Barrel choices, don't want to guess wrong! Please share your take.

[LBEdgin]

Putting together a rifle and I'm down to choice on the barrel. I haven't brought that many barrels for a build, most were already builded past that point. The few I did buy for were Wilson's inwhich Brad from Urbanrifleman fixed me up with and they are shooters for sure but were very heavy barrels. The last regular barrel I used was a Douglas in 6.5 06 which was a shooter as well, and I'm leaning toward again, as well as a Brux. The gun is a Howa 1500 mini action in 6mm arc, the factory gun I have has not give me anything better than a inch no matter what I loaded for it. So I was wondering if it was me and brought a couple of different factory loads and got no better than 1 1/2". I have decided to replace the barrel with a after market and I'm down to deciding which barrel maker to go with. Please share your take, and your pros and cons with Donglas and Bruxs if you have owned them.
Thanks

 

[FEENIX]

Putting together a rifle and I'm down to choice on the barrel. I haven't brought that many barrels for a build, most were already builded past that point. The few I did buy for were Wilson's inwhich Brad from Urbanrifleman fixed me up with and they are shooters for sure but were very heavy barrels. The last regular barrel I used was a Douglas in 6.5 06 which was a shooter as well, and I'm leaning toward again, as well as a Brux. The gun is a Howa 1500 mini action in 6mm arc, the factory gun I have has not give me anything better than a inch no matter what I loaded for it. So I was wondering if it was me and brought a couple of different factory loads and got no better than 1 1/2". I have decided to replace the barrel with a after market and I'm down to deciding which barrel maker to go with. Please share your take, and your pros and cons with Donglas and Bruxs if you have owned them.
Thanks

Let your experience speak for itself; stick with Douglas. I do not think you can go wrong with either of your choices. You can also do a specific search for these barrels. Don't complicate it unnecessarily. Many people are pleased with them. We all have different preferences. Good luck!

 

[lancetkenyon]

Out of the options given, Brux.

 

[Hondo64d]

Putting together a rifle and I'm down to choice on the barrel. I haven't brought that many barrels for a build, most were already builded past that point. The few I did buy for were Wilson's inwhich Brad from Urbanrifleman fixed me up with and they are shooters for sure but were very heavy barrels. The last regular barrel I used was a Douglas in 6.5 06 which was a shooter as well, and I'm leaning toward again, as well as a Brux. The gun is a Howa 1500 mini action in 6mm arc, the factory gun I have has not give me anything better than a inch no matter what I loaded for it. So I was wondering if it was me and brought a couple of different factory loads and got no better than 1 1/2". I have decided to replace the barrel with a after market and I'm down to deciding which barrel maker to go with. Please share your take, and your pros and cons with Donglas and Bruxs if you have owned them.
Thanks

I've used Bartlein, Broughton, Brux, Criterion, Douglas, Hart, and Krieger. None performed poorly, but Bartlein has given me the most consistently good results. Overall, the cut rifled barrels have been the least finicky for me.

John

 

[sable tireur]

Bartlein has given me the most consistently good results

I have used Bartlein barrels in the hundreds for many years without hesitation. As stated, the quality and performance has been the most consistent of all the barrel makers. Yes, I know there are the devoted owners of all of the rest of barrel makers including but not limited to Krieger, Brux and all the rest of the companies. I keep quite a number of barrels in stock for building and most of those will always be Bartlein.

In reality though, we are truly blessed with the largest number of barrel makers producing high quality barrels today. For the regular guy trying to assemble a decent shooting rifle, the choices are great. Without getting crazy, most any of the top-of-the-line manufacturers will provide you with the quality you require for your rifle. The differences come with the ideas you want to use, mostly in the area of pre-fits since you probably don't own the equipment to create your own barrels for your action.

Make a pro/con list to keep your options straight and go from there.

Enjoy!

 

[Mike D Texas]

Are you sure you want to invest more into a barrel than the rifle is likely worth? What are you trying to accomplish that a 1" group won't do in a 6ARC?

 

[TRG65]

I've used Bartlien, Douglas, Hawk Hill, PVA's Osprey, Rock Creek, Broughton, Proof, WOA, Lilja, and Bergara (got a blank off a prize table at ASC and had one of their rifles). I definitely prefer cut rifled. Broughton seemed to last a little longer. Bartlien is the easy button and I've generally been able to find what I wanted somewhere.

 

[LuvDog]

You mention that even with "custom" barrels and different loads you still never got better than 1" groups. I'm assuming 1" at 100 yards? so about 1 MOA.

If you're chasing better than that, and you've already tried custom loads and custom barrels on that action, then I'd say you need to consider the action.

Either spend money to get it trued/blueprinted or spend money on a custom action. I would never spend money now on trueing a factory action. Back in the day before all the customs, then it made sense, but not now.

As for barrels... anything that starts with B - Bartlein, Brux, Blake, Benchmark, along with Krieger and you can't go wrong.

 

[Buttermilk]

My barrel preferences are Bartlein, Krieger, and Brux. I have three Bartlein barrels, and they are shooters, but so are my Krieger and Brux barrels as well. Given the choice, I typically pick Bartlein.

 

[JAYgs8163]

Brux would be my choice of the 2 you listed. I just went down this road and did a bunch of research for 25 CM build and decided on a Brux.

 

[BrentM]

It's an interesting topic for me...... I have only seen 1 barrel be "bad" and it was a mcgowen. Outside of that I have used all sorts of cheap crap and had zero issue with my self induced happy with place of .5 or better. If I can get .5 and low sd with repeatable performance I am calling it good. I think for most people brand name that is associated with or hyped with success removes most of our preconceived doubt. I know it works that way for me. I have a pile of Proof barrels but my smith at the time hated them. He had 1 barrel that was bad and swore them off as junk. They could be but I don't know any better.

OK, my point is, I think you might want to stick with the brand you have had good luck with or jump straight to Bart. For me that is the easy button and your expectations should be very high.

 

[mecanic04]

I like Krieger. In comparison to many, I'm relatively new to custom rifles, but I've had two Krieger's and both shoot beautifully. There customer service is great.

 

[Joe Entrekin]

Your accuracy problems could be in the stock and bedding. Have you considered that? The Howas usually can be made to shoot well under an inch.

 

[Flintlock shooter]

Precision and Custom Rifle Barrels | ACE Barrels Co

Ace Barrels Co produces industry leading precision single point cut rifle barrels; hand lapped for superior surface finish.

www.acebarrels.com