Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Custom vs. factory barrels- worth the money?

A few years ago, I had a couple of custom rifles built on actions I owned, both fitted with PacNor Super Match grade barrels. One was a .280, the other a .270 WSM.

The .280 was and is a super shooter, from day one, with various bullets and powders, a consistent .5-.75 MOA shooter and an all around favorite.

The .270 WSM, not so much- if kept very clean, would hover around an inch, but quickly open up to 1.5-2 in. When cleaning this barrel, there are two or three 'sticky' spots, and this was supposed to be a super hand-lapped job. Those spots have gotten worse, and now accuracy is further suffering.

By contrast, I own two Weatherby MkV's, one a .257, the other a .300, both factory barrels, both with great accuracy- in fact, the .257 is probably the most accurate big game caliber I own. A Browning X-Bolt and several Rugers, same story- very accurate with factory barrels.

My options with the .270 are to either rebarrel with another custom make, or simply put on another factory barrel (Weatherby Vanguard). Either way, I'm taking my chances, but the difference in cost is around $300 more for another PacNor. The third option is to simply put it in the gun safe and forget it, but I have too much money invested in the McMillan Edge stock, Timney trigger, etc. for me to just give up on it. My inclination at present is to get a factory barrel screwed on it, and take my chances.
My gunsmith says that he has seen hit-or-miss results with PacNor barrels, and is not a big fan of using them. (He didn't put together either of these rifles).

Any thoughts or experiences to share?

Could you feel these when the barrel was new? If so, that seems like something you could have taken up with PacNor at that time.

Nope, barrel was pretty slick when new.
In any event, that ship has sailed- too many years since I bought the barrel.

Bartlein barrel replacement, once and done.

If your talking Krieger, Bartlien,Hart, Rock creek than I think there worth it.........

More times than we like to think, it's not the barrel;it's assembly.I've seen a Krieger behave like the OP's 270 WSM until the rifle was torn apart and put together right.

My friends last pac Nor took two tries but they got it right the second time.

Yes, custom barrels are worth the money...assembled correctly.

This^^

Any barrel maker can have a turd leave the bowl.. I've installed any number of different barrel-makers and have only had two that were turds.

One - Krieger.. Customer just wanted it gone and replaced with a Lilja. Problem solved.

Two - Pac-Nor. They wanted the barrel back for inspection, found something wrong and replaced the barrel and paid me to install it.. Problem solved..

That's pretty darn good customer service.

If you have a hankering for something of larger diameter than .277" on the WSM case, you could have it rebored. 'Twould be a bit cheaper than a rebarrel.

I'm tired of pouring money into this project. I have decided to pull the barrel, send it back to Pac Nor, which will probably only get me more money out of pocket for shipping, sell the Vanguard action, McMillan Edge stock, Timney trigger, and Talley mounts.

Life's too short to continually deal with these kind of problems, even for a rifle nut.

What makes a custom barrel worth it is getting your gun throated how you want it

Laker's right, right thar.

You can also lighten a rifle or make the balance change depending on the contour and length. Match twist rate for intended bullet use.

Smart. If it sucks, dump it.

If this is PacNor fault I would be very surprised if they didn't make it right

Thanks, Redneck.

That's why I keep saying, pick your barrel in consultation with your smith. He knows which companies are behind in production, which may be operating on past reputation, which will stand behind their products with the least hassle. It's his reputation on the line as much if not more than the barrel maker. And, how that barrel is installed is critical to optimal performance.

Pick the smith, then the barrel...

IMO,

DF

Then there is the guy who buys the take off, re-chambered, trued up proper, shoot as well as the custom tube that replaced it. I've seen some take of factory tubes cut and fitted right that can flat out shoot on par with custom.

Never seen a factory tube shoot like a top end custom tube done right.

I have seen factory shoot as well as a custom done sloppily though.

Problem with factory often is how many will you go through before you get the custom quality one.

+1
I have bought zillions of take off barrels and put them on an actions and shot a group to see what would happen.
Maybe 1/3 or 1/2 the time a Rem700 take off will shoot sub moa with new chamber and threads.
Short fat 6mmPPC benchrest take off barrels with low rounds count can always shoot better than me, but the longest bullet they can shoot is a 65 gr Vmax, with their 14" twist.
After those, most take off barrels are a long shot.
But a brand new select match custom barrel that is factory hand lapped and stress relieved will be sub moa every time.
So, is it worth $300 for barrel insurance?
Depends on how valuable your time is.