Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Best precision barrels. Name them.

In another thread, a member here asked me if I could tell him which AR15's would shoot 1 moa or better. They seemed perplexed that an AR15 would shoot that well at 200 yards. In the other thread I started about upper and lower receivers, some guys in the know stated that accuracy mainly comes from the barrel. I'll agree. With an AR15, a good consistent shooting AR15 will generally have a quality barrel. I've had WOA, Noveske, Colt, Stag, and Windham Weaponry and they all shot pretty well. If you were going to build an AR to drive tacks, which barrel would you chose from your experience. Any of you guys getting sub moa groups from cheaper barrels? Also, how much are your top picks costing these days and are they in stock. If not, what is the general wait time? One that has treated me very well is the stainless 20" varmint exterminator barrel with matched bolt from Windham Weaponry. I've decided to go this route again for my new BCM, since the other 2 I have shoot very well. Lets see if the 3rd time is a charm. I like the profile on this barrel, as it is not heavy as hell (truck axle) and the 20" length is just right for my style of shooting. I love rifle length gas systems, as they are super smooth and easy to shoot. This barrel has the compass lake engineering chamber, which is said to help with accuracy and it's usually in stock. It's not cheap by any means at $340.00. That is my top pick, which is yours? Post some pictures of groups, if you want. Hopefully no one is going to bust balls about someone wanting a good shooting AR15.

It can just be the luck of the draw. Case in point, I wanted a 204 done on the cheap so the barrel came from some unknown source for under $100. It will shoot half inch groups off the bags all day long with my one particular load.
Then I wanted to build an exceptionally accurate 204 so I paid over $350 for a Rainier barrel. It will shoot half inch or smaller groups off the bags with the same load.

I really can't complain about either one of them.

I may have just got lucky with my WW barrels as well. Nothing wrong with getting lucky every once in a while. The reason I'm asking about barrels is because I needed one for the receiver set I just bought (still waiting on back ground check) and also I've been playing around with a Ruger 10-22 and a good barrel makes a huge difference in getting consistent accuracy and reduction of flyers. Sometimes you get lucky with a bone stock factory barrel. Most times not, in my experience. Then you have your next step up and then you end with Kidd and Volquartsen. I decided to quit screwing around with sheidt and just buy a Kidd heavy fluted 20" matchgrade barrel. Couldn't be happier. Groups with all ammo I've tried are exceptional. Not just groups with 1 kind/type of ammo, but all. AR barrels are much the same in that regard. A good quality AR barrel shouldn't be finicky. I have a member sending me some 55gr and 62gr pills to try and I told him I'd shoot them through my 20" barrel and see how they do. I've always just used 68, 69, 73, 75 and 77gr pills in that barrel, but I'm expecting it to shoot the 55's and 62's lights out. Its never disappointed me with anything I've tried in it. That's the kind of barrel I'm wanting guys to write about. Let us know what the good ones are.

I may need to build another precision upper one day and if I do, I’ll probably use a Shilen barrel. My cousin has a few of these and they’ve all shot well.

Right now he’s using McGowan and he’s been pleased with all but one of those. I put together an upper for a friend of mine with one and it’s very accurate. I think that’s 4 or 5 McGowan barrels that all shot well except one and it had a chamber problem I think.

Lots of decent barrels out there but I don’t hear too much about these two on here.

I've been surfing the web and there's a lot of people out there that love McGowen. They agree with you in that they are extremely accurate. As are Lothar Walther and Krieger. The problem with these is availability right now. I keep shaking my head here, as it seems like everything is on back order, and I mean everything!! I'd be all in for trying a fancy barrel, but don't really feel like waiting 12-16 weeks either. The only Shilen I've had was the WOA and it was alright for accuracy, but not my best shooter... Thanks for your feedback.

I know you have disagreed with me before about WOA barrels but I have one that is a 12 twist that will basically put 55 grainers through the same hole.
Another favorite as of late is an 8 twist 5R barrel from X-Caliber, shoots extremely well with most loads I have tried in it. both rifles have LAR billet uppers


btw: never had a bad Krieger but for some reason don't have one at present

I go to my gunsmith if I want an accurate barrel.

Tell him parameters.

Could care less what the name is then. It will be up to him to gauge what I need.

If not, then I've yet to see many tubes that would not shoot MOA or right at it, at 100, I'm not sure how your OP got from MOA to MOA at 200 specifically but MOA is the same of course. But further out it does take more. IMHO.

The only tubes I've had "bad" luck with were Douglas. They all were MOA. And just under. as I recall, with one bullet or another. But I wasn't after MOA...

When there is panic I just quit buying, thats when crap slips out the door typically, especially buying from on line places and even brownells kind of things,. Barrels that should have been culled don't get.

Enough years ago the company LR... used Walther tubes IIRC. I'd had a couple and wasn't overly impressed. Especially for the cost. Then found that for guns they assembled totally the cull rate on Walther tubes was between 30-40 percent. So you really never know. But then again both Walthers we had were MOA tubes.

If you go with a known smith, he will already be using what works best for him, and he may have a couple of brands. Or he will say I won't use the brand you want me to etc...

While I say its the barrel thats the accurate part, and it is, the best can be screwed up with a guy on a lathe that has no clue what half a ten thousandth is... And a tomato stake screwed on straight won't be all that bad either....

If you want "The Best" AR barrel, this is who you call:

https://www.rockymountainrifleworks.com/

Tell him exactly what you want and he'll make it for you. Single point, rifle cut.

He'll ask you to send him the upper so he can match the barrel extension to it.

I have one barrel with a different name on it built of a McGowen blank. It's a good shooter.

My current AR has a 16" Ballistic Advantage barrel and is capable of shooting this at 4 shot group 300 yards. Should have been 5, but I was trying to confirm BDC marks and ended up with 4 rounds for this target. I may be wrong, but I don't consider BA to be top tier barrels.

craddock precision (Bartlien blanks)

I consider Bartlien cut rifled barrels to be the best available right now, chambered by either Craddock Precision or CLE...............but I don't have any of them.

I do have a Kreiger (on a factory KAC), a couple of Rock Creek's chambered by Craddock Precision, a couple of WOA's, a couple of Ranier UltraMatch MOD2's (Criterion SS), & 3 Rise Armament SS & they are shoot very, very well, so the reason that I don't have any Bartlein's is the additional cost, the fact that all the ones I listed shoot extremely well & I likely could not shoot the difference that the Bartlein might make for me.

MM

I have two BA barrels and I'm not disappointed in either one. I got a good barrel for a fair price.

kwg

A lot of great info guys. Thanks. Scoony, that looks like a great barrel. I've heard BA barrels are very good for the money. Its probably like everything in the barrel world though, sometimes you get an excellent one, sometimes a good one and sometimes a not so good. Finding a company that makes excellent barrels consistently can be done, but you pay out the nose for them. I like getting lucky like you did with that one. Good score. Those 77 SMK bullets sure do shoot nice, in my experience.

I just put an 18inch SPR BA barrel on my daughters AR that had a 1-9 twist 5.56 barrel. Went and shot it today put a 1-4 swfa scope on it. Shot some 77 smk out of it. I’m sure with a better trigger I can shrink the groups. But pretty happy with it, paid $189 for it at the lgs.

Have any of you used Odin Works barrels?

I have one. It's the one I referenced above make from a McGowan blank

That's pretty good buddy. If it's a shooter, you can't beat that price. Now you realize, using 77 SMK's is like cheating though.. Ha ha..


I bought these the last time I went to Winnemucca.. Not a bad deal..

A lot of guys like Odin works. I believe they are one of the better manufactures putting out 6 ARC barrels.

My Stag Arms (circa 2006) shoots 1MOA, Sig M400 also shoots 1MOA, but both are super picky about ammo in terms of accuracy. Mispec stuff in either is typically 3MOA. Have an Accuracy Systems Inc barrel out of Byers, CO that shoots 1/2MOA, this is a 24" full bull barrel with Wylde chamber. Shoots about everything under an 1.5", needs match ammo to wring out 1/2" groups. My old National Match AR with 1996 Wilson 20" barrel shot 1" groups with iron sights and 55gr once fired Black Hills FMJ's. Picked up a Christensen Arms AR and they have a MOA guarantee - soon to be verified. In my experience the chrome lined barrels are the least accurate and ammo plays a significant part in the accuracy equation. There's lots of crappy ammo on the shelves today.

Powder valley has 77 Sierra OTM right now. Along with 75gr hornady BTHP. I bought some hornady 75gr bthp with cannelure. I bought the 69 OTM month ago when powder valley had them in stock.

The 69's are my favorite. 77's seem to shoot very well in my rifles too. 75gr Hornady bthp are pickier for some reason..

Those 75 hornady shoot very very well out my 224 Valkyrie. I never shot any 10 shot groups but I shot a bunch of 5 shot groups and I use them instead of the 80 ELD-M that my daughter uses.

So do you guys dont shoot 10 or 20 shot groups in comp. I bought 1000 75gr hornadies last year when they were dirt cheap. I thought you had a load for them in your 223.

The vast majority of the above mentioned AR barrels are not made by the mentioned names.

Well of course we shoot 20 shot strings in competition you silly goose. I’m talking about shooting your black rifle challenge I never shot that with mine or daughters Valkyrie. I do have one for the 75 hornady.

There's a good reason to shoot 10 shot groups. You get a better idea of a loads actual accuracy potential and better idea of actual zero. I don't just soot 10 shot groups though. Yesterday I was working on some loads for my old swedish mauser for our military rifle shoot. Just about got a secondary option ready for the shoot:


Either of these loads will suffice. Going up against guys running modified CMP M1's and Swiss K31's. The boys from Vancouver do well for themselves, lawyers and such, so laying down $4,000.00 for a built M1 Garand is nothing for them. We had a hell of a good bowling pin shoot today. Just getting back from that. I haven't shot my pistol since the last bowling pin shoot we had. Well over 8 months ago. Shooting guns is not always about 10 shot groups, but to me, its always about accuracy and how well you hit your target. I know there are a ton of guys that don't feel that way. I hear them every time I go to the range. Those guys must make a lot more money than I do because they shoot far more than I do and often times in full auto mode. I was taught about fundamentals of marksmanship from the time I was old enough to hold a gun. Guys that have a problem with that, need to get a life and learn how to shoot.. When they come to my club, they get a good education...

What I did last year far as load development was good enough for my daughter to get NRA Master designation for mid range prone AR tactical class.. This year hopefully she becomes a high master. I’m hoping to make Master. She shot well enough Rost said he like to work with her some.. the funny thing my kid only shoots during these matches.. She goes to the range every now and then to shoot with me..

That's a little disingenuous: as you well know, Shilen, Bartlein, Rock Creek, Criterion, Douglas, Lilja & Wilson (not Wilson Combat) at least, are all prime barrel manufacturers in that they drill, ream & rifle barrels.

Craddock, CLE & WOA machine blanks from some of those people.

No idea what Ballistic Advantage (owned by Aero Precision) does.

I didn't go back & list any other machine shops that just finish someone rifled blank, besides, all that really matters is the overall quality of the finished product regardless of how it gets to that final configuration.

MM

Scheels in Reno had a bunch of them last time I was there (February). They were a little spendy, but not as much as a local shop here wanted for them.



That's awesome man. I had one of my daughters shooting with me as well. The first time she shot a couple of my AR's she impressed me. My boy is living in Scotland right now. He used to shoot trap with me a lot when he was young. One of my best memories was a fathers day shoot we went to and we walked away with $180.00 and prizes.

This is from BA's website:

"We believe it is our responsibility to honor the blank’s full potential during the entire manufacturing process, thus producing one of the best finished barrels available in the industry".

So that sounds like they finish blanks, but this is from a recent interview with the founder and now minority owner:

https://www.tacretailer.com/business/interview-ballistic-advantage

Archer - What is next for Ballistic Advantage?

Wainio – Well, a lot of plans were a bit derailed this year with COVID for the move to our new facilities. We have really attempted to aggressively build our capabilities, blanking, profiling, finishing, improved processes, but some of that expansion has to wait.

We have been in multiple facilities over the years, and we were really looking forward to getting under one roof.

Thats good info. Sounds like they have a pretty good game plan to get all their production under one roof. This covid schidt has everything screwed up. A friend and I were talking yesterday about things being hard to find. Funny thing he brought up was ammo boxes. The green MTM type boxes I use as well. He said he went to 3 different stores looking for a certain one. I went through the same chidt a few months ago and got pretty perturbed, not finding the boxes for 223 rem ammo (100 round boxes, seen below):


I then went on ebay and they wanted $12.00+ for the sum biotches. Those are only $3.99 at the store, when they have them. Then a month later when my local bi-mart had some, I bought all they had. Which was 4 or 5. Anyway, I told my buddy that I think all the people staying home because of covid, must be buying chidt and selling it on ebay for ridiculous amounts of money. A lot of companies are also using covid as an excuse for poor production rates. You look at most websites and everything is on backorder or unavailable. I do more business with companies that have things in stock. Recently bought a 6x45 barrel and it shoots well enough, but was from a company that is not well known. They had the exact barrel I wanted in stock. 20" stainless medium weight (not truck axle heavy) non threaded barrel. Also the reason I bought from Windham Weaponry again. Those guys have treated me real well and their barrels are very good. Well, heading out to get my new BCM upper and lower set. I'll start working on that today. Maybe even throw one of my other barrels on it until my new WW VEX barrel comes in.

Scotland?? Wow I bet he’s having a great time!

BSA,
Can't speak for everyone, but covid isn't an excuse.
It's a reality.

I work in a manufacturing plant, cardboard tubes used for to wind paper on, and common cardboard boxes we have custom sized used to be a couple day
lead time. Now it's weeks. Had an order for coated fiberglass material to
be delivered in February, we had enough material for 30% of it.
Ordered more, to be delivered a couple weeks ago, still waiting.
Meanwhile, another order for that product has gone late.

Resins we order are often held up due to component availability.
Most of the issues come from imported items.
No idea why the paper products are delayed, they are domestic.

As you know , the quality is in the blank, then the other folks can keep the quality or screw them up.

A no name, but I'm thinking it's going to kick some azz.. Just sayin

Lawrence Where did you buy it from?

I have some thoughts on AR barrel accuracy. As has been said, you start with a good blank, then the barrel smith has to do their job. I like Holliger because I know how picky he is and how capable he is with machinery. He's always thinking about how he can do things better.
Random learnings from conversations;
John told me the path to a bug hole shooting AR is to put a high quality slow twist barrel on it and shoot benchrest bullets...back then he was chambering Krieger, Pac-Nor and Shilen. These days he also does Bartlein. He threw out some numbers from his last sessions that made me think about it for a brief moment...but at that point in time, I was obsessesed with throwing long javelins at long distances out of the AR.

Bill Wylde shot one of his AR's in a registered benchrest match and nearly won one of the Ag's...or did he actually win? ...I'll have to ask grandpa Yoda next time I speak with him. The Organization banned semi auto's after that. Knowing his proclivities, I would guess it was a Obermeyer or Krieger pipe.

John Feamster wrote one of the first books on AR accuracy. IIRC, Jeff rated a mention in that book. He shot some tiny groups with his AR's. I'll have to give it another read to see who made the barrels. Jeff you're thinking of BlackStar who put out Lothar Walther blanks that they electropolished. You also forgot to mention your experience with Gary Schneider.



What I like about WOA is that they'll tell you who made the barrel you're buying (and he charges a fair price). BTW, I'm pretty sure Craddock is Paul Craddock who used to work for Holliger. I guess he decided he had his own ideas about AR smithing. Looks like one of them is a different pricing model. I also like CLE. Frank White is straight shooting literally and figuratively. I've had a few of his barrels. I even have a Douglas one that shoots OK.

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

For an AR?

Why 223 chambering???????????? Instead of Wylde?

(But I forgot, you like low velocity loadings. LOL)

Wyndham Weaponry?

MM

I have an interesting anecdote related to this statement. Years ago, there was an M14 assembler that wanted to crack the AR15 Highpower market. Rather than put out good products that spoke for themselves, he chose to make statements like a Krieger barrel is not a "real Krieger" unless it was contoured and chambered by Krieger. At that time, Krieger was chambering their Service Rifle barrels with a 223 Match reamer which was short in the throat and known for showing pressures way before you got to speed with the long bullets . Turns out this guy didn't have the capability of contouring and chambering his own barrels from blanks, so he chose to try to turn his deficit into a selling point. He also had a statement on his webpage that he would not warranty an upper that was fired with handloads. Problem is that at that time, we were using bullets (77's, 80's and 90's) that were not being loaded by any factory. The heaviest of the day was 69's from Federal which got you to the 200 and maybe the 300 yard line, but would leave you crying at 600 and beyond.

Yeah, I think there are some real half-assed shops doing machining, but if anyone has a clue, fortunately there are enough really good shops around to deal with to have no reason to deal with the idiots & schmucks.

Fortunately, again, most of those half-assed shops don't normally deal with the high dollar, high end blanks.

The best blank in the world can be easily ruined by whoever is doing the final machining.

MM

Does anyone know anything about Mike Milli, of Dedicated Technology? He apparently uses Shilen barrels.

http://www.dtechuppers.com/ar-15-custom-barrels.html

Cousin had him build a couple of barrels, one was a 6.8 necked down to 22 and the other was a 17 Remington. Both were tack drivers but both were kinda heavy. They were gassed right and he had no issues with them.

Chris, the two best AR upper builders are John Holliger (WhiteOak) and Nez Rongero. As you know Blackstar did a lot of advertising about their polished LW barrels. They were a real POS and they soon disappeared from the gun business. I have a close friend that did Blackstar's initial chambering. They had him do a few for a now deceased and chunky gunwriter (giving him more credit than he is due, He said the bores varied as much as .0015. Real junk.

I'm glad you guys speak so highly of Holliger. I just wished he offered better die sets for his 6WOA, and chidt canned the 1 in10 twist and used a 1 in 8 or better instead. The one I had shot very well with the bullets it liked, but was the most finicky bastid ive ever seen. Not a good example of a premium/good barrel. Before you ask, it was a shilen.

Read this..................if you have questions about the barrel or the build, call WOA & talk to them about it.

Here's a post about one guy's experience in doing so.

MM


WOA Review from SH

I have some theories about Blackstar. Blackstar was a division of Delstar, a metal finishing company. I think a shooting enthusiast thought...hmmm, I think we can buy inexpensive blanks and apply our Delstar electropolishing to it and charge premium prices. Classic solution looking for a problem situation. Unfortunately the theory didn't work out, or the execution was poor...and a lot of unhappy customers got burned. Mark Stouse was the CEO back then, and his LinkedIn page says he's a Marketing exec which leads me to believe he was the man with the bright idea at BlackStar.

How are Compass Lake's Criterion barrels? They're doing some sort of heavy profile ("Varmint" profile) Criterion, in 6mm arc right now.

Sorry...I can't speak for your experience...but mine ended up okay. Dies are from Forster. First set didn't size the neck (think body die). John said..."hmmm sumthing's wrong. Send 'em back" They must have crossed in the air because my new dies arrived within days...and they work great. These glitches normally give me heartburn, but knowing Holliger would make it right spared me the Tums.
There was a community of 6WOA shooters with a webpage that one of them set up and all seemed happy. The first use was highpower competitors where a fast twist barrel was a must. Carl Bernosky won a bunch of stuff with his Holliger built 6mm HAGAR, but his backup upper was a 6WOA and he told me it was as accurate if not more than his HAGAR. The WOA was just 100 or so fps slower than it's bigger brother. I think there's a lot of competitors that ate a bunch of Tums because of Carl's WOA uppers.
At some point, the predator hunters got hold of the 6WOA and there was a following there. I can only guess that the slower twists were intended for that market. I have to ask, if you wanted an 8 twist, why did you get a 10?

Criterion barrels shoot!
I had one of their chrome-lined barrel that would put 3 shots into less than 1/3 MOA.

My theory about the Blackstar's is that they were too smooth. There's a sweet spot for barrel surface finish. It's not a "smoother is better" situation.

Interesting theory. Maybe that is why savage rifles always shoot lights out?

That's true; also having dealt with electropolishing, it's simply impossible to maintain the machined tolerances on a barrel during electropolishing; whatever those tolerances were & whatever the variation was, it will increase with electropolishing. Just the nature of the beast.

Same with chrome plating, especially if not lapped after plating, & even it it is, the variability & tolerances will be great than as machined, assuming the machining was done to a high level in the 1st place.

MM

Just like Tryone and others are saying...sounded good in theory...not so good in practice. ...or if some is good, than more is better right?
There were some “name” barrel makers that said they would not stand behind their barrels if the black star process was applied to them. I remember one was quoted as saying there was an ideal surface finish that was applied during the lapping process and messing with that got you the opposite of what you were after.

Electromachining has it's place, for the low end home gamer but not the best option for high end production barrels.

That's every top barrel maker with experience lapping barrels.

Pretty interesting stuff...

Electropolishing, if that is, in fact, what they were using, is not electromachining, per se'.

Electropolishing is intended for burr removal & rounding of sharp edges. It is done in a concentrated sulfuric acid + concentrated phosphoric acid bath using the part to be "polished" as an anode with inert or lead cathodes.

It produces a very highly polished, very low surface finish depending on the exact SS alloy.

It is very difficult to ensure perfect current density distribution (i.e., stock removal) over the entire surface being affected, especially at the ends as the effective current density applied to an electrode is always higher at its ends that in the middle; the amp meter can only measure & adjust the average total current, not the uniformity of its distribution.

If that makes any sense to you......................

MM

Makes good sense. I haven't played with it yet, just been reading about guys who are.

Thanks for the added color.

Like wavelengths or harmonics to sense surface finish? Since inside a bore, you can not use a surface finish gauge. Very interesting stuff MM. What surface finish do they say is optimum? 64-40 finish, or is that too smooth?

Here's an excerpt from Lilja, from an article they wrote about "what makes a rifle barrel accurate":

" It seems as though some experienced shooters and gunsmiths tend to place too much emphasis on one single characteristic of barrel as it relates to accuracy. For example, some gunsmiths look at not much more than how straight a barrel is in evaluating its potential before chambering it. Others look at internal finish or bore diameter. We had experience with one customer that paid a business that checked twist rate deviation to examine all of his barrels.

In our opinion this is putting the blinders on, a case of being myopic. All of these properties are important and a serious problem with any single one of them could cause accuracy trouble. But the point is they’re all important. To sum up the critical factors we’ve mentioned, they include: a straight hole of uniform diameter and correct size for the intended caliber; a smooth and uniform surface finish that lays parallel to the rifling; a uniform rifling pitch; stress-free steel; adequate stiffness for the type of shooting it will be used for; and a first-rate installation job with special attention paid to the throat. An accurate barrel is the result of a happy marriage of all of these."

I believe this is what you guys are saying about getting the right guys to do the final barrel work. Lilja has been known to put out some exceptionally accurate rifle barrels.

I've had several barrels from Odin Works, Faxon, & Black Hole Weaponry in various calibers. All could shoot 1/4"-1/2" groups with handloads.

So, Who supplied their barrel blanks?

Nice!!

Odin gets their from Mcgowen.
BHW is now Columbia River Arms, and they make their own.
According to Faxon they make the entire barrel including the blank and only send them out for nitriding.
The Director at Faxon Firearms. E-Mail me anytime: Nathanfaxonfirearms.com

Sorry Tyrone...I just caught my typo...and now it's too late to edit (and folks have repeated it in quotes). It wasn't intended.
But I will use this opportunity to stick a fork in the Blackstar tangent. LW in that era was using an interesting Stainless Alloy that required different machining techniques (lower feed rate, carbide tooling, coolant flush etc.), but no problem for an experienced machinist I think it was 17-4 and I was interested in trying that...just not one done by BlackStar. IIRC near the end of their run, Blackstar was using K&P blanks.

Chris, I think LW still uses that alloy. It's not bad, at least to this consumer. I had one and it shot well and wore well for a button barrel. I got ~4,200 rounds out of it before it puked. That's about 1,000 more than I normally expect out of a button barrel.

The Lothars are kind of expensive. For the money, I'd just as soon have a WO Wilson or a Krieger.

Thanks Tyrone,
That takes care of my FOMO...
I think Tippie and/or Anna Kinney were using LW blanks at one time...but I wasn’t interested in sourcing from them.

I took a look at the LW USA webpage but they don’t talk specifics of their steel. ...and they’re mostly listing CM...4000 series iirc.