Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Which rifle manufacturer has the best barrels?

I understand that Cooper uses barrels from Wilson (or did), and Wilson is not spoken of highly on this forum. Anyway, every Cooper I have owned (3) has been very accurate. Others seem to have similar results with Cooper and that accuracy could be due to many things but the barrel must be a large part of their success.

Yes they do use Wilson barrels for good reason, they are owned by Wilson (since 2010 IRC). Ole Dan Cooper couldn’t give them things away after it was found out he supported BamBam.

Old Dan Cooper has not been with Cooper for years. I think I will keep my coopers.

tikka

Vahunter,

Wilson, like some other barrel manufacturers, has produced different grades of barrels. Those used in Cooper rifles are indeed very good.

Yep since 2008
On October 27, 2008 a USA Today article featuring executives supporting Barack Obama for president was published naming Dan Cooper as a financial supporter of the campaign.[11] Scandal soon erupted across gun-related web forums and blogs when it was made public that Dan Cooper supported a pro-gun control Presidential candidate and had donated several thousand dollars to his campaign. Gun owners and blogs reacted to the news calling for a boycott of his company.[1]
By October 28, 2008 Cooper Firearms released a message on their website, noting that the company itself had not contributed in any fashion, and clarifying Cooper's contributions.[12]
On October 29, 2008 Cooper Firearms updated the message on their website indicating the board of directors asked Dan Cooper to step down as CEO of the company.[13] In an October 30, 2008 article from USA Today Dan Cooper confirmed that he did indeed resign as CEO.[1]

Yep, but the hate continues for some reason.

Ruger used the Wilson barrels before they made their own and I think during a period when Wilson had a number of military contracts, possibly too many, that Rugers got a reputation for hit or miss accuracy. Since then Wilson has re-tooled to CNC machinery and is capable of making very fine barrels. Not sure when this took place, possibly late 1990s? Sometime in this same time frame Ruger started producing their own barrels too.

Lothar Walthars are very good and between them and SAKO account for a number of European factory suppliers. They are also a harder barrel like the SAKO.

Weatherby barrels are nothing to be ashamed of, they have had multiple producers but seem to maintain quality, They have been made in California, Germany, Japan, Maine by SACO and now ETEK in Minnesota. Probably others I left off, maybe a Weatherby historian will fill in the gaps?.

Wilson may not be a popular candidate for a full custom build but I expect it's easily on the upper end of what's used on most factory rifles

I didn’t say anything about hate, fact is when everybody went full retard on Cooper and they couldn’t give them away, I bought 1 in 08 and another in late 09 at a very deep discount. The one in 09 was a Montana Varminter with AAA wood and 12 twist 223, which was odd for Cooper. 1295 bucks OTD for a brand new rifle with a 1795 price tag on it.

One of the most accurate in my stable is a Gustaf 6.5 Swede sporting a chopped to 24 inch 1906 military tube. It consistently does clover leafs, but I have no idea as to exactly who did their barrels 113 years ago. It was purchased as a truck gun, but lives in the safe now.

MD...you should see their barrels! Even nicer than their watches.. The Japanese really know how to make em!

Auto correct will make a fool of you every time...good catch JB

Do you know if CZ makes their own barrels or are the sourced from another manufacturer. I know they are hand lapped which no doubt contributes to their quality level and reputation

But James Bond uses Omega watches. Since he works for the govt, he would only have the best. Here's James now, demonstrating the awesome power and accuracy of the Omega. The living end of watches!

Tikka even though I only have one, a CTR it lives up to their reputation.

And as mentioned Ruger. Been quite happy with their rifles the last 8 years or so. even with the cheap RAR, whatever they’re doing they seem to be dialed in.

Another one that didn’t have the best reputation but seems to be doing a lot better is Christensen Arms carbon barrels. I know they use turned down shilen select for the “liner”. In the last few months myself and friends that maintain a shooting range together have bought a total of 6 CA ridgelines , only mine required a bedding tweak to settle it down. Small sample but pleasantly surprised.. we are pleasantly surprised because we’ve owned CA’s a decade ago that were dumpster fires.

Socko/Tikka

One of the things I've learned over the 15+ years I've owned and used a Gradient Lens Hawkeye borescope is that looking at the smoothness of the bore has relatively little correlation to the barrel's potential accuracy. Yes, a lapped bore is nice, but does NOT guarantee a bore of consistent diameter, which in my experience is far more important than smooth.

This is exactly why Sako/Seiko/Socko/Tikka barrels of heavier contours are lapped--NOT because of smoothness, but because the lapping results in more consistent dimensions.

Even more important than lapping is proper heat-treating, which when done right basically eliminates the stresses in the barrel introduced by the barrel-making process. This gets more complicated than mere lapping, but am not about to explain why here, because a month ago wrote a 2500 word article on the subject that will appear in another month or so. For now, let's just say that a properly heat-treated but unlapped barrel can easily outshoot a lapped but improperly heat-treated barrel.

sako 85 or krieger

You mean seiko

Interesting thing. I was playing with my bore scope last week and decided to look at most of my existing rifles. I found only TWO barrels that did NOT have any tool marks in them; a Schneider polygon and a Chanlynn barrel. Every other barrel I looked through had obvious tooling marks from the reaming process. Even hammer forged can have tool marks. I have Kriegers, Broughton, Pac nor, Shilen, Wilson, Hart, plus typical factory rifle barrels. Even makers BEST barrels had tool marks. Not sure that correlates specifically to accuracy but I think they could have lapped before rifling and removed them.
I have two Schneider barrels currently, one was flawless, the other (a 338) had very distinct tooling marks. No maker seems to be exempt.

I looked at a brand new, unfired Remington barrel in 7-08. It had deep indentations near the muzzle in the tops of the lands. I will have to be re-crowned before I can use it.