Barrel harmonics question

[J E Custom]

When you decide a barrel isnt straight enough, the mfg takes it back?

Out of the dozen or so barrel makers, i talked to last time we discussed this, no one told me they guaranteed any sort of straightness, and most wouldnt even talk to me about the average straightness they expect.

Krieger and brux were the only two that discussed it with me over the phone. They both said they dont guarantee any sort of straightness but they try to be inside a couple of thou.

They take the barrel back every time with no argument. Or I don't buy any more from them. If I get a bad barrel and catch a lot of flack, I get a refund and move on to another barrel maker that knows how to make or at least ship a good barrel to me. If they don't want to talk to me about quality, They don't need my business.

If you demand a barrel that meets there advertised specifications and you pay for it YOU SHOULD GET A BARREL THAT IS IN SPEC !!!!. Most of the premium barrel makers. Know how to make a quality barrel. Some chose to build them to one spec, Others chose to build them and then grade them to a Specification (The easiest way) but you have to know what you want and demand that you get what you pay for. There are generally three or fore grades to chose from depending on your needs. I never ask for anything less than there best because the difference in cost is just not worth
the difference in quality.

I have good relations with the barrel makers that I deal with because I talk to them and let them know that I will automatically check every barrel I receive and test to prove to myself AND THEM, that it is good, or not expectable.

Most of the premium barrel makers were/are bench rest shooter and got into barrel making because they could not consistently get top quality barrels. I can guarantee that they don't just take a barrel of the shelf and use it with out running every test known to man on it first before they start chambering. and even then only one out of three barrels are found to have the accuracy they want/need to be competitive .

The barrel is the heart of any accurate rifle and if it is not the best you can have, the results will be less than the best. Many shooters cannot reach the rifles potential, but that is not up to me to decide because they should get the best you can build. When I got into smithing, I had a mentor that was the most anal man I ever met and he believed in the "No Stone Unturned" philosophy and as a bench rest shooter it served him well.

A lot of smiths will say this or that is not necessary, I find that everything that you have control over is important for the best results. I don't have the time and money or the need to build my own barrels, but I do have the time to test them and get what I EXPECT.

Just my opinion

J E CUSTOM

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Krieger and brux always accomodate my questions and those are also the barrels i currently run on my rifles. However both manufactures told me they have no straightness gurantee. I choose to shoot them because they are nice to deal with, have very accurate twist rates, and have nice inventories.




Just for anyone who is still watching, i laid this out in Mastercam to see exactly what kind of numbers i could come up with to give an idea of what it may look like.

I took Jerrys maximum acceptable straightness .005" (+\-.0025), and laid a large hoop through that allowance across a perfect 31" CL, a 50,000" radius.

I then aligned the first 4" of that radius within .0001".

At the other end of the barrel the T.I.R would be .016".

The same exact geometries aligned over 2" would produce a TIR of .018".

So any of us that dial in a bore with grizzly rods, this will provide a rough estimate as to the straightness of the barrel you have chucked up.


In my personal experience, this correalates pretty closely to some of the straightest barrels ive seen. Typically most 26"-30" barrels ive dialed in land between .02-.04" run out at the muzzle. Ive seen one bartlien that only ran out around .010 at the muzzle when i dialed it in, and that barrel ended up shooting really good after being fitted to a factory rem bolted into a factory stock. I personally have a barrel that was in the .035 range and shoots great.


*There are a couple of caveats to this scenario.
-This only applies to a long round arc, which is propably not an exact plot of the way a gun drill walks, but is similar to what i see most often. However a gundrill can also deviate in much different shapes.
-Without the first 2-4" of bore being exactly aligned ( less than .0001"), the TIR at the muzzle can change dramatically.

 

[Greyfox]

I have not had a lot of custom rifles built and certainly don't have the skills and tools to do any tests, but I do believe that each barrel, even produced to the same specs from the same maker can produce different performance. For this reason I tend to rely on feedback from shooters whether at my club or from a broader universe of credible sources ....A philosophy of , "The Wisdom of Crowds". Looking more at the statistical chances of success has worked OK for me.....so far

Precision Rifle Barrels - What The Pros Use - PrecisionRifleBlog.com

Typical performance from my most recent build:

 

[Welderboy11972]

I'm still here Bushman....I'm just standing to the side, letting the grown-ups talk...lol

By no means am I as skilled or have the knowledge of most people on this forum. My questions may come across kinda silly sometimes and sometimes in great qualitys. I feel like all the reading and knowledge I can gather, helps me deside on if a smith has what it takes to do the quality of work I'm looking for.

I've spent the last 2 years ( evenings & weekends) profecting my reloading and shooting skills. After 1600+ rounds through my factory barreled 300rum, the throat is pretty much gone. I want to select a smith that puts his best effort into everything he does.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for passing on there knowledge of this sport. If it wasn't for you I'd still be happy with 1" groups at 100 and shooting factory loads.

PS...If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have got to see the big smile on my son's face after he squeezed the trigger and heard the steel ring, at his first ever 1000yrd shot.....THANKS AGAIN!!!