I ordered a SS barrel from Pac-Nor. It was invoiced as such and even stamped on the breach as such. It is all fitted to my action and the stock has been glass bedded to the barreled action. Since the MRC action is coated I asked my smith to test and see if it is stainless or CM. If it was stainless I would just bead blast the whole works...if the action is CM I would get the barreled action cerakoted to match. He ran the test with some cold blue gel on the receiver and it is CM...he put a little on the barrel and it turned out to be CM too!
I called pac-nor and they have been very responsive about making it right. They are willing to take the rifle back and do the rebarrel in-house so I am not out the work twice. No issues with them whatsoever but now I have a rifle that is 95% complete and being a .400 I am a little cautious on who actually puts it together since there isn't much margin for error on the headspace. Basically, I would be paying for work from a smith that I trust but having someone I don't know complete it.
A good portion of this rifles intended purpose revolves around Alaska and wet miserable conditions...thus the desire for stainless. I know CM rifles don't disintegrate at the first hint of moisture....heck, I think Mart hunted his "in the white" a bit if I am not mistaken???....but I have to decide whether I can live with the CM barrel or if it will bug me that my custom isn't exactly what I spec'd.
I did visit with a buddy that had a wildcat put together by Pac-nor and he has had no complaints with the work they did. His .17 Practical rifle shoots amazingly well.
They would be sending me a new barrel and paying what it cost me with the smith.
