what barrel ?????????

[jeff 300]

i'm going to start to put together a new rifle in 338rum on a savage target action and need to see what every one thinks for as a barrel goes. Its going to be 28"-30" long in a #6 Contour
What brand of barrel would u buy ???????? Pac-nor, Shilen, douglas, McGowen or what it hard to make up my mind.

 

[Dean2506]

I use a broughton 5C on my 7mm stw and absolutely love it. It is one of the least fowling and easiest cleaning barrels I have ever dealt with.

 

[Derek M.]

i'm going to start to put together a new rifle in 338rum on a savage target action and need to see what every one thinks for as a barrel goes. Its going to be 28"-30" long in a #6 Contour
What brand of barrel would u buy ???????? Pac-nor, Shilen, douglas, McGowen or what it hard to make up my mind.

Cut rifled bbls in this order:

Obermeyer (if you can get one)
Krieger or Bartlein (equals)
Rock or Brux

Button rifled bbls in this order:

Hart
Lilja
Broughton
Shilen

Krieger would be my #1 choice cut rifled. Hart would be my #1 button rifled. Make me pick b/w those 2 and it boils down to who can get me the bbl fastest.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Derek is spot on in my opinion.

1. Obermeyer
2. Kreiger
3. Rock or Brux

Although I have 4 Shilens that do shoot really well.


Check this out: www.bugholes.com

They STOCK Obermeyer, Brux & Rock Creek. I just received my 31" 8.4 twist 6.5mm in about a week!
If I recall correctly Mike @ CS Tactical stocks Bartlein.

 

[Derek M.]

I have 3 Shilens, and one is not on a rifle yet.

the 7mag and 300 RUM shoot as well as any other rifle. I will admit that Shilen is not my first button recommendation yet because of the crap the company went through for a time after Ed and while Doug was in charge. It is unknown to me what the problems were but many former loyal Shilen smiths stopped using the bbls due to concentricity issues. Lucky for me I either dodged that time frame or got lucky with the select match grade tubes.

I received a 7mm Shilen about 2 years ago from a dealer who stated to me that I won't find a finer barrel now that the company has been managed by some new fellow. I am eager to see what the barrel will do when the time comes to build.

 

[sledder1]

I absolutely agree, however I would include Chanlynn in the cut rifle barrel group. His barrels are top notch. I have a Chanlynn on my 7 RUM and a Brux on my newly rebarreled 7 rem mag. I would have put a Chanlynn on my 7 rem but the brux was faster to get.

 

[Michael Eichele]

Unless Derek is right about shilen improving, I would never concider a shilen. Douglas is OK but out for me as well.

I prefer Lilja and Hart in that order.

I have had a couple of kreigers and they shot like crap. It is worth mentioning that they were attached to weatherbies so who knows if it was the barrels or the overall gun. Either way, you couldn't give me either.

Have had one Rock Creek and it cooked FAST. To be fair, I did hot rod it with high pressure loads in a very overbore magnum. While it lasted, I can say it did not seem to foul whatsoever and cleaned up super easy.

I will say I have seriously abused many barrels and Lilja and Hart have held up the best for me. Between the Liljas, Harts and the RC barrels I have had, they all had 1/4 MOA potential. They all cleaned up easy but the RC cleaned the easiest.

Cant vouch for any other barrels.

 

[tayhot]

I just finished a custom last week in 338 RUM. Went with a Benchmark barrel in sendero contor. 1x9.5 " twist and 28" long. I am more than please with the quality produced by Ron's shop. My vote is for Benchmark!

 

[Broz]

Unless Derek is right about shilen improving, I would never concider a shilen. Douglas is OK but out for me as well.

I prefer Lilja and Hart in that order.

I have had a couple of kreigers and they shot like crap. It is worth mentioning that they were attached to weatherbies so who knows if it was the barrels or the overall gun. Either way, you couldn't give me either.

I have to agree with Michael, and toss in the thought of a Broughton 5C. In this order for the .338 Hart , Lilja, Broughton and be advised on the difference in rifling options. I like the 5 or 6 lands.

I am done with Kreiger too , but that is another story. And Michael, it is not the action or Chambering in my opinion.

Jeff

 

[B23]

My dad and I have Lilja barrels on everything and they have been top notch.

My latest project was a, as Shawn Carlock calls it a "mouse gun", in 223AI. Shawn built it so I went with his recommendation and used a Hart. I couldn't be happier with it!!! Shawn shot it at his shop with some factory store bought Hornady Superformance 53Vmax ammo that were just fireforming rounds and he shot a .116 with it. I've never used Hart barrels before and I still love my Lilja barreled stuff but I think I may use a few more Hart's in the future.

My dad has a 6-06AI in the the works with Kevin Cram W/MCR that will be wearing a new Broughton 5C. Have only heard good things about Broughton but only time will tell.

As of right now, I'd go with another Hart as my first choice but mostly because I only have one Hart and a bunch of Lilja's. Based on my experience, you can't go wrong with either Hart or Lilja.

 

[Brambles]

I just finished a custom last week in 338 RUM. Went with a Benchmark barrel in sendero contor. 1x9.5 " twist and 28" long. I am more than please with the quality produced by Ron's shop. My vote is for Benchmark!

curious to hear a range report from your rifle, I too have chosen a 9.5 twist benchmark barrel, mine has 5R rifling and is fluted, 28" is also my chosen length.

 

[Derek M.]

Unless Derek is right about shilen improving, I would never concider a shilen.

I'll let you know sometime this summer. Just ordered 2 actions and they are on their way to my builder. I'm mailing him 2 barrels. A 7mm Shilen to build a 280 and a .277 Krieger for yet another of my favorites, the 270 Win.

My builder said that when he ordered a bunch of Shilens in 2003 they were among the best bbls he's used and the rifles were winning a lot of competitions. I got mine around the same time.

Both are what Tony Boyer refers to as "hummers." They shoot very very well.

The 270 and 280 will wear identical actions and stocks and will be built by the same guy.

 

[Derek M.]

Lilja uses Carpenter steel.

My former builder who retired (who also built barrels) recommended Lilja after he sold his company until he had a couple of problems with a few barrels. Guess it didn't work out well and then he started using Hart. To this day, that is who he recommends.

Don't really think you'll be unhappy with either, but for now, my money will go to Hart on a button bbl and Krieger or Bartlein for cut. Unless I can get an Obermeyer!

 

[tayhot]

curious to hear a range report from your rifle, I too have chosen a 9.5 twist benchmark barrel, mine has 5R rifling and is fluted, 28" is also my chosen length.

I did an initial post with a few bullets and powder. My barrel specs are pretty much the same as yours. I was hoping mybullet powder combo would like retumbo, but it does not. It shoots better with 93 gr h1000. Using ttsx 265gr

It seemed like it was fouling really bad after the first round of cleaning and it had me concerned, but once it broke in, it's easy to clean. I've been very impressed. I'll post a pic of the rig here in a bit on another thread