Anyone else hate most prefit barrel offering?

[DanSavage]

I like the heavy barrel's for hunting. Heavy barrel,, steady hold.

[joe h]

ive converted to using a "hybrid" weight. a savage magnum or heavy sporter contour, call it what you want. its .700" at muzzle.
requires a lighter sporter stock, i went with a Mcmillan A3 sporter. still heavy enough to shoot groups with, light enough to hunt with. still works great for long range.

but everytime they are always special order... just ordered a third barrel in this contour from northland. a CBI like this is the same price as the rest. $300 and some change.

[stomp442]

I too would like to see more prefit in stock ready to ship offerings in sporter and magnum contour barrels. I would like them a good 26" though. I have two designated match/bench rifles and a whole safe full of long range hunting rifles that I require match grade quality for what I do. 26" barrels in a shilen #4 contour offered in 25's, 6.5's and 7mm's of all kinds.

[J.Baker]

The reason nobody offers pre-fit sporter barrels is because the barrel market is always flooded with factory take-off sporter barrels that have consistently proven to shoot 1/2 to 3/4 MOA with good handloads, and such barrels can typically be had for less than $100. Why spend $200-400 on an aftermarket barrel for a hunting rifle when a factory sporter barrel can be had for much less and is more than accurate enough for hunting purposes? Only real reason to go aftermarket on a sporter barrel is if you want it chambered for a cartridge that isn't available from the factory.

The barrel makers and brokers know that 95%+ of those looking for a pre-fit aftermarket barrel are going to be wanting a heavy barrel for long-range varmint hunting or competitive shooting so it makes no sense for them to tie up their money in stocking sporter weight barrels that are just going to sit there and collect dust until a rare individual like yourself comes along. For every sporter barrel they sell, they'll sell 100 heavy barrels.

Now factor in all the different cartridges - what maker or broker wants to tie up his money in dozens of pre-fit sporter barrels in various lengths and cartridges for a once in a blue moon sale of one?

[sharpshooter]

In a nutshell; "No body will make me exactly what I want, fast enough or cheap enough".
I guess that makes you "special":(

[GaCop]

Lothar Walther in Cummings Georgia will do just about any configuration you could want and their prices are reasonable.

[lskok]

Don't get me wrong I still use the heavy barrels from time to time, and have even had a few turned down. However, that really doesn't save me much money in the end vs. having a smith install and chamber the barrel. I guess one of these days I'm going to have to see if there is enough interest in doing a group buy on some lightweight contour barrels from CBI, McGowen or other prefit barrel maker.

Gun Shack does sell McGowen in 24' sporter contour:

http://www.gunshack.com/mcgowen-barrels

We don't have the capability to chamber barrels so we have to order them from McGowen already chambered. This means it makes it hard to have a HUGE variety in stock and ready to ship. I think we have a fair selection and I'm always open to suggestions on what we should keep in stock.

Lance

[taylorce1]

I know I'm going to be in the minority here, but man I hate most of the prefit barrel options being offered by most distributors. I mean if more people were like me they'd be offering what I want right?

Nowhere did I ever come across as not understanding why suppliers don't stock sporter prefit barrels? I totally understand how retail works, and worked in it for more years than I cared to. I posted mainly to see if there was any interest in a possible group buy through a distributor that could get prices down to near $300 per barrel, I even mentioned this in one of my later posts. I also understood I was going to have to compromise on what I wanted to get a group buy going.


The reason nobody offers pre-fit sporter barrels is because the barrel market is always flooded with factory take-off sporter barrels that have consistently proven to shoot 1/2 to 3/4 MOA with good handloads, and such barrels can typically be had for less than $100. Why spend $200-400 on an aftermarket barrel for a hunting rifle when a factory sporter barrel can be had for much less and is more than accurate enough for hunting purposes?


The only two factory barrel Savage currently has that interest me are the 8 twist 6.5mm barrels and the 9 twist .223 for turning into a .22-250. Savage like most firearm manufacturers has failed to keep up with bullet technology and the majority of the twists are too slow to stabalize a lot of bullets offered now. Take the 9.25 twist .243 for example it can't reliably stabilize the 105 grain A-Max 100% of the time at all elevations and temperatures. They should be running an 8" twist in .223, and all 6mm and 7mm calibers to take advantage of the bullets available for hunting.

Brian Litz did a test on the Nosler LRAB and found the majority of factory twisted rifles couldn't take advantage of the BC of these bullets because they weren't spinning fast enough. Plus when I'm out hunting predators why would I want to drag along a 10+ lbs varmint rig when a light weight .223 running 75+ grain or .243 with 105+ grain bullets gives me the range I need for the dog that hangs up out to 600+ yards? Hell I'd love to see a factory .270 Win with an 8 or 9" twist rate.


In a nutshell; "No body will make me exactly what I want, fast enough or cheap enough".
I guess that makes you "special":(

Nope I'm not special, I can get what I want and even pay for it. I was just testing the waters only to find out I like to swim a different direction. However for the extra cost to get what I want for a Savage I can build on a Remington cheaper, by cutting costs elsewhere.

[taylorce1]

I like the heavy barrel's for hunting. Heavy barrel,, steady hold.

That's because you don't hunt anywhere near the terrain, I hunt where you start out 4000 feet above sea level to above timberline. Pack a heavy rifle on a mule deer or elk hunt for up to 10 miles a day changing as much as 2000-3000 feet in elevation and see if you still like your heavy rifle. If all I hunted was in a box blind, tree stand, or the occasional deer drive I wouldn't mind a heavy rifle either. Our hunting situations are as vastly different as our rifle barrel preference.

[taylorce1]

Gun Shack does sell McGowen in 24' sporter contour:

http://www.gunshack.com/mcgowen-barrels

We don't have the capability to chamber barrels so we have to order them from McGowen already chambered. This means it makes it hard to have a HUGE variety in stock and ready to ship. I think we have a fair selection and I'm always open to suggestions on what we should keep in stock.

Lance

Lance,

I'll consider it in the future, the .243 barrel would be tempting except I just bought one. I got in on a group buy of 25 rifles and bought a custom shop MRC Extreme 2 SS .243 rifle with an 8 twist 22” #2 barrel for just over $1200 after transfer fees. The rifle comes with a sub MOA guarantee and will weigh less than 8.5 lbs when scoped. The other cool thing about it is it's throated for the 105 A-Max at 2.85” OAL at .010 off the he lands, and has a magazine box of 3.1" so I can chase the lands as the throat wears.

Now if you had a 6x45 of 6x204 Ruger sporter I'd be all over that. I can cut and crown my own barrel back to 20" without too much hassle. I have a buddy with all the hand tools to do an 11 degree crown. I'd also be interested in a 6mm Creedmoor.

[GLShooter]

Not on the shelf but Black Hole can certainly provide you with the profile you want and you won't need to take out a second mortgage. Plus they'll give you 10% iff because you are a member here.

Greg