Just read on another forum where PAC-Nor barrels had an electrical fire and burned down. Hope they can recover.

https://looserounds.com/2019/1...-barrels-burns-down/

Poor Chris and family ...
dang it, i like their barrels

I hate to see that happen to any business. I used some of their barrels; in the just OK category.....

Me as well, Uncle Grinch. I have used more than a couple of their barrels, as supplied by customers, and all were excellent shooters.

Thankful nobody was hurt. This is BAD news, they are the only game in town I’m aware of for some of the big bores. I also sent them a few grand last month.

Very sad. I can't imagine losing everything they've worked so hard for in a fire. I hope they can rebuild.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I hate to see that happen to any business. I used some of their barrels; in the just OK category.....

care to expand on that? i assume they shot pretty good, and looked pretty good ... i've only had or installed something like 22 of them.. i guess my sample set could be too small ...

I had Pac-nor barrels on two doubles and two Lott bolt actions.All exceeded my expectations with no issues.I hope they recover.

quote:

Originally posted by MNR:
Very sad. I can't imagine losing everything they've worked so hard for in a fire. I hope they can rebuild.

Following the story on another board. Sounds like the owner is in his 60's and is taking the insurance money and calling it quits.

I just got off the phone, their intentions are to rebuild although unsure of at what capacity or timeframe

Glad I'm wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by Lapidary:

quote:

Originally posted by MNR:
Very sad. I can't imagine losing everything they've worked so hard for in a fire. I hope they can rebuild.

Following the story on another board. Sounds like the owner is in his 60's and is taking the insurance money and calling it quits.

Chris said he is 66 the article said Uninsured

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by Lapidary:

quote:

Originally posted by MNR:
Very sad. I can't imagine losing everything they've worked so hard for in a fire. I hope they can rebuild.

Following the story on another board. Sounds like the owner is in his 60's and is taking the insurance money and calling it quits.

Chris said he is 66 the article said Uninsured

Near the end of the article this is printed;

“I am 66 years-old and I don’t know if I have the time left,” he said. “It took my lifetime to find all the machinery in this plant.”

Dichter opened the plant in 1985. The facility is insured, he said.

The plant supplies customers all over the world.

They do plan to rebuild. Chris is my age. I wish him all the best. Had his barrels on a .338-06 and a .416 Taylor -- and lost informal varmint matches to his Super Matches in 6 BR. It was almost unfair how accurate those were.
Always meant to stop by when in Brookings, Oregon.

http://pac-nor.com/

Not that there is a huge demand, but they made .330” barrels for .318 W.R. That’s just one examples of their wide selection. I hope they rebuild.

I had two left handed Charles Daly mini Mauser actions there being barreled. Both were lost in the fire. They were almost done. In fact one was done and ready to ship. I told them to hold off until the the second one was done to save on shipping. It was almost ready to go.

They said they'll be issuing a refund. I also had a Manson reamer there I had purchased for one of the builds since they didn't have it in stock.

If anyone has any left handed Charles Daly min Mauser actions they wish to part with I'm looking for at least two of them.

The problem with rebuildng is that replacements for the WW-II era Pratt and Whitney barrel cutting machines are simply unavailable. An engineer friend of mine speculated that it is possible that their existing machines might be salvageable, depending on how intense the fire was and to what extent they may have been damaged. If Pac-Nor is to rebuild I suspect that it will depend on whether their P&W machines can be salvaged and refurbished.

Excuse my ignorance but are the P&W machines not for cut rifling ?

Drilling and reaming. Regards, Bill

I have their barrel on .585 Hubel Express rifle.

I hate to see that :-(

Jiri

I've used a number of their barrels and all were excellent shooters. I've had shilens shoot better but not as consistently good and I've never been able to beat the couple of Krieger's I used but PacNor for price and consistency as well as service were unbeatable. Had one bad barrel and sent it back. They inspected and replaced it no problem. Good people.

As others have mentioned they made a wider variety of the big bore and odd ball than anyone else. I think if they don't rebuild it will be incredibly hard to get some of those barrels in the future.

Pratt and Whitney made cut rifling machines, and pac nor barrels were button rifled.
P&W also made drilling and reaming machines and it is possible that they used them, left over from WW2; they basically don't wear out.
Except for the over 50 caliber bores, which can't be big sellers, I think the market is covered.

Like these. (At Hart)

Bad news. I like my .375 Pac-Nor barrel. They are well like in BC and Alberta.

As with any business, no-one is perfect.
My late friend Al Straitiff of Competitor Corp.
Had a Pac-nor barrel split down the length in front of the chamber, huge cut on the palm of Al's hand. Barrel was not heat treated. Dichter didn't even offer to pay for the doctors bill, lucky Al was not the lawsuit type.
Mark Pinkston of Kailua Custom Gun moved nearby Pac-nor from Hawaii. Called and talked to them that he was setting up shop right next door. Dichter replied " great, just what we need, another gunsmith around"
Those instances were enough to turn me away from his barrels. Plenty of good barrel makers in the country that treat my friends better then that.

Note that Douglas Heat Treats each barrel. TWICE, and Mag Particle inspects each barrel. I'll go with the built in quality.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Note that Douglas Heat Treats each barrel. TWICE, and Mag Particle inspects each barrel. I'll go with the built in quality.

Stan Taylor just called. He said to tell you hello.