Douglas barrel

Glad to hear someone speak good of them that has used them. My 25x284 Ultra lite arms shoot very well. Melvin Forbes only uses them and when i first purchases this gun used i was asking him about them and the guy will get his feelings hurt if you speak bad about them. Price a gun from this man everything custom his tag is around 4-5k he must use douglass for a reason.


+2 My first custom barell was a Douglas air-guage back in 1974. That thing was still shooting lights out 15 years later. Coyote hunting only. Just ordered another Douglas for my new/old .243
 
I had Douglas barrel and chamber a LH Sako action in .375H&H for me this time last year. Bolted into an HS Precision stock with zero bedding, it shoots 0.8 MOA at 548 yards with the second bullet/powder combination I tried. I am not a benchrester, but, I figured that was good enough for a hunting rifle.

The barrel cleans easy. The price was reasonable. Turnaround time was in the 6 to 8 week range. Considering sending a Rem 700 to Douglas to rebarrel in .300WM for this year's project.

Just my $0.02... YMMV...
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what can anyone tell me about Douglas barrels? any good, junk?
Thanks,
Dano
They are not junk, I have one SS barrel in 7stw that shoots better than I can shoot and another on the way in 6.5-06. My gunsmith uses them exclusively unless you want something else. He says they are the best for the money in his opinion for all around use.
FE
 
That 30br will make a great hunting rifle for sure ,i have a Douglas barrelled -rem. 700 bdl 22-250 built by Micky Coleman .
Micky recommended the douglas XX and it shoots great and cleans up easily .
Mine shoots anything i feed it .

Ol Mike,
Mickey Coleman used to be in partnership with my gunsmith in Selma, AL. - Jimmy McCullough. They build excellent rifles and I believe Mickey was making his own actions at one time I think.lightbulb
FE
 
I have nothing against Douglas barrels but if I'm going to buy a barrel I'd like to know what twist I'm going to get.

If you look at Douglas site under Chambering at the bottom of the page you see they kind of hide this.

NOTE: Our twists are at the whole inch (i.e. 9,10,11, etc.) and tolerance is plus or minus 1/2".
 
I have nothing against Douglas barrels but if I'm going to buy a barrel I'd like to know what twist I'm going to get.

If you look at Douglas site under Chambering at the bottom of the page you see they kind of hide this.

NOTE: Our twists are at the whole inch (i.e. 9,10,11, etc.) and tolerance is plus or minus 1/2".

Not sure how they are "hiding" anything if they publish it right on their web site. Every manufacturing process that I am aware of has "tolerances". I would assume that this has to do with the fact that they have to grind a new set of rifling buttons for each new batch of steel that comes in. I am not a barrel maker, but I would expect anyone making button rifled barrels would encounter some minor variations changing from one set of buttons and barrel steel to the next. They are just being up front about it.

BTW, I am getting ready to rebarrel a .30-06. If you have a 10" (+/- 0.5") twist Douglas barrel blank in .308 caliber that you are concerned about, I would be happy to take it off your hands !
 
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Some years ago, I bought a Douglas barrel (for competition) and had it chambered for my Savage in 6.5-284 by SSS. It shot really well for 1200 rounds (average for that caliber). I replaced it with a pre-chambered PacNor and that one shot just terrible. Shot 225 rounds and took it off. PacNor looked at it and said it was fine. BS

I have had several Douglas hunting barrels, with no complaint. I did not know they have changed ownership and are now producing good long range barrels. I may give them "a shot".
 
Not sure how they are "hiding" anything if they publish it right on their web site. Every manufacturing process that I am aware of has "tolerances". I would assume that this has to do with the fact that they have to grind a new set of rifling buttons for each new batch of steel that comes in. I am not a barrel maker, but I would expect anyone making button rifled barrels would encounter some minor variations changing from one set of buttons and barrel steel to the next. They are just being up front about it.

BTW, I am getting ready to rebarrel a .30-06. If you have a 10" (+/- 0.5") twist Douglas barrel blank in .308 caliber that you are concerned about, I would be happy to take it off your hands !


I'm not going to get into a contest with you but if someone was going to buy just a barrel from Douglas they sure won't be look at their chambering page where their "tolerance" on barrel twist is located.

You sure don't see it where they post about Barrel Dimension/Description Of Our Barrels.

My wife's Forbes model 24 came with a Douglas barrel and rifle was purchased before Mel sold out to Colt and I'm not going to give the date of purchase since first two serial# are the year rifle was made.. I talked to Mel about rebarreling the rifle and he has good price for his customers that was 2005 but I decide to put a Kreiger on it and it cost me lot more that want Mel want. I know that Mickey Coleman has build BR rifles in 6ppc using Douglas barrels and I think Mickey still post on 24hr site and I see them listed results from 1000yd LR matches.

We all have choices how we spend our money.
 
Catching up on this thread and will make a few comments. If I need a barrel installed I will go to Douglas; they have an excellent product, are close, and I can't find a reason not to. I visited their shop and had the tour. Great group of people. The barrel install they did is great and I expect my next one to be better.

Now if I ask a gunsmith to build a rifle, I'll have the barrel installed he prefers and follow his recommendations on the build. If we don't have much to agree on then I'll find another gunsmith. Would you go to Holland, etc. and tell them what works best. I don't think so.
 
I'm not going to get into a contest with you but if someone was going to buy just a barrel from Douglas they sure won't be look at their chambering page where their "tolerance" on barrel twist is located.

You sure don't see it where they post about Barrel Dimension/Description Of Our Barrels.

My wife's Forbes model 24 came with a Douglas barrel and rifle was purchased before Mel sold out to Colt and I'm not going to give the date of purchase since first two serial# are the year rifle was made.. I talked to Mel about rebarreling the rifle and he has good price for his customers that was 2005 but I decide to put a Kreiger on it and it cost me lot more that want Mel want. I know that Mickey Coleman has build BR rifles in 6ppc using Douglas barrels and I think Mickey still post on 24hr site and I see them listed results from 1000yd LR matches.

We all have choices how we spend our money.

last I heard Douglas was owned by a true long range competetion shooter (there's a thread about this on Benchrest Central). There was also an artical in Precision Shooting a few years back about the new owners and what they were doing. Plus more than one big name gunsmith has flatly said the the new Douglas company sells the straitest barrels out there right now.. I own one, and have owned two or three over the years. Each one shot better than the operator, and my current barrel in 6mm will punch mid twos on a regular basis with over 800 rounds thru it. Now it's not a Ron Pence barrel if that matters much, but for 97% of the folks out there it's more barrel than they'll ever need.
gary
 
I'm not going to get into a contest with you .... We all have choices how we spend our money.

Sir,

I agree with you on both points. I have no interest in getting into a contest. Just stating my understanding. And Yes, we all have choices. It is the basic "Chevy, Ford, Dodge" question of personal preferences. My preference is Douglas.

Good Shooting...
 
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