Who has had any experience with Shilen rifle barrels? I'm thinking about rebarreling my Savage 10FP from a 308 Win to a 243 Win. I just really like that round. What's everybody's experiences been with them? I was also looking at getting one of their 24" AR stainless match barrels as a bulk buy with the other barrel.
Any of the custom barrels are just fine. Shilen would be 4th or 5th on my list but I would have no problem buying a rifle with one installed.
My tops are Krieger, Broughton and Rock Creek. Just because I've had the best luck with them.
Broughton! That's the one I was looking at a couple weeks ago but couldn't remember the name. So, have you used one of them?
Back in the 70's Shilen was about the best "production" barrel blanks you could buy. Then along came people like Kreiger and others in the 80's and
90's with high tech manufacturing equipment that blew them away in competition shooting. I don't know how well they have upgraded their equipment over the years. (I'm sure they have to stay in business)
For a hunting gun I would buy Shilen over a Douglas,Green mountain Etc.
For a target gun I would spend the extra for a Kreiger or Lilja (if I had the money)
or at least buy the premium Shilen "Air gauged or Target gauged" barrel.
Much, much better than the standard grade.
90's with high tech manufacturing equipment that blew them away in competition shooting. I don't know how well they have upgraded their equipment over the years. (I'm sure they have to stay in business)
For a hunting gun I would buy Shilen over a Douglas,Green mountain Etc.
For a target gun I would spend the extra for a Kreiger or Lilja (if I had the money)
or at least buy the premium Shilen "Air gauged or Target gauged" barrel.
Much, much better than the standard grade.
I've been custom barreling rifles for over 15 years, and I haven't done just a few. ALL of the custom barrel makers make EXCELLANT barrels, I've used them all. All this HoHa about whos' is the best is just speculation. I firmly believe that the accuracy of any of these barrels is more dependant on the threading, chambering, and crowning job than which custom barrel maker made the blank. And then you have to take into account WHO IS DRIVING THE RIFLE! Any of these barrels will out shoot 99.9% of those who are holding the rifle. There is much more to an accurate rifle than it's barrel. If it's wearing a piece of junk scope in piece of junk mounts in a piece of crap stock with a trigger by trash being shouldered by by Johnny fires 20 rounds a year, it is not going to preform to expectations. Go ahead and by that Shilen barrel, you'll be pleased with it.
If you dig on Brownells sight you can find a Shilen Select-Match Grade barrel for only a few bucks more (they are also very rough blanks though, you'll have to have them cut/crowned/threaded/chambered by a good smith).
Steve Baldwin raves on the Select Match grade, but says that the standard Shilen Match-grade barrels are a bit pricey for what you get.
You can't go wrong with a Broughton - a better value than the Shillen is the Douglas Air-gauged.
Yes, I have a Broughton on a rifle that I just had built. So far it has been great, shooting less than .25" at 100 yards (5 shots) and less than 1" at 200 yards (5 shots). Im sure with a better shooter it could be even better. IMO I would go with which one has the best prices and availibility. I think any of them will shoot beyond the shooters ability. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
Here is my .308 Surgeon that its on.
got a Lilja barrel 22-250 in a single shot Remington action. currently it's still a project needing a Shilen trigger and custom stock.
should shoot better than me, when it finally gets finished...
should shoot better than me, when it finally gets finished...
Show off. I'm not a marksman by any means. I'm happy to get a 1" group at 100 yards and to ring 8" steel at 500. The only gun I've ever been able to shoot sub-moa with is my dad's old Herter's .243 Win that was made in '56 I believe. I worked up a 90gr Sierra GameKing pushed by Varget that out of 9 shots (the first 3 were finding zero with the new scope), I put 7 (the 3rd sight in shot plus the following 6) in a hole that I covered with a quarter from outside to outside at 125 yards. That was my proudest moment... EVER.
I'm just not happy with the way I'm shooting the .308 and want to change back to a cartridge I'm more comfortable with. The .308 seems to be a very finnicky load whereas the .243 is rather forgiving. I'm going to keep shooting the .308 until I get my income tax back, then I believe I'll have Steve rebarrel it for me and true up the action. I put a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock on it (had a Choke - I mean Choate) and that helped my groups out quite a bit. Just looking for my comfort level with the gun now.
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