I know guys that swear by Shilens.
And a few who swear at them.

The one Shillen I have owned own was a Sako Vixen with a No 2 weigh Shilen Stainless "Match" in .223 in 1-9" twist was the most "average" shooting custom rifle I have ever owned.

It was meticulously bedded in a nice Garret Accurlite stock and shot no better than every Mini Mark X .223 I have owned with the factory tubes.

To be fair, "a sample of one" is no proof of anything AND the gunsmtih may take part of the blame as well.. the fact remians, there sure was nothing special about the high dollar Shilen on my SAKO.

I do know that base on what I have actually from other folks rifles seen many Shilen Sporter barrels shoot no better than a Douglas etc would in the same barrel contour or chamberings and usually cost 1/3 more.

I do know Kenny Jarret quit using Shilens early on in his career because he simply got too many dud barrels out of them. And yet, shops Like Jimmy Clark etc still use them..

Last edited by jim62; 04/19/10.
To all gunmaker critics-
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.."- Teddy Roosevelt