I confess that I have never bought any because of the wait times. As a result, I order from the States. For those who have bought from Cdn makers, how long did you wait, and who did the installation? Would you order again?

Mr Regwell, hope yr having a good weekend. I think I posted this once ? Got Rob Mc Lennon to install one of his bbl on a 700 sps LH. Took about a month. Can't believe the accuracy??? It will put diff weights of bullets to the same point of aim & into itty bitty groups. Oh ya it's still in the sps stock with the four arm hogged out with a router!!! I do want to put a nice stock on it someday & glass bed it but I doubt I'll be able to see an improvement. It is pillar bed now so I suppose that helps but I'm almost afraid to touch it. Not much help though because Rob stopped making his barrels. Don't know if he still installs bbls of some other makers or not??? While we're at it do you know of any bbl makers out west, or anyone that does re boaring?? How hard is it getting bbls out of USA.?? Oh the gun is in 6br. Bill out 🐾👣🐾👣

Does Ron Smith still make barrels? There is another gentleman in Red Deer I believe, (Bob Jury?) that makes barrels and people seem to be happy with them. Would like to hear more about him. Bevan King made good barrels but he passed away a couple of years ago.

I’ve never done business with these folks. Only found out about them recently.

International Barrels

They are actually selling those IBI barrels down here at a very attractive price. I’d be interested to hear any reports.

Hugh Williamson Precision out of Calgary.

I have not used their barrels but I know Hugh he is a first rate guy and an accomplished bench rest shooter. Rick the sales guy is also an accomplishes bench rest shooter.

My next barrel: sometime this Spring or summer will come from HWP.

I’ll report the results when I get the barrel in and get it shooting.

GRF

Gerry;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the weekend treated you well and it's as nice up in your part of the province as it was down here.

Over the years I've had two barrels made by Ron Smith - both were stainless - I think both were the gain twist he's known to make - I know one was for sure and want to say the one on our youngest daughter's .250AI is too. It shoots, I can say that for it and it's not a fouler. I can't say if Ron is still making barrels or not however, sorry.

That .250AI was put on by the late Mick McPhee out of Kamploops and he made a few barrels before he passed way too young. I've heard nothing but good things about Mick's barrels - but again he's gone now.

When I was into a bit of hunting rifle competition many decades back, I lost money a few times to rifles made with Ted Gailard barrels. He was in Pathlow, SK and there's still a website up so perhaps he's still making them, though I don't know that either.

As Mauser98 noted - good to see you posting sir - the folks at Chilliwack have been making barrels for a bit and the only things I hear about them are good - but again I've no direct experience with them.

Anyway Gerry, overall my post was more a walk down memory lane than a source of updated information - which seems more and more the case with my posts anymore...

All the best to you all as we head into warmer weather.

Dwayne

Ron Smith is still building top shelf barrels are is KS Arms in Edmonton
Cat

catnthehat;
Good evening to you sir, it's good to see you posting too - lots of good folks coming out for this one.

Hopefully it's okay to discuss on open forum and I do apologize if I'm overstepping my boundaries, but my memory thinks it was you with whom I traded for an octagon Ron Smith barrel way, way back?

I believe that's how I ended up with a cool older Weaver Target scope - my goodness how the years travel by.

Anyway sir if it wasn't you I apologize for the mistake, but it's good to see you posting and I hope all is well with you and yours.

Dwayne

This will be a really good thread, lots of information already on barrel makers I had never heard of before. Thanks to everyone so far, while I like the American barrels typically talked about it is also nice to see new guys making barrels now since some of the older guys are not with us anymore.

Any thread with Dwayne and catnthehat is always a good one

The Landscape seems to have changed very quickly in the last handful of years.

Gaillard is retired. McLennan sold out. I understand Jury is defunct.

Ron Smith is still in the shop along with his son, but he is approximately ... 83 years old?

I have heard decent things about International Barrels in Chilliwack but have no experience. My last few barrels have been either Benchmarks sourced through Bighorn sales in Houston BC, or else Pac Nors.

Actually I’ve seen quite a few Benchmarks used by members in the local silhouette club. They are not the cheapest but can be gotten quickly thanks to Gary’s inventory, and every single one has been a screamer. My present 6BR, smithed by Greydog, is at least a 3/8moa shooter for 5 shots. My 22LR is as good as the ammunition, you can’t get any better than that. They are my Option #1 these days.

Howdy Dwayne !
No it was not I, I would have certainly remembered an octagon barrel!
RickF I was not aware that Jury was no longer building barrels!
Glad to here the Benchmarks are doing well however .
I am about to send a 54 Anschutz action to Ron Smith to rebarrel for me . He has supplied me with many barrels over the years and I have shot a couple that were built recently , the quality is still there .
Cat

The information about western barrel makers is starting to come out.

Having a barrel sent up from the US is easy. I have used a number of businesses to import. The last few were Shilens that Jerry Teo, owner of Mystic Precision, ordered for me. Depending on what you are after, it can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months.

WRT to International Barrels, I might order a pre-fit, but they really are not making any barrel chamberings that interest me. I realize that they are just starting out. I might build another 22 CF. Generally, I use Savage actions. In this case, it would be the 223 Wylde chamber.

http://ksarms.com

http://wildcatcomposites.com/productinfo.htm


Karl, produces Barrels and Actions, Drop it into one of Stuarts stocks.


357

I used my first Ron Smith barrel in 1978 and visited Ron last month. Still producing barrels, still shooting, and still a pleasant visit. I visited the guys at IBI last year and it looked like they were serious about producing a good product but I have yet to try one. Dennis Sorensen has installed some and said they looked good. One of the best shooting BR rifles I built used a barrel from Rob McLennan. GD

Thanks for posting that, Flyer.

I see they rebarrel most actions. I realize they can do pretty much any rifle and chambering you want, but is there a list we can post here of the chamberings they offer?

Steve,

Best to contact Karl direct.

Tim,

Okay, I've fired off an email. Will post when I get a response.

I have a couple JC Custom bbls. One on a 280 and the other in 308Win. Very pleased with early results so far.

JC is easy to deal with and is fairly quick to deliver.

https://www.jccustombarrels.com/

Very interesting, I see they have 277 barrels from 1 in 7 - 1 in 12 twist hmm..........

When you say very pleased so far what does that mean, what kind of accuracy are you getting so far?

Has anyone had a barrel made for a lever gun or do these folks just spec in bench-rest/bolt guns?
I still have an old Savage 99 action I want to do a build on. The idea kind of went to the back-burner the last 2-3 years but I want
get it going now.
Jeff

Only been to the range with both once.

The 280 gave 1" with factory ammo and less while the 308 gave POI touching with handloads.

Sounds promising early on, SC. Thanks for the feedback.

Friend of mine has a JC .284 barrel at the smith’s. There was some twist confusion with his order, but JC did eventually make it right. Hopefully he gets his rifle back soon, I’m looking forward to his range results. Would like to order a couple barrels here soon and waffle back and forth between KS, JC or an American manufacture I have more experience with.

Cool guys, if you can keep us up to date that would be great. Had no idea that there were so many new barrel makers coming up. It's great news since some of the older guys are not with us anymore.

Some of the makers are fairly limited on what contours they will do. I believe IBI will do most any contour you want, a definite plus if you are trying to keep rifle weight down.

JC doesn't list contours thinner than factory sporter. I think he is still quite busy keeping up with what he does offer.

I have a trued 700 action and stock down on the heap. I may order a fast twist JC bbl for a 243 to use them up. The grand kids might need a rifle or two in the future.

I received an email back from Mike at KS Arms. It was in response to my email asking which chamberings they offer.

Good Afternoon Stephen,

Thanks for reaching out, we do not list our chamber offerings as we have too many (100 plus) to compile online basic, standard chambering on out to proprietary, wildcats etc. I have wandered around your site before and am happy to say I have read some of your articles over the years! Much appreciated.

We'd be happy to open a conversation or send any info you desire! Please let us know.

So, the simplest answer is the best. If you have a project in mind, send them an email about the cartridge, the twist you want, barrel length and action type. They will get back to you in short order.