Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Ever had a custom barrel that just plain doesn’t make the cut?

Had a 700 that in its former life wore a Shilen chambered in 300 RUM. Shot under a half inch it’s whole career but I just couldn’t stand the recoil. It just beat my brains out every shot, even with a brake.

I went with a Bartlien barrel this time in 300 Win and performance has been downright ugly. I be more than my share of custom rifles and am a good shot. Proper break in, load work up, etc and it struggles to break 2” @ 100. Of course the usual suspects have been eliminated: scopes changed three times, mounts good and tight, etc.

It’s just not a shooter. The past few months I’ve heard some internet chatter about troubles with Bartlien but didn’t pay it any attention. I called Bugholes/Southern Precision who I bought it from and was told 1) it’s probably your fault 2) Bartlien doesn’t make a bad barrel 3) take it up with Bartlien 3) you’ve got an expensive tomato stake, buy a Brux. I called BS on their canned comments and called my gunsmith. Was told, obviously, that every company makes a bad barrel but be prepared for Bartlien to call BS as well….waste of time to even call.

2” groups are not horrible but you certainly expect better.

"Proper break in" and "Load work up" simply SCREAM "Fhuqktard!" Hint.

What stock/s? Mounting system/s? Scope/s? Ammo particulars?. Hint.

Shorten front base receiver screw,so it isn't touching shank,then CerroSafe chamber for the inherent hilarity. Hint...................

My first .35 Whelen wore a #3 Shilen. When it was cut at 20" the bore was WAY off center. Very easily visible with the naked eye. I called Shilen and sent them some photos. They said that when wanting a barrel that short it is best to custom order a shorter blank as bits do wander during the boring process. Even so, they were quick to offer to replace the barrel and moved my replacement order (with the shorter desired length) to the front of their queue and I had a new tube in short order. No complaints at all.

I had McGowen rebarrel a M70 for me in .257 Roberts AI. It was twisted faster but still the only bullet it would shoot consistently was a 100 grain sierra BTSP. Everything else was erratic with some MOA groups and some 2-3" with unpredictable fliers. The velocities it would produce were also much higher then expected with below max loads.

After hundreds of rounds, multiple bullets, multiple powders, etc. I called McGowen and they said to send it back. There must have been something going on because when they emailed me back they said it wasn't standard policy to replace a barrel that had been shot this much but they were going to replace this one. I had them chamber the next in .25-06 and it shoots much better. Even the stuff it doesn't like is much more consistent. My local smith suspected the bore was slightly oversized. He reasoned it allowed bullets to slip out too easy with the exception of the soft jacketed Sierras which would expand to fill the bore. Heck if I know.

I had a Brux 6.5 Barrel chambered in 6.5-280AI that my rifle builder said was in the top five of most finicky barrels he had ever worked with and he builds long range rifles full-time. The only bullet it liked was a 140 Speer Hot-Core. Not really wanting to shoot grandpa's bullets in a sports car I called Brux and they were also quick to replace the barrel. The replacement barrel shot well for me and for the friend I sold the rifle to.


Have had, and still have, a number of other custom barrels with no issues and would not hesitate to use either of the companies listed above again.

Had a .308 Douglas Air Gauge Med/LG Sporter 22" on a 1965 Rem 700 Action that I could never get to shoot.

If you haven’t tried 5 or 6 different bullets in it it’s hard to say that it’s a gomer barrel. I built a young fellow a 6.5x47 Lapua when that cartridge first came to the US. He tried Sierra, Berger, Clinch River, Hornady and Nosler. None of them would shoot better than 1 inch and most were in the 1.5 inch neighborhood at 100 yards. Couldn’t find anything that worked, until he tried the Lapua Scenar. It shot several groups around an inch at 500 yards with the 123 grain Scenar. Rifles hate some bullets and love other ones.

You gals' Drooling Fhuqktardation,is fhuqking HILARIOUS! Hint.

Bless your hearts. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!............

Two. Both by Hill Country Rifles.

Shoulda learned my lesson after the first one.

yes

I have had several custom rifles built and generally lean toward Douglas Premium or McGowen. I've never had an issue with any of them. If you can't get it replaced that should tell you volumes about the company.

Yup.. Once.. Pac-Nor barrel I installed for a customer... It shot patterns.. WTH? Called P-N - they said yank the barrel and send it back for inspection.. They found an problem.. Replaced the barrel and paid me to install it...

It shot lights out after that... P-N is OK as far as I'm concerned..

165 and 180 Ballistic Tips, plus 180 Acubonds. 168 TTSX. 165 Game King. 180 grain North Fork. RL-19, 22, 23, H-1000 and one other powder that escapes me right now. It showed a preference for 165 grain bullets. Used 215M primers. Played with seating depth. Prefers a jump. Going from memory while having supper with wifey.

Not sure if you are a member over on Snipers Hide or not but Frank Green from Bartlein posts over there pretty regular. I've PM'd him a couple times and he seems to be a pretty decent fellow. Maybe PM him with your thoughts on the barrel and the issues you are having - he may have a solution for you?? Worth a shot??

I make darn sure it was assembled correctly. I've seen customs that had the mag box bound up when they left the smith's shop

Me Too !!!

I had an issue with Pac-nor but it had nothing to do with accuracy. I ordered and paid for a stainless barrel, the rifle came marked as stainless. My smith threaded, chambered, installed it and then bedded the action and barrel to my stock. The donor action had been coated and we didn't know if it was stainless or not. He did a test on the donor with some cold blue and got a little on the underside of the barrel. Turns out the barrel was NOT stainless.

Pac-nor was good about making it right and I will use them again in the future also.

I've seen most brands of barrel I can recall ragged on at one time or another.

And firearm brands...and optics manufacturers

Stick, take a look at these video's, not just the first one. More and more of these rough barrels are showing up. Teslong Video's speak volumes.

Clean barrel

3 Shots

15 shots

This is not my barrel.

Guy says barrel company said that the barrel looked perfect. Asked him how did it shoot, he said impossible to work up a load with the amount of copper that is building up.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/my-1st-new-barrel.4085644/

Service after the sale is a big deal to me. It has been rare for me to get a "bad" barrel. I have had one bad Shilen and one bad Krieger and both companies gave me new barrels with no fuss or complaints.

Accuracy/Precision can't be "seen" in a barrel. I've a Borescope somewhere and haven't ever taken it out of the box. Hint.

What can be readily discerned,is mechanical aptitude/correct assembly and CerroSafe will give ammo. Hint.

It's such a Goat Fhuqk,the OP KNOWS better than to state any of the fhuqking particulars. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!.............

I had a bad Douglas chambered in 225 on a Hi-Wall that simply would not shoot. Douglas sent my smith a new tube and I'm still shooting it. Great customer service on that one for sure.