I have retired friend that loves to shoot, reload, swage bullets, etc.. He's designed a few of his own cartridges and has a benchrest shooting machinist nearby that chambers, threads and headspaces his barrels for him.

He doesn't have access to the Internet so he asked me to look for a source of inexpensive barrels... take-offs, cosmetic blems, etc.

Some Googling didn't turn up anything that fits the bill. Does anyone know of a source I could recommend to him that he might not find in Gun Digest?

Thanks for any suggestions,
desmobob

I wouldn't put the time and money into anything except a top quality barrel. But, you can get new low-cost barrels from ER Shaw, I think. They are in PA if I recall correctly. Website: www.ershawbarrels.com from a google search.
Also, I think that Midway has some "budget" barrels.

quote:

Originally posted by OMJ:
I wouldn't put the time and money into anything except a top quality barrel.

Me neither, but this guy loves to putter around on a limited budget.

I saw him at the range yesterday with an old Santa Barbara Mauser action bedded in one of the prettiest pieces of walnut I've seen, with a skinny, $40 take-off barrel REALLY free-floating in the fore end that had been inletted for a big bull barrel. :-)

He was having fun, messing around trying to get accurate loads with a stubby little ".308 Short" cartridge he came up with. He makes all his own jacketed bullets and even has a patent on one.

For this kind of monkeying around, he was hoping he could find a source of take-off barrels in this same $40 price range. He told me he got the one he was shooting yesterday from a gunsmith who had taken it off a customer's rifle to install a custom barrel. He's looking for one with a .308 bore at the moment (hopefully in a heavier contour).

I was curious as to whether or not there were large volume gunsmiths who did enough barrel replacement work that they would be a source of barrels.

Thanks for the info,
desmobob

I have sold virgin factory take-offs and old sporter "myster barrel" take-offs on ebay. Even the 50 year old barrels I had never put a round through when buying an old sporter for the action brought over $40 each. If he can get them for $40, i know of nothing even that cheap, much less cheaper

quote:

Originally posted by Marc_Stokeld:
I have sold virgin factory take-offs and old sporter "myster barrel" take-offs on ebay. Even the 50 year old barrels I had never put a round through when buying an old sporter for the action brought over $40 each. If he can get them for $40, i know of nothing even that cheap, much less cheaper

I had a hunch that might be the case. The older you get, the easier it is to think of things in terms of obsolete prices....

Thanks,
desmobob

I have quite a few 8 X 57 Milsurp barrels if that is helpful.....all have dark bores but deep rifling and most retail the milsurp sights.

He can try guns shows.
There are thousands of 7MM Rem Mag barrels available for $40.

I have got 50~100 take off barrels from ebay.

http://sporting-goods.listings.ebay.com/Rifle_Barrels_W...ocmdZListingItemList

Of course, I have found better deals at gunshows, but that is very spotty.

http://www.e-gunparts.com/

Numrich / Gunparts Corp. sounds like just the right place for him. Without the internet he can order their jumbo sized catalog and drool over it for days. Check out their closeouts and "new" items sections on the web site for a taste of the odds and ends available.

Sometimes Sarco has some cheap barrels on hand as well and old Parker Hale barrels and the like as well as military stuff and you can get on the mailing list for their flyers.
Sarco is sometimes troublesome to deal with though.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
I have quite a few 8 X 57 Milsurp barrels if that is helpful.....all have dark bores but deep rifling and most retail the milsurp sights.

I'll pass that information along to him.

oupa and Snellstrom,

I didn't think of Numrich Gun Parts or Sarco... I'll remind him of those sources.
I always imagine Numrich as a huge garage workshop packed with millions of gun parts. I'd love to visit!


Thanks,
desmobob

I have bought barrels from Sarco and Numrich [Gun parts corp].

I have never got anything very good.

Numrich gets some parts from MRB [Material Review Board].
This is the jail for discrepant material in a big company.

That's right, Numrich pays a little to dumpster dive, marks it up, and sends it to you.

Those barrel can have holes in the wrong place per drawing, or the bores can be off center.

If the bore is no good, you can waste your time working on a turd.

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:
I have bought barrels from Sarco and Numrich [Gun parts corp].

I have never got anything very good.

Numrich gets some parts from MRB [Material Review Board].
This is the jail for discrepant material in a big company.

That's right, Numrich pays a little to dumpster dive, marks it up, and sends it to you.

Those barrel can have holes in the wrong place per drawing, or the bores can be off center.

If the bore is no good, you can waste your time working on a turd.

Typical mode/rules of operation when machined parts to MRB.

First the reason for MRB - The parts do not meet the engineering drawing requirements. They have been written up by someone for a defect.
In the military hardware world there is also PMRB for Preliminary Material Review Board.

The manufacturing engineer can dispostion material at PMRB.
1.Rework to the drawing - such rework will make the part fully meet the original requirements.
2. Scrap (means it cannot possibly be reworked or is not economical to rework)
3. Refers the material to MRB

If the material goes to MRB the design engineer can determine if the material is "use as is" (UAI) or scrap.

If a parts house gets MRB material it was because it was scrapped. Scrapped material may be functional but scrapped for cosmetic reasons. It most likely is scrapped for functional reasons.
A parts house may also get obsolete parts.

In 82 I worked in a company with $50 bag of resistors being sent to MRB and the lowest engineers are stuck dispositioning them.

At the same time at another company, the chief engineer gun designer visits MRB when there is a $1M pile of axles with X-rays in question.

In 1980 or so I scrapped 300 investment castings worth about $250 each. The previous engineers on the project had steered clear of that mess. They could not be reworked and they would not function as is. It caused a big commotion because the casting supplier had built another 600 ahead that they had not told us about. They had to scrap them too.

PM sent.

I probably have maybe 50 or more on hand your friend (or anyone for that matter) can have all for about $1000 + shipping.

Mostly Rem & Win take-offs; popular calibers .243, .270, .308, .30/06, etc. Here's pics of some:

barrels1

barrels2

I also can supply a bunch of used benchrest match grade barrels from Hart, Shilen, etc. all SS chambered threaded 6mm & .30 cals various profiles and lengths. Somewhat higher prices but still a deal.

I have used 6 of the 43 take offs I got from Ebay.

I have used 3 of 10 barrels from Numrich.

I have used 1 of the 1 take off I got from AR

I have used 4 of 7 new Lothar Walther barrels from Brownells.

I have used 2 of 2 new Shilen barrels from Brownells.

I have used 2 of 8 new Addams and Bennet barrels from Midway

What does it all mean?
It is easy to buy a bunch of crap take off barrels and harder to work them into my act.
Much better to buy a premium barrel as needed.

In long-range prone and especially benchrest, we go through a lot of barrels. They are taken off "when it is time" or because the groups opened up. Most are Krieger or equal, and "shot-out" may mean they will not shoot a 1/2" group for prone and way less for benchrest. You might look and inquire on another forum, such as benchrest.com or long-range.com. There are thousands of premium, used barrels out there. The Kreiger's are cut rifled, so they can be re-profiled without changing the dimensions of the bore, due to internal stresses. Most of the prone barrels are .308 and the benchrest are 6mm. Those in between these two tend to be for high intensity cartridges, and are a little more used up. Good luck.

When cartridge fires, hot gas makes that thermal transient on the throat.

When the bullet un caps the gas, the gas rushes out and makes some gas cutting.

Both ends of the barrel should be trimmed.

You can find a 21" Krieger for less than $100 sometimes, but a 26" in 6mm would be worth at least $200, even if one has to cut off the threads, throat, and muzzle.

Some heavy 1000 yard 7mm or 30 cal barrel is not worth that much to varminters.

Someone else is looking for take-off barrels on the forum below. Several were offered...

http://www.long-range.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7984&hl=

desmobob, I've got a Remington 78 (same as a 700), 22", 30-06, blue, sights included, excellent condition take-off barrel I'm trying to sell for $25 shipped to the lower 48. PM me if interested