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Came across an ad for a early Sako that had been re-barreled. Replacement barrel is an Atkinson barrel. Not much on the inter-web about Atkinson barrels other than they are likely a cut rifled barrel, and Atkinson himself was a benchrest shooter.

Can anyone add to the background on these barrels? Good, bad, indifferent.


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I had an Atkinson barrel chambered for 375 H&H. It was a light contour CM 12 twist and excellent shooter.

When I decided to replace it with a 410 SS Krieger barrel I gave it to a friend and he installed it on his Montana 375 H&H action, where it still sits.

Shoots great for him too.

IIRC the company was Atkinson and Marquart (aka A&M). They made good stuff.




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Thanks Bob.

To add some confusion, here's part of the ad that has me scratching my head . . . "The Atkinson has an aliminum sleeve on it (Brl. Stretcher) very light gun with I believe a 25" Brl."

Should mention too, that no pics available, up to this point.


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WiFowler I can't comment on the aluminum sleeve thing. But do know that Atkinson had a good reputation for those barrels. Sleeving actions supposedly stiffed them and made them potentially more accurate(?

I think that Marquart was more the action part of the build equation. I recall a couple of articles by him for Wolfe Publishing about getting bolt actions to feed properly.

Anyway, far as I know Bill Atkinson was a top rifle guy and well regarded. I think the barrels were cut rifled. They were located in Prescott AZ i think.





The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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I have one on a rifle that was built for Ken Howell back in 1982. It has proven to be a very accurate barrel with several different bullet weights. PM some of the Arizona guys (CCCC and Crossfire come to mind).


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Bill Atkinson was a great barrel maker and gunsmith and Bill Ruger's go-to guy in Prescott. He built some great barrels and I have probably the only Ruger M-77 he rebarreled to 375 H&H for Bill Ruger when they were considering building a light weight 375. They eventually decided to work with Hornaday on the 375 Ruger cartridge.


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Originally Posted by BobinNH
WiFowler I can't comment on the aluminum sleeve thing. But do know that Atkinson had a good reputation for those barrels. Sleeving actions supposedly stiffed them and made them potentially more accurate(?

I think that Marquart was more the action part of the build equation. I recall a couple of articles by him for Wolfe Publishing about getting bolt actions to feed properly.

Anyway, far as I know Bill Atkinson was a top rifle guy and well regarded. I think the barrels were cut rifled. They were located in Prescott AZ i think.


i went to grade school right across the street from where atkinson and marquart had their shop. Wells was a little further down the street. Use to hang around their after school. I don't know anyone that would think a atkinson barrel was anything but top quality. Ruger came to prescott for a variety of reasons, but dave wolfe, j&g sales, (the desaye family) and some of these guys were instrumental.
I know that for a fact having been acquainted with all of them.
interesting enough a friend bought some test rifles from the cmp that had 7.62x51 barrels on them, mann accuracy rifles used at crane for testing purposes. We are pretty sure the barrels were made by atkinson. And yes, that was prescott.
there is a place in prescott, called batterman's, it is basically an auction house selling at auction various things, owned by ruger's nephew. From time to time at auction some of rugers collection has been sold off. And i found out something. He had quite an extensive collection of firearms, reverse engineering off of them to come up with his own ideas. As to atkinson, one of my regrets as a grade schooler watching him with that equipment work, was not realizing what i was seeing until much much later.

Last edited by RoninPhx; 09/28/16.

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Ron interesting info. I knew his barrels were held in high regard and anything from A&M was good stuff.

Nice insight. Thanks.




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Originally Posted by BobinNH
Ron interesting info. I knew his barrels were held in high regard and anything from A&M was good stuff.

Nice insight. Thanks.

bob, those guys/people were pretty approachable, prescott then wasn't all that big. I mentioned wells down the street a few houses. He made rifles for the big wigs all over the world. Rachel was his wife.
I had a west german import derringer in 357magnum, that the recoil had busted the plastic stock. Went into wells shop one day and asked rachel if they could fix it. Yep, i think it was 15bucks for this piece of imported french wood highly finished etc.
Many years later i asked rachel at a gun show about it, as she had become really well known as an engraver. If she would sign it. Comment was it would cost more than 15bucks now.


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I had a work request one time on a winchester model of 1917, that had been semi sporterized. But finish was gone, pits, and so on. I gave it to dave wolfe who got somebody to redo the barrel/metal, somebody else to do the blue finish and so on. I think the charge was 50bucks. Quite possible atkinson did the metal work.
They were all good people.


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I do remember Wells but never met him.

I did meet "Frank" Wells....(?) the other custom maker.

Fred Wells made some very beautiful rifles.




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Just read this:

http://www.leagle.com/decision/1975416112Ariz304_1329.xml/ATKINSON%20v.%20MARQUART

I do know a couple people that had the Atkinson barrels. They were very good at the time.

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Oops! LOL!

Lots of partnerships end up the same way..... frown




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Looks like lawyers were the last and ultimate "craftsmen" at A&M... blush

Not too unlike undertakers... wink

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Atkinson barrels were considered to be among the finest of the cut-rifled barrels when I started gunsmithing in the late seventies. My feeling was that they were not quite as consistent as hart or Shilen select match barrels. In other words. out of ten barrels, maybe six would be true BR quality barrels while maybe eight of ten Hart or Shilen barrels would be. That was only my feeling at the time, however, and doesn't really count for much.
Today, I have one A&M barrel on a prone rifle and it shoots very well and never fouls. I'll hate to see it wear out; if it ever does (I don't shoot it too much). GD

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Well, I did a little more digging and found some interesting info with regard to the "barrel stretcher" that was referenced with the Atkinson barrel.

Apparently, the 'stretcher' is in fact an aluminum sleeve. If you will think of a carbon fiber wrapped barrel. The original barrel was turned to a very slender contour and supposedly threaded at the muzzle. The stretcher, an aluminum sleeve with internal dimensions very close to the exterior dimensions of the barrel was slid over the original barrel and a barrel nut (think muzzle protector) was threaded on the muzzle. When drawn tight the barrel nut had the effect of 'straightening' the barrel, decreasing the weight of the barrel, and increasing the heat dissipation of the barrel.

So the story goes.


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Originally Posted by WiFowler
Well, I did a little more digging and found some interesting info with regard to the "barrel stretcher" that was referenced with the Atkinson barrel.

Apparently, the 'stretcher' is in fact an aluminum sleeve. If you will think of a carbon fiber wrapped barrel. The original barrel was turned to a very slender contour and supposedly threaded at the muzzle. The stretcher, an aluminum sleeve with internal dimensions very close to the exterior dimensions of the barrel was slid over the original barrel and a barrel nut (think muzzle protector) was threaded on the muzzle. When drawn tight the barrel nut had the effect of 'straightening' the barrel, decreasing the weight of the barrel, and increasing the heat dissipation of the barrel.

So the story goes.


Some of our BR guys fooled with tension-ed barrels for HV and unlimited rifles where weight wasn't quite the problem. The purpose of putting a tension on the barrel was an experiment to reduce harmonics in the barrels. A lot of work went into them, but I haven't seen any in several years. Some even filled the space with antifreeze.

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I can validate that Bill Atkinsons barrels were used in the M40A1 Marine Corps sniper rifle in the early 80's. They were superb and never an issue.
I heard he was a retired Marine Colonel, but cannot confirm.


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