Best barrel for your $$$

[B23]

LRH3006, that's very unfortunate with regard to your Benchmark experience.

Also, I can't help but notice you just created your account with LRH and your only post is/was to say something negative about Benchmark barrels.

 

[B23]

bigngreen, of the Benchmark barrels you've used have they all been conventional 6 groove or have you tried any of their 5c or 3 groove variants? Have they been in small, med or big bore chamberings??

Sorry for all the questions but I'm very interested in ordering some of their barrels and the more info I have the better. I'm thinking of getting a 1-8tw 3c in .224 and 1-8tw 5c in .243

 

[LRH3006]

B23,
I don't think I said anything negative, I said I didn't have anything good to say about them. And the barrel wouldn't shoot very well and they wouldn't do anything about it. I'm just telling the facts.

Yes, I just joined and saw this thread about Benchmark and wanted to give my experience with the barrel. I didn't know that this was a "positive only" forum. Others may have had a good experience with them, but not all. If I was inquiring about them, I would want to know both sides, the good AND the bad so that I could make an informed decision.

 

[Thomas B.]

hey guys was wanting some imput on what the best barrel would be for a 7mm rem mag or what the best barrel for the money would be??? thanks!

There are lots of good barrel manufaturers to choose from nowadays. My experience has been 4 shilens, 1 kreiger, and 1 HS Precsion 10x. They have all been great barrels, but the best one so far is the HS Precision. Their barrels are cut rifled as are kreigers. Bartlien has a great reputation but I have not used any of their barrels as yet.

 

[shortgrass]

I have nothing good to say about Benchmark. I had one of their barrels and ended up replacing it because it wouldn't shoot very well. They wouldn't do anything about it.

Did you send them the barrel so they could examine it? I'd be more inclined to look at a poor chambering job, a bad bedding job, or any number of other things that can make a rifle "not shoot" before I'd make a statement like that. I had a customer bring me a new 700ADL chambered in .270 Win. that seems to think it should shoot bench rest type groups just because he'd put a Leupold tactical scope on it ( a 6.5 x 25, I think).

 

[Derek M.]

B23,
I don't think I said anything negative, I said I didn't have anything good to say about them. And the barrel wouldn't shoot very well and they wouldn't do anything about it. I'm just telling the facts.

Yes, I just joined and saw this thread about Benchmark and wanted to give my experience with the barrel. I didn't know that this was a "positive only" forum. Others may have had a good experience with them, but not all. If I was inquiring about them, I would want to know both sides, the good AND the bad so that I could make an informed decision.

Don't worry about it and welcome to the forums. In my opinion, the members to watch out for are the ones who join and immediately start posting a lot of stuff for sale. RED FLAG. Laying down your experience like you did is no big deal as far as I'm concerned. Looks like it just happened to be the topic that prompted you to share your input. That said, you ain't Dan Lilja are ya?

 

[Derek M.]

To the OP: your TITLE says "Best bbl for YOUR money?" Your post says, "best bbl for THE money."

These are 2 separate issues. There are many best barrels and some of that characteristic lies on the shoulders of the fella that builds your rifle. You could truly own the best barrel any maker produced coming from the best batch of steel they had every seen only to have the builder do a less than top quality job cutting, crowning, chambering, threading, and installing it, along with all of the rest of the parts.

However, you do pose a simple question and it is easy to answer. The best button rifled barrels available say "HART" on them. The best cut-rifled barrels say "Obermeyer" on them. I've got quite the variety of tubes on guns and some spares in the safe. I will next try a Schneider barrel with the polygonal rifling as I think it will be a breeze to clean and it is another barrel that many popular and excellent builders/shooters use, such as McMillan, and Tubbs.

 

[Mike 338]

I think when someone asks what's good for the money, you gotta look at the bottom half of the price range. Benchmark's current group buy @ $290 for a stainless barrel up to 27" seems like a major contender. I ordered one in .338 and really have no clue what to expect. What's odd about Benchmark is that they apparently can do just about any profile with just about any land/groove count with various land profiles but their site doesn't really mention much about what they offer. It's like going to a restaurant and you open a menu and it says "all kinds of great food". You don't even know what to ask.

Anyway, Benchmark seems like the best barrel for the money right now.

 

[Derek M.]

I think when someone asks what's good for the money, you gotta look at the bottom half of the price range.

I'd say that depends on what the buyer is willing to spend knowing most quality barrels are over $300

I ordered one in .338 and really have no clue what to expect.

I agree with this as Benchmark hasn't been in business long enough, to the best of my knowledge, to have established a great reputation. This is why I don't recommend them yet.

What's odd about Benchmark is that they apparently can do just about any profile with just about any land/groove count with various land profiles but their site doesn't really mention much about what they offer. It's like going to a restaurant and you open a menu and it says "all kinds of great food". You don't even know what to ask.

and that, to me is concerning. I think I'd rather have a barrel where the maker focuses on a select number and master's those before offering a wide open selection, i.e., not a jack of all trades, master of none. Hey, they could be exceptional barrels, I don't know. I've heard of them and all I know is I continue to read and hear mixed reviews. I prefer a solid, well established reputation for $20-40 more.

Anyway, Benchmark seems like the best barrel for the money right now.

could be true! I'd say it's PacNor though for Contoured & Polished Super-Match Grade Stainless Steel Blank at $310. I'm guessing they may honor a group buy discount too.

 

[bigngreen]

bigngreen, of the Benchmark barrels you've used have they all been conventional 6 groove or have you tried any of their 5c or 3 groove variants? Have they been in small, med or big bore chamberings??

Sorry for all the questions but I'm very interested in ordering some of their barrels and the more info I have the better. I'm thinking of getting a 1-8tw 3c in .224 and 1-8tw 5c in .243

All have been 6.5 5R SS barrels, they cut well and indicate in very easily with good low run out. They are lapped well and the out side is finished very nice, it's one thing I really did not like about the Broughton was the finish work was way to much for the price of the barrel.
I'm just real happy with them, especially for the money!

 

[bigngreen]

I'd say that depends on what the buyer is willing to spend knowing most quality barrels are over $300

I agree with this as Benchmark hasn't been in business long enough, to the best of my knowledge, to have established a great reputation. This is why I don't recommend them yet.

and that, to me is concerning. I think I'd rather have a barrel where the maker focuses on a select number and master's those before offering a wide open selection, i.e., not a jack of all trades, master of none. Hey, they could be exceptional barrels, I don't know. I've heard of them and all I know is I continue to read and hear mixed reviews. I prefer a solid, well established reputation for $20-40 more.

could be true! I'd say it's PacNor though for Contoured & Polished Super-Match Grade Stainless Steel Blank at $310. I'm guessing they may honor a group buy discount too.

It would be nice to maybe get a history of Benchmark tutorial, it may be surprising!

We've been running some Benchmark and Pac-nor barrels and between those two the Benchmark is easily the better value!

 

[deadlift]

We (Benchmark Barrels) started in 2002 after Ron bought out a barrel company in Wyoming and moved it up to Washington. The barrels that made a huge impact fast were the 22RF's for the likes of Bill meyers, Ken Camper (3X world records set in one day) Gene Davis, Jim Peightol, Mark Penrod, Kent Owens and many others shooting rimfire comp's. At the same time Ron was transitioning to pull button centerfire rifle barrels. Now, moving to current time, Benchmark Barrels blanks, with the help of awesome shooters and gunsmiths have set over 60 world records in rimfire and centerfire as well as a Olympic gold/Olympic record by Jamie Grey of the Olympic shooting team. Currently we have smiths/companies like Hill Country Rifles, Rifle's Inc, Thunder Valley, 10X, Best of the West, GunWerks, Oregunsmithing and Greybull precision to name a few. We also have customers in Australia, Italy and the UK. Geoff Grenfell of Australia has won the F class Queens Cup for the last 3 years straight with our barrels. We want to make the best barrel for the price, period. That being said we realize everyone has their own favorite and we don't dis-credit ANY of the other barrel manufacturers. So if we don't fit your style, thats OK, theirs plenty of work out there!
Hope this helps clear the mud.
Chris
Benchmark

 

[B23]

Chris, I know you guys do centerfire chambering and since you obviously make excellent rimfire barrels, do you guys by chance do drop in rimfire barrels for any of the more popular rimfire rifles like Savage 93's or M77's etc. etc. ??? I'm looking for a drop in for my Savage 93 17hmr.

 

[deadlift]

We haven't started the drop in rimfire barrels yet, we just don't have the lathe time open yet.