Hi
who makes the best SS bbl . with best i mean using the best quality steel, hardenig to high strength and making a barrel which will last many years and many many rounds. I am not intressted in competition and target barrels
regards
yazid

You are going to have a hard time getting a simple answer to that one. If you are in the US, your country is simply inundated with great barrel makers. I'm sure they will all claim the longest barrel life.

Some people believe cut rifled barrels last longer than button rifled. True?? Who knows??

If you are not into target shooting, I think you can safely go with a barrel just below the absolute pinnacle (at least price wise). Makers such as Lothar Walter (rumoured to use very hard steel), Douglas and PacNor would probably supply you with a great barrel. Then you need the best of smiths to make the barrel shoot to its potential.

Finally, barrel life is primarily determined by caliber and how hard you use it (to what degree you let it get warm), as opposed to the manufacturer chosen. You'll get best barrel life out of a cartridge not too overbore, and if you go easy on the barrel - when it gets warm, shoot another rifle.

- mike

yes

Who makes the best pickup truck?? Are blondes prettier than red-heads?? Chicken or beef??

Ray

quote:

Originally posted by Cheechako:
yes

Who makes the best pickup truck?? Are blondes prettier than red-heads?? Chicken or beef??

Ray

Ford...YES...Both!

I have always used Shilen.
Others use Krieger, Lothar Walther, Pac-Nor, Hart etc. the list goes on and on.

The most important thing you should get as far as rebarreling goes is a competent gunsmith to do the work right.

Whats the use of buying a $200+ barrel when you have it installed poorly?

-Spencer

Of the stainless barrels, I've had the best results with Hart.

AD

Hart, Lilja, Kreiger, & Shilen, not necessarily in that order.

KRIEGER

One of the toughest stainless steels made for rifle barrels is supposed to be from Lothar-Walther.

I've had good results with Lilja.

Krieger or Hart. Kriegers are single-point, cut rifled; don't know about Harts.

quote:

Originally posted by rootbeer:
Kriegers are single-point, cut rifled; don't know about Harts.

Harts are button rifled - absolute top quality barrels both Krieger and Hart.
- mike

You have a choice of two steels , 416 or 17-4. Most use 416 , Walther is one that uses 17-4.The 416 is a free machining grade and thus is easier to make than 17-4.

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
I am not intressted in competition and target barrels
regards
yazid

Guys he's not asking for accuracy, he's asking for longevity. So, it's either Lothar Walther or it's everyone else.

Hart, cause they specialize in only making match-grade SS barrels. I've got 2 in sporting rifles and love them...224 and 338.

Lothar Walther

Roland

Please tell how many times you plan on firing this gun. Or maybe a better question is how often do you go out to shoot?

-Spencer

hi
i have too shoot the gun at two occasions
1 - training on runing elk which needs 4 rapid shots( as fast as possible and about 50-100rounds each time i am at shooting field (maybe 500 rounds per year) this hard to many guns even from famous companies.
2-the same rifle should be used for hunting.
according to the gun smithes hammer forged barrels are better in longivity the button rifled or cut rifling, due to the harden rifling surface and stainless would be better due to oxidation resistance,
so a hammer forged stailess would be the best,but who is making hammer forged staibless barrel? i don't know!!
regards
yazid

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
hi
i have too shoot the gun at two occasions
1 - training on runing elk which needs 4 rapid shots( as fast as possible and about 50-100rounds each time i am at shooting field (maybe 500 rounds per year) this hard to many guns even from famous companies.
regards
yazid

I did not know there were running elk in the Sahara desert?

my dear mister mehulkamdar
even if the distance is great between sahara and scandinavia. i am partially living in scandinavia. and here one ought to preform well with guns for having hunting licens. we are trying to introduce the same system in sahara,but on runing gazells,
regards
yazid ebn elhisham

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
according to the gun smithes hammer forged barrels are better in longivity the button rifled or cut rifling, due to the harden rifling surface and stainless would be better due to oxidation resistance,
so a hammer forged stailess would be the best,but who is making hammer forged staibless barrel? i don't know!!
regards
yazid

There may well be something about hammerforged (hf) barrels lasting longer than cut or buttoned. Hf barrels are only used in factory guns, though, as the cost of setting up for hammerforging is prohibitive unless you intend to make a LOT of barrels. There are some hf barrels that are of very good quality - Sako springs to mind. But in general, cut or buttoned custom barrels are normally of better quality than factory hf barrels. Tolerances are tighter, surfaces smoother and the barrels are mostly lapped for the best finish (minimal copper fouling).

Getting a hammerforged barrel would probably center round getting a factory take-off barrel. The only other hf after-market barrels I can think of, are Heym. I believe their barrels are hf.

I personally think you focus too much on potential for longevity of the barrel. As stated in my orginal reply, regardless of what kind of barrel or what manufacture you get, the deciding factor is going to be what cartridge you choose, and how hot you shoot the barrel. Shoot a medium cartridge and treat the barrel well, and your son can inherit your rifle, no sweat.

- mike

I believe someone here said Browning makes hammer-forged stainless steel barrels.

There is a very interesting article in the current Precision Shooting on Ruger's hammer forging process, worth reading.

MY FRIEND MISTER VIGILLINUS
YOU ARE ABSPOULTLY RIGHT ,BUT WHERE CAN I FIND THAT MAGAZIN IN SAHARA??? OR ELSWHERE OUTSIDE USA
WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF YOU SEND THE ARTICLE TO THE FROUM, REGARDS
YAZID

Yes,

If you are looking for maximum longevity in a rifle barrel there are a couple of other directions you should explore. These still need quality steel to get best longivity, but both methods were developed to extend barrel life.

First look into 5R rifling, Boots Obermeyer, Mike Rock, regularly manufacturer this rifling, I believe Krieger has made some also. This rifling is fielded in the US Army M-24 sniper rifles currently and they have had good sucess with these barrels.

The second option is polygon rifling. This rifling is used in the PSG-1 by HK. The only current source ( I know off) these can be bought aftermarket is from Lothar Walther. These have no traditional lands and grooves. The person to talk to is Woodie at Walther USA about these. The rifling was developed to extend barrel life in semi auto and full auto weapons. There is a very minor accuracy penalty with these barrels from traditional rifling of around .2 MOA. Again Woodie is the guy to talk to, he builds them and knows all the details.

A last note, choice of cartridges will also effect barrel life. Very overbore cartridges like the 264 Win Mag and 220 Swift are hard on barrels. Choosing a round like the 6.5x55 as compared to the 264 above will greatly extend the useful life of your barrel.

I have found that regardless of who's barrel you use, allowing the barrel to get too hot is probably THE number one threat to longevity.

True, the properties used in Stainless barrels resist sustained temperatures a bit better than do those of the Chrome Moly variety, they still fall victim to the effects of extreme heat and pressure which results in a shortened life.

Also, a Stainless gun barrel, while being a bit easier to maintain and clean, can be easily damaged by improper cleaning. Stainless gun barrels don't seem to be as scratch resistant as a comparable chrome Moly barrel.

So Yazid, if you want your Stainless barrel to last as long as possible, watch how you clean it, and keep it cool!

my friends
the problem is keeping cool the gun ,when it is impossible if you should shoot at runing target like we do here. 4 rapid shots at each runing target will heat even a target barrel and we have to do it with our hunting gun often with very thin barrels. about cleaning i use the same rod and solvent as i had for the normal c-steel. may i turn to an especial cleanging spray for stainless only? is there such a thing on the market? i hope my ruger 77 stainless in 3006 would last at least for a couple of thousend rounds.
regards
yazid

Who are you trying to kid? Do you seriously think that that barrel is going to heat up enough to miss a running Moose on the fourth shot? What a joke!

Chuck

hi chuk
where you read that statement we are talking about longevity of hunting rifle barrels not the missing the target. which one do you prefer borbon or scotch
regards
yazid

Yazid, clean your Ruger as you normally would. Just don't use a stainless bore bush or anything that is abrasive when cleaning. As far as getting the barrel hot, there's not much you can do to avoid it while you're hunting. If you're shooting at targets, giving the barrel a minimum of a minute between rounds helps.

Heat buildup and high pressure is the enemy of every gun barrel. You won't stop it, but the more you can do to control it, the better.

I wouldn't worry too much about hurting the Ruger barrel. I have heard it said that Ruger barrels improve as they begin to wear out.

quote:

my friends
the problem is keeping cool the gun ,when it is impossible if you should shoot at runing target like we do here. 4 rapid shots at each runing target will heat even a target barrel and we have to do it with our hunting gun often with very thin barrels.

??????????????????????????????????????????????

The heat, longevity, and cleaning seem to be alot ado about nothing.

Chuck

Not counting polygonal rifling (excellent in handguns, at least), most of the literature on barrel life gives the edge in longevity to cut-rifled barrels. There are indications that cut-rifled barrels may last twice as long as others.

Cut rifled also may perform more consistently, but that's a tossup, as button-rifled barrels do as well in benchrest competitions. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is they maintain their level of performance over a longer period of time.

Cut-rifled barrels are not afflicted with the stresses of manufacture that button- or hammer-forged barrels are. They therefore need no stress relief in order to get the barrel down to the usable contour.

Cut-rifled barrels may be restored (recut) after being shot out, while other manufacture methods are less so.

There are no guarantees in barrel purchases, however. Some shoot well, regardless of the manufacture method, and some don't, again regardless. I think the manufacturing method makes less difference than the care in which it's made and installed.

Jaywalker

forty replies and forty different answers i have two pac-nors one hart one krieger the kreiger on my 30x378 outshoots any of them but they are all good barrels.

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
my friends
the problem is keeping cool the gun ,when it is impossible if you should shoot at runing target like we do here. 4 rapid shots at each runing target will heat even a target barrel and we have to do it with our hunting gun often with very thin barrels.
... i hope my ruger 77 stainless in 3006 would last at least for a couple of thousend rounds.
regards
yazid

Yazid, it sounds like you are doing your (running target) shooting in Sweden?? If that is the kind of shooting you are doing, then I can see your worry about getting the barrel hot. With a big game hunting cartridge in a hunting weight barrel, you will experience high barrel temperatures, almost regardles of which cartridge you choose to use. I believe in Sweden (still assuming your shooting will be done there?), the minimum for moose is something akin to a 6.5x55.

But even with 4 rapid shots out of a hunting barrel, you can still make your barrel last a long time, if you don't choose to shoot another batch of 4 right after the initial series (and another and another). So if you go with a few friends and round-robin your shooting, you should still be reasonably ok. It also depends a lot on the air temperature when you do your shooting. Barrel heat-up is much more pronounced in higher temperatures, although I suspect Swedish temperatures might help a bit.

I personally think your .30-06 will last you several thousand shots, at least if shot as described above. The .30-06 is not particularly hard on barrels. Better still, would be to get a 6.5x55, and use that for the running target. If you absolutely have to shoot multiple series directly following each other, with two rifles, you could also round-robin the rifles to allow them to cool a bit.

Finally, since it sounds like some of your shooting is done in Europe, where access to good barrels is not as easy, and where limited resources are available in smithing (influencing both price and quality?), you might consider getting a switch-barrel rifle. At least it will be a lot easier to put on a new barrel, should the need arise.

- mike

Hi Mike
You are right about the switch barrel solution. I was att a gun shop and tried all of switch barrels only too catch really my attention the first was mauser m03 and second was a sauer 202 mut neither was made in stainless as in scandinavia climate is very humide during the hunting season. if they hade made theier gun in stainless and with old fashion mauser extracotor, I had certainly bought one in 6,5x55 + extra barrel in 9,3x62. that would cover all my hunting and training needs,
regards
yazid