Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Shilen Barrels........not much love on the 24 hr fire?

For whatever reason, I had never considered Shilen a "premium" barrel builder.

Somehow, I ended up with two rifles wearing Shilen barrels and they are both GREAT shooters.

Can I blame the barrel, a Shilen, on my 340 Weatherby?

I've Got one On a 7x57AI. Its Shoots.I Gladly Take Another..

if you are paying too much for a shilen then the BarrelMan needs your business. Jerry is great to work with and his prices are right

check him out

Only if you want to.

Thinking perhaps the bullet was so soundly put to sleep by the solid, reliable barrel that it forgot to wake up!

Shilen barrels are ok by me. I have 5 of them and they all shoot great.

309 JDJ
7mm RM
300 Win Mag.
338-06
338 Rum.
I would use them all again, no problems at all.

I do have other custom barrels they work just as well.

My only Shilen (don't ask me why, just tryin new stuff I guess) was on my first 257WBY build. That crazy barrel would put FIVE DIFFERENT 100 grain bullets, alll travelling at 3700fps or more, including an original X bullet in the mix, into a single 1 inch group at 100 yards. Stupidly good barrel.

Possibly not up to Bench Rest match winning specs,but damn good tubes from what I can tell.

My 35cal, 1:12", #3, CS Shilen showed up last week. Soon to be a 358Win.

.

I have barrels from Krieger, factory direct Hart, Lilja, Lothar Walther, and Parker Hale that are obviously hand lapped at the factory.
My Douglas, Shilen Chrome Moly, Remington installed Hart, and Green Mountain barrels are not.

My Shilen Stainless barrels are obviously hand lapped at the factory, but I can get them cheaper than the other barrels in this class.

Some guys tell me my Shilen stainless barrels will wear out faster. This may be true, but I have never worn out a barrel in my life.
But I can tell that the Shilen Stainless barrels cut like butter on my lathe.

I am guessing that it was a powder brain fart.

The Campfire crew can be a fickle bunch.

One "good guy" claims something, and everybody jumps on the bandwagon.

They seem to swing in unison from "favorite du jour" to the next "favorite".

I worry little about what the "conventional wisdom" is on the forum, I tend to go with what I am comfortable with, what has worked for me, and tend to not bother to say much about it here.

Until now, but only cause somebody asked.

I have a few Shilens, and every single one will outshoot my capabilities.

I was introduced to them via my favorite gunsmith almost 20 years ago. When I had him rebarrel my first rifle, he strongly suggested using a Shilen. It's what he used, was comfortable with, and most importantly, it's what he wanted to have spinning in his lathe, if he was responsible for the end product. I figure there's a lot to be said for that.

He didn't let me down.

I could happy shoot a Shilen on any rifle I own.

My Shilen Stainless select match that were hand lapped at the factory will outshoot my capabilities. This is the same class or barrel as my Krieger, Lilja, etc.

But my Shilen Chrome Moly barrels that were not hand lapped at the factory, when Copper fouled, will not out shoot my capabilities. Those barrels are no better than Douglas or Green Mountain.

Shilen will hand lap Chrome Moly for a reasonable fee, but Brownells does not carry the handlapped Chrome moly, so I can't get the Brownells discount.

Ed Shilen, before he left, told me to just buy the Stainless from Brownells, as they are all lapped.

Mine are all stainless Select Match.

Again, gunsmith recommended, and he didn't let me down.

Klik,

Add Powder.
Primer alone won't do it

Clarkm,
Ed Shilen hasn't left Shilen. He doesn't work everyday, but most days.

Several mentions of Jerry Wilbanks, "The Barrelman". I have used him many times and can say nothing but good. http://thebarrelman.com/

Your prices are so good south of 49. I got a shilen on order and it was $125 more than the barrel mans prices.

I started TheBarrelman several years ago and Jerry Stiller wanted the company and I sold it to him. Jerry sold it to Jerry. I'm happy to hear it is in good hands.