Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Economy not slowing down custom jobs?

My favorite smith has a 2 year backlog. My plan B smith has a 9 month wait.

Several barrel makers are 6 months out. I called a barrel maker a few days ago, and they did not pick up. They advised to leave a message. I left them a clear, professional message stating I would like to place an order for a barrel. I did not receive a return call. This tells me they are not hungry for orders.

Since I am not going to beg someone to take my money, I called another barrel maker. They were happy to take my order, and even they are at least 4 months out.

Glad to see the economy is not affecting everyone...it is puzzling why barrel makers are so far behind though. They had a shorter lead time when the economy was booming.

Try Pac-Nor. Last time I checked they were 14 weeks out.

What are you looking for. I have a new Pac-Nor barrel in 6.5x284 for sale. No wait, you can have it in a few days.

Your barrel is tempting, but I need a certain contour to match my stock, and I am going 6.5-06.

did you check with bugholes?

http://bugholes.com/brux-barrels.php?cal=All

he keeps a pretty handy stock of 3's and 4's on hand and can get other Brux's pretty quick worth a call

i pretty much only build stuff now that i know he, Brunos, or 3rd generation keep in short supply

Shootone, thanks for the link, I have never heard of them. Keep them in mind in the future.

I called Bugholes the other day, you can check their web site and see what they have in stock as well.

Side note, I ordered my 9 twist Brux the first week of Oct and got it the 1st week of Dec.

Dober

I'll 2nd what Shootone said - I've bought 2 7MM #3 Brux barrels from Greg in the last year, he keeps a pretty good stock of both the Brux and Rock at times. Greg is good to go for barrels & actions.

Now if I could only get my McMillan I'd have all my parts ready to go:)

The barrel makers are busy with military contracts so that does not surprise me. The highend gunmakers are slower than they were and would like to be. The guys who assemble parts into M700's are busy cause they are not very expensive. It is mostly machine work, then glue, and paint. I don't consider this to be custom gunbuilding althought they make something that shoots nice little groups.

Why not have the gunsmith contour the barrel to match your stock? This may be easier than waiting for the barrelmaker to produce the contour you want. It also opens up the supply options for you. You can get one contour up and have it turned down or order a Shilen contour and have it turned into a Douglas etc. I frequently order full blanks just to have blanks on hand that I can contour as required. GD

Bugholes is a good guy - I got my last barrel (Brux) from him.


You can also check these guys out:

Bruno Shooters Supply has a good supply of Krieger, Hart & Shilen barrels in-stock.


Third Generation Shooting Supply usually has a decent supply of Krieger barrels in-stock too!!

What is the downside of having a smith turn down a barrel? Does it impart stress, void a warranty, etc?

Thanks.

My 358 norma mag project is taking forever. I'm hoping I'll have it by summer and ready for fall hunting.

What maker is 4 months out?

Probably Hart. I talked to them a few weeks ago about barrels. When I talked to Krieger they were 5 months and Bartlein was about 6 months. I ended up with the Krieger to make my 6.5-06.

Pac-Nor is quoting 14 weeks. I'm thinking on having them re-contour my 6.5x284 barrel. They will only re-contour barrels they have made.

I have a 30cal SS Wilson blank if anyone is interested. It's Mauser threaded.

Krieger was......now 20......

Not to be a PITA, but if you have a rifle you like and shoot a lot, it makes sense to order a barrel for it when you DON'T need it,so its there when you do....this shortens up the wait considerably,and eliminates gastro-intestinal problems and lots of emails and phone dialing when you need the tube.

We keep spare brass,bullets , etc on hand for our pets....only makes sense to have a spare tube hangin' around so you got it when you need it..

My last rebarrel job took "no time" for barrel delivery, because the barrel was in my basement when the time came.

Hey, No-one was asking for a common sense approach here, OK?

Ooopps.....sorry!

Strike that!

I sent a project to P-N last month. They quoted 18 weeks. I'm 3 weeks into waiting. I'll let you know the actual. It's a barrel, chambering and fitting job - 264 Win on a 700 BDL.