",I am happy,this is a pig gun,plastic stock and all.Am thinking about a 416 taylor midway has on sale,$99.95---

I got an AB barrel on a 98 in 270, it shoots real good. I havent shot it much, but its half moa or better, doesnt seem to foul. Its fine for a cheap gun, I would no put one on a custom if I was going to put money into, Pac Nor, Shilen or etc would be the way to go. But if you putting together something on the cheap its fine. And its ok to build a cheap gun.

Keep in mind, when you buy a upper end barrel, if it wont shoot you can get it replaced, like someone else posted, when you get an AB your kind a the first one there, your stuck with it in most cases.

I bougth one to day in a 7mm, but then month before last I bought the best Pac Nor would sell me, just depends on what you want and what your going to do with it.

I have two AB bbls and a friend has four. Three of these barrels are for Savage 110s and the 4th is for a Parker-Hale Mauser. All four shoot well, 1-1/4 or better for five shots. All have been lapped slightly by me so that cleaning has not been a problem. May be luck of the draw, but for "fooling around" guns in Savage actions, its pretty cheap.

I put one on a 98 in 243 win. it is very accurate. but that said I have to clean it every 40 rounds or it starts to throw them all over. Almost like clock work the groups up it up at 40 rounds. But before 40 rounds the thing shoots like a house on fire. I shot groups as small as 1.5 in at 400 yards. It makes a great yote gun but for p dogs I shoot to much to have to worry about cleaning it every 40 shots.

I have 2 A&B barrels..neither tends to foul much, and they both will shoot moa or less with my best handloads..one is a .257 RBTS and the other is a 35 Whelen... Maybe I just got lucky...I also have a friend that has several rifles with A&B barrels..none of his have been stinkers either..these are all recent purchases though..maybe they have improved their quality control.

Zeeriverrat1

If I am going to spend good money on an expensive rifle I will buy the best barrel I can buy, to me thats a Lothar Walther, Krieger or even a Douglas...It just cost a little more to go the right route IMO...I know some cheap barrels shoot fine, but its a crapshoot and I have seen a lot of those barrels not shoot, and thats expensive...

You know, if you stop and think about it, an Adams & Bennett ends up costing the same as a Lothar Walther in the end. Figure just over $100 for the A&B then add another $100 for the reamer you'll need. A pre-threaded long chambered LW barrel is a mere $200. Way more bbl for the buck IMHO. Why would you waste your time & money on an A&B?