Nate
02-20-2013, 07:44 PM
For the record my vote is for crock but I wanted to run this situation by experienced rifle builders.
I am building a 35 Caliber wildcat to match Indiana Deer regualations. Thanks to BillPa I found that 4d Products offers the chamber and Caliber that I was wanting. MGM is the only other place I found that offered the wildcat chamber but the fact hat 4d had the headspace gauges to go with the barrel sold me. I ordered the Criterion barrel from 4d. I ordered a 22 inch bull in chromemoly.
There is a gun smith a few hours away who is well known for building this very wildcat, he is considered by most to be the go to guy on this particular round. Most people believe he created the round, however that is false.
A friend of mine is building an identical rifle along with me except he is using a stainless barrel. This friend met the Smith that builds these at a outdoor expo. He spoke with him in an attempt to determine if he wanted to have one built or if he wanted to piece it together himeself. At the expo the smith was very critical of the Savage action and prefered the remington. At that time he stated that it would be more than a year to get the gun built do to other orders. My friend and I went ahead and ordered the Criterion Barrels, Boyds stocks, and Savage 11 short actions.
The same smith also offers for sale ammunition for sale for the wildcat. I plan to load my own however the wait on the Hornady custom dies is 16 weeks. My friend contacted the smith again by phone to see about ammo untill the dies arrive. My friend and the smith had a very cordial conversation about the rifles my friend and I are building. Durning this converstation the gun smith told my friend that the Criterion Barrel was a low end barrel that may not be capable of handling the load pressures the Shilen barrels he uses can handle. He stated that there would be issues with wall thickness, material quality, and accuracy. He stated that he would most likely not sell ammunition to anyone that did not use the Shilen barrels he reams. He stated that they had done extensive testing with the Shilen barrels pressure capacity. My friend became a bit nervous and asked him when he could have a gun built, he now told him he would have it by September of this year.
I understand that no one else local has the reamer for this project and that if it becomes public that people can simply order up a already reamed barrel with the gauges he is likely to lose buisness.
In my mind the issues he brought up are a crock. Wall thickness? is a 35 caliber bore with a 1 inch diameter going to have a different wall thickness from one barrel to another? NO
Material? Is shilen using a chromemoly of higher quality than criterion? Reviews all say they are both great barrels.
Breech pressure? Is the criterion barrel I have not the same blank criterion would build a 300 win mag or similiar from?
He also stated that his ammo was built especially for the Shilen barrel. I just dont buy it.
The smith, whos name I have not used on purpose, charges anywhere from 495 to 900 for builds on top of the cost of your donor gun. I can put mine together for the price of the barrel and the price of the gauge rental. Im not wanting to build these to get rich, and he would certainly lose money if the average Joe would order the barrel already reamed and have a local smith match it to the action. So are his claims that I cant use a Criterion a Crock or since he is the expert on this round should I pay his warning some mind.
Thanks in advance.
I am building a 35 Caliber wildcat to match Indiana Deer regualations. Thanks to BillPa I found that 4d Products offers the chamber and Caliber that I was wanting. MGM is the only other place I found that offered the wildcat chamber but the fact hat 4d had the headspace gauges to go with the barrel sold me. I ordered the Criterion barrel from 4d. I ordered a 22 inch bull in chromemoly.
There is a gun smith a few hours away who is well known for building this very wildcat, he is considered by most to be the go to guy on this particular round. Most people believe he created the round, however that is false.
A friend of mine is building an identical rifle along with me except he is using a stainless barrel. This friend met the Smith that builds these at a outdoor expo. He spoke with him in an attempt to determine if he wanted to have one built or if he wanted to piece it together himeself. At the expo the smith was very critical of the Savage action and prefered the remington. At that time he stated that it would be more than a year to get the gun built do to other orders. My friend and I went ahead and ordered the Criterion Barrels, Boyds stocks, and Savage 11 short actions.
The same smith also offers for sale ammunition for sale for the wildcat. I plan to load my own however the wait on the Hornady custom dies is 16 weeks. My friend contacted the smith again by phone to see about ammo untill the dies arrive. My friend and the smith had a very cordial conversation about the rifles my friend and I are building. Durning this converstation the gun smith told my friend that the Criterion Barrel was a low end barrel that may not be capable of handling the load pressures the Shilen barrels he uses can handle. He stated that there would be issues with wall thickness, material quality, and accuracy. He stated that he would most likely not sell ammunition to anyone that did not use the Shilen barrels he reams. He stated that they had done extensive testing with the Shilen barrels pressure capacity. My friend became a bit nervous and asked him when he could have a gun built, he now told him he would have it by September of this year.
I understand that no one else local has the reamer for this project and that if it becomes public that people can simply order up a already reamed barrel with the gauges he is likely to lose buisness.
In my mind the issues he brought up are a crock. Wall thickness? is a 35 caliber bore with a 1 inch diameter going to have a different wall thickness from one barrel to another? NO
Material? Is shilen using a chromemoly of higher quality than criterion? Reviews all say they are both great barrels.
Breech pressure? Is the criterion barrel I have not the same blank criterion would build a 300 win mag or similiar from?
He also stated that his ammo was built especially for the Shilen barrel. I just dont buy it.
The smith, whos name I have not used on purpose, charges anywhere from 495 to 900 for builds on top of the cost of your donor gun. I can put mine together for the price of the barrel and the price of the gauge rental. Im not wanting to build these to get rich, and he would certainly lose money if the average Joe would order the barrel already reamed and have a local smith match it to the action. So are his claims that I cant use a Criterion a Crock or since he is the expert on this round should I pay his warning some mind.
Thanks in advance.