Never used any of their barrels, but I’m glad to see that PAC-Nor is back in business.

https://pac-nor.com/

I have and I won't ever again

Right; don't want to bad mouth a business that went through hard times, but their barrels are ok. Just ok. I used three of them.
I think they made .600 barrels, which, might be their forte.

PAC-Nor was popular in some circles in BC Canada, I am told. I have a 3 groove 375 barrel from them. It seems fine but I have not really tested it thoroughly yet.

I am glad to hear that they are back in harness again.

I've used several, I like them - and they make BIG stuff -- IIRC there is a well-known american double rifle maker that likes them

Long back, I had them make me a 3 groove 6mm AI for a 700 Rem. It's accuracy met my expectations.

I wrote a thorough letter describing what I wanted. After they cut it 1/2" too short they offered to either remake, or I could have it as is without the charge for custom profile.

Honest, fair, and accurate: I would buy from them again.

Hit or miss with me.

I have a 375 barrel of theirs that refuses to foul and had a 404 barrel from them that fouled worse than any barrel I've ever seen. Also had multiple contour problems in the dozen or so barrels I bought from them.

I'll stick with Lilja.

I spoke with them sometime back before the fire about a faster twist .451” groove barrel for use with slow moving juggernauts in the 45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk. They said a few months and $250 to make the tooling. I like that they said they were willing to do it. They were also one of the few outfits making .330” groove barrels for the .318 W.R. I’m guessing that, with the rebuild, it will be a while before the more esoteric options are available again.

For what its worth, every PacNor barrel I used was a shooter that gave no trouble.

Glad to hear the community has another good vendor again.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
I have and I won't ever again

May not be fair o judge on the basis of one example.

I received a Pa Nor with more ripples than a wash board. Sent it back, was assured it would be straightened out. Came back with a FEW less ripples. Can't help but be judgmental.

We have too many barrel makers now, and fewer custom rifles being built every year. I am all for free enterprise of course, but the field is now diluted with the new makers who offer nothing that the old makers didn't.
I see guys gravitate to a new maker, for no reason other than they are new. I won't use them. It is easy to make a barrel; it is hard to make them perfect.
Another opinion of mine; please no more hate mail. My box is full.

I LOVE YOU TOM !-----Feel better now ?

Hip

I have a .270 3-groove PacNor barrel on my Ruger #3; it's the most accurate of my deer rifles, including several Liljas and a Marquart. Consistantly under a half inch with several loads.

Is this going to get me banished from this site???

Hip; yes, a little.

quote:

Originally posted by jerrymontgomery:

Is this going to get me banished from this site???

It might!

I have a three groove, Super Match for my 22.250 AI, it is great.

It's something that I've noticed previously and even see in this short string of posts, the three groove barrels are praised by the people who own them. I bought mine to slow down the erosion of 22.250 AI pushing the 36 grain bullets at 4,500 FPS but am really loving the accuracy, even with the 68 grain SMKs at 1,000 yards.

I have a 3 groove match on a 308; I got it just to see what they were like; answer is, nothing special. It shoots ok. I always go back to Douglas. Quality, responsiveness to orders, both stock and custom contours, and outstanding customer service. For many decades now, on which is something the other, new, makers can't and don't, even come close.

Most posts here address "accuracy" For me and other custom makers...just ain't good enough.

The exterior must also be free of whips, jingles and ripples.

I've found only Lothar Walther barrels to meet both criteria followed very closely by Kreiger.

There's just no money in taking a half day to draw file the others to bring them up to snuff.

I find that Douglas are also dead true on the outside. I never have to draw file them to make them right. Their huge CNC lathe with massive steady rests insures that. The last K barrel I had was not straight, and I wouldn't use a LW for a tent stake.

Ahhhh...Never mentioned Douglas..yep...damn good barrels...shoot good or gooder. Just mentioned a further criteria that I want on the barrels I use on a five digit rifle.

I will and do use a Douglas when called for, but for the record, never had one that didn't need a fair amount of effort to clean up the outside

Check them out now; they have a new CNC profiling machine since you last ordered from them.
Call Stan and tell him if you ever have a problem; they are the best and most responsive maker, by a mile. And also the first, a fact that is lost on many young guys who think a new company must be good; that is definitely not true.

Agreed.... BTW...LW is the oldest barrel maker in the world..I have used and have respect for Douglas for many yrs.

If Douglas can match the flawless exterior of the LW, my hat's off to them.

True, but setting up a new factory in Georgia in 1995 for button rifling does not make them "old"; even though they were making barrels for 300 years. They are one of the new comers in this market.
Remington developed button rifling and Douglas was the first custom maker for it.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Most posts here address "accuracy" For me and other custom makers...just ain't good enough.

The exterior must also be free of whips, jingles and ripples.

I've found only Lothar Walther barrels to meet both criteria followed very closely by Kreiger.

There's just no money in taking a half day to draw file the others to bring them up to snuff.

I have only chambered one LW barrel, for my .416 Rigby, and it was knife through butter. I use Krieger exclusively for everything else, and have never been disappointed by them. One thing I find great about Krieger is how easy they are to clean after shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Most posts here address "accuracy" For me and other custom makers...just ain't good enough.

The exterior must also be free of whips, jingles and ripples.

I've found only Lothar Walther barrels to meet both criteria followed very closely by Kreiger.

There's just no money in taking a half day to draw file the others to bring them up to snuff.

Now that Woody's gone, I may have to look at L-W again.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
True, but setting up a new factory in Georgia in 1995 for button rifling does not make them "old"; even though they were making barrels for 300 years. They are one of the new comers in this market.
Remington developed button rifling and Douglas was the first custom maker for it.

Not quite accurate...They did machine rifled blanks from Germany..After Woody "left" they only then started doing the button rifling in some calibers.

Look! I don't have stock in Lothar Walther..I'm just reporting they work plumb swell for me!..and in the meantime maybe spraying around a little bullshit repellent

I guess I'm just a low rent chump. Have had great results with the last 5 Shaw barrels I've bought and used. Not shooting 1,000 yd matches, but do the job for the money. Why pay for a 'name' if you don't need it? Lets keep em all in business for as long as we can! JMHO
Rick

The only lw barrels I ever saw were button rifled and they didn't come from Germany. They are not bad; I just don't need them, or most of the other makers. They offer Nothing new.
Competition is good, up to a point.
As for keeping all the custom barrel makers in business, I can tell you that there is not sufficient demand any more for that; they are all running on fumes and there are too many of them for all of them to survive.
I am just trying to patronize and promote the oldest, and the best, custom barrel maker. Considering their quality, and ease of dealing with them, I have zero reason to use any others. They are well proven to be the easiest to deal and communicate with.
Nothing wrong with being cheap. The low end barrels are fine for the average hunter. The market has weeded out the really bad ones.

Now that all the experts have spoken I will add my limited experience.
I have 3 Pac Nor barrels in pencil thin ultra light contours. These 3 barrels look great and shoot at and sometimes under .5" at 100 yards for 3 shots, I shoot 3 shot groups for hunting rifles, if you need more than 2 shots then 1/2" group size isn't going to help you.
I've found the Pac Nor people to be timely, easy to deal with and extremely knowledgeable not to mention a really accurate product.
I think we are pretty fortunate these days to have so many quality barrel choices.

One of the few that will make an oversize barrel for the Enfield actions .. 1 1/8 does not cut it on these actions. Also one of the few that will make a .423. So I have some on order .. to go with my action kits.

I have a 28" fluted 280AI Pac-Nor barrel on my "bean field" rifle that delivers 1" three shot groups at 200 yards and the first shot out of clean barrel is in the group.
I have other rifles by other manufacturers that deliver better accuracy, but those aren't hunting rifles either.

I can't imagine where a 1/2 MOA rifle wouldn't be adequate for a hunting rifle in any situation.

I received a new barrel from Pac-Nor yesterday. Looks nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
One of the few that will make an oversize barrel for the Enfield actions .. 1 1/8 does not cut it on these actions. Also one of the few that will make a .423. So I have some on order .. to go with my action kits.

We ordered a premium .423" barrel from Pac-Nor for my .404 build. Looking forward to shooting it this spring.

Tom, I’m not sure I follow your logic on several points. Why do you the the market is saturated with barrel makers? 10 years ago I could call several barrel makers and get a standard profile, standard caliber, standard twist barrel delivered to my door in a week. Most are now 8-10 weeks. Custom profile, custom twist, or custom bore/groove now takes up to 6 months.

A friend of mine builds custom long range rifles and has an open PO with a barrel maker with a order of 120 barrels a year MINIMUM, just so that he can get barrels in a timely and consistent fashion. My impression is that most barrel makers are adding equipment, employees, and expanding. . . I am curious why you think they are running on fumes?

Secondly your comment on Lothar Walther seems odd? To say that a company opening a new facility somewhere becomes a new player to the field does not make sense? I built a new shop in 2016, does that negate my previous knowledge, skills and abilities? I worked for a Tier 1 automotive company that the roots of the company were well over 100 years old. Today they are one of the worlds largest automotive component suppliers. To say that they are a new player in the field because they built a facility in 2020, doesn’t make any sense. I’m fully aware of the challenges of manufacturing in new countries. Many of the stamping dies I built were sent to Mexico, China, and a few back to Germany. There are always issues, but to negate a 300 year history because it is a new facility quite odd.

Use Douglas barrels and all those concerns expressed above will go away. Delivery, quality, size, calibers, ease and responsiveness of ordering.
I do not like LW barrels, and will not use one and when/if a customer says they want one, I say that I won't. Period. Lose a customer? Don't care.
You can't say that their centuries old history contributes in any way to that factory in Georgia; button rifling was not invented for most of that history. I assume that when you opened your new shop, you went with it. Not like opening a new shop in a new country with new machines and people.
I'm not using them.
As for barrel makers being so far backlogged; because most of them are very small shops and are not equipped for efficient mass production. Demand is not there to invest in it.

Bringing back fond memories.

My first rifle build was a 257 Ackley on a 98, 26 inch Douglas barrel, No. 3. Bishop stock (remember them?), 6X Leupold in Beuhler mounts. Redford chamber reamer. This was in 1963.

This thing would put 87 grain Speers into less than 5/8" all day long, sometimes less than 1/2" for three shots.

Used the gun pre "beanfield" days, on power lines way back in the Georgia swamps, took many a Whitetail at goodly ranges. Dusk and dark, sitting in a "custom" tree stand with a rifle rest. That 87 grain Speer rambling on at a good velocity was a one shot killer.