I don't know Holliger at all, other than by reputation, but I've talked to several of his people there over the years & they have always been excellent to deal with; their service & pricing are very good.

I'm not competing outside of club shoots or barnyard type stuff, so I just buy his lapped, Wilson barrels, mostly SPR's, & for my purposes they are fine, always being under or right at MOA for 10 shots & they clean up nicely & don't foul much either.

I've also bought several barrels from Paul Craddock, talked to him numerous times & he even remembered me from doing business at WOA when he was there. I buy his Rock Creek barrels & he will make them any way I like to have them contoured, he is personally involved & very hands on & the barrels I've gotten from him seem to be just a tad better than what I get from WOA with the polishing on the feed ramps a little better, but that's splitting hairs. His problem is that he's gotten very, very busy with OEM business & his lead times are just too long right now; last barrel I bought was delivered last fall, & it was a 14+ week delivery. He moved from Illinois to Tennessee about a year & a half or so ago & has a lot of business, so I don't know how long he will be able to maintain much personal service.

Holliger is likely in a similar position as his business has also grown.

As for CLE, they are also great to work with, though I have never dealt with or spoken to Frank White, have a great line of blanks to choose from & will also make it how you want it.................they actually sent me barrel prints of contours that they had available so I could actually see the finished contour before buying & their QA is 2nd to none.

I probably cannot shoot the difference between a Bartlein barrel & a Wilson or a Rock Creek or Douglas or Criterion, so I don't see the need for the extra cost for my uses, but if I wanted a Bartlein, which right now, I think is top of the heap, I'd buy it from any of those 3 machinists & it would be an easy , no-brainer, decision.

I also have to acknowledge that the barrels I've gotten from Rainier in their Ultra Match MOD 2 version are very, very good, & I've gotten a couple at very good prices before the crisis started. But you cannot specify anything special as all the configurations are fixed. Supposedly, they switched from Shilen blanks to Criterion, but I don't have positive confirmation on that.

MM