IS there any favorite among barrel makers, among the faithful?

[qtropwr]

Looking to do a new barrel for my 111, 300 RUM. But the choices are overwhelming, sort of like just throw a dart and see where it lands.

[celltech]

What is your budget? You have your Bartlein, Brux, Krieger and others at the high end. I personally have had good luck with X-Caliber...wait for one of their many sales to save 15-20%.

[wbm]

Criterion.

[Txhillbilly]

I've had and shot them all. Pick which ever brand that you can get the quickest and shoot the crap out of it.
With hand loading, almost any brand of quality aftermarket barrel's will shoot itty bitty groups.
Currently, I'm using the following brands - Bartlein, Douglas, E.R.Shaw, X-Caliber, McGowen, Shilen, and Rock Creek. All of them will shoot well under MOA with multiple bullet weights & powder types.

The 300 RUM isn't a shooter friendly target rifle, so I doubt you're doing this for a fun time range gun. Any of the name brands should serve you well. Just make sure that the reamer that they use on the barrel has the right amount of freebore for the bullet's you're wanting to shoot or it will limit your case capacity if you have to seat the bullet deeper in the case.

[Robinhood]

You have some great responses, For hunting the "Best" is not needed. Brux is probably the top for many competitive shooters but hunters will be happy with anything including a Shaw. I personally would consider what TXhillbilly stated. Get the one you can get the fastest. You might get lucky and find something on the shelf. There is a list of suppliers on here somewhere. One of the newer vendors is Preferred Barrels. I have no experience. I have had Brux, Bartlien, Criterion, Krieger, Mcgowan, Pac Nor(my favorite for a hunting barrel) Shaw, Shilen and Xcaliber. I think I left out a few but there may be a name in there to help with your research.

[pdshooter2]

i disagree, but i shoot in competition, not hunting nor general plinking
criterion and krieger top end, bartlien,lilja up there too
why gamble with a low end just no sense to me
what distance do you think you will hunt > why 300 rum ??

[gbflyer]

Are you thinking a prefit or are you getting a blank to gunsmith?

[bsekf]

I have a Green Mountain Moly in 6x223, that I am very happy with .

[dfrosch]

You really couldn't go wrong by calling James at Northland Shooters Supply. He sells Criterion and Shilen prefits for Savage. Both are button rifled barrels that are near the top end in quality and accuracy and would definitely be an upgrade from your factory barrel. He also sells action wrenches, barrel nut wrenches and headspace gauges, everything you need to change the barrel yourself.

He's also a sponsor on this site.

https://northlandshooterssupply.com/

[RCE1]

I like Criterion. I've had good luck with Douglas, Krieger and Lilja, too.

[want2ride]

I have a custom and a semi custom with Proof Carbon barrels along with 3 Savage ultralites , and they are all great shooters. I also have a custom with a Shilen and it is a great shooter. For a hunting rifle, I absolutely love my Barrels and can't recommend them enough. My brother has a proof steel barrel, shilen, criterion, preferred, Mcgowan, Bartlien and the only one that he has not been super happy with was the McGowan, but still accurate enough for a hunting rifle.

[Dave Hoback]

All the well know barrels really are equally top shelf. Honestly, you won’t see a difference in accuracy among them. If you have the patience go ahead and choose one based on your preference. I encourage you read the various manufacturers “About Us” pages on their websites. Maybe one of them will ring with you. Or perhaps you like one of their names more than the rest. Or price.. Although, they are all fairly close. Now, if you need one ASAP, yeah.., just go with the one you can get the quickest.

It really just doesn’t matter unless you have a brand loyalty.

[qtropwr]

Not looking for hunting. Plan is for heavy barrel, long range (1500+) Next step up from 300 WM . Heavily invested on 30 cal., so not wanting to go up in cal. The smith who rebarreled my 300 WM used a Hart in stainless. Probably shoots better than I can, at least for now. Don't have a whole lot of experience in PLR, so don't I don't have experience, with a lot of manufacturers. I will say the original Criterion barrel on the 300 WM shot prettty good for a sporter weight.

[Fuj']

I've shot most. Current long gun wears a Brux, short porch rifle wears a Douglas.
Best I can tell you to do before buying any barrel, is to to make damn sure of what
your primary bullet will be, and search for the correct twist rate. Way too many
people bad mouth a good barrel for shooting poorly, when it's there own fault for
choosing a way too long bullet for a way too slow twist barrel.

[pdshooter2]

and too many people on here have little knowledge of ACCURACY.
when the discussion was a hunting gun...lots of bbls will work,
BUT when you go to 1500 yards and want accuracy, most of the listed bbls
fall short.
i shoot a 300 win mag with a long throat and a 3.5/6 cart length out past 2000 yards
one mile is not hard at all, so not sure why you want go bigger
your choice you can jump up to 240/250 gr bullets.

lilja, krieger maybe bartlien and brux
maybe crieterion..no exp there

oh and production bullets suck at these distances

[Dave Hoback]

Shooting at One Mile is quite difficult. Saying it’s not is simply disingenuous. Shooting at 100yds is not difficult. Anyone with even a shred of basic skill can hit a man sized target over & over again. Even a hundred shots taken, & not one will miss. At a mile, there are variables beyond our control. Wind being the largest. And the flight time adding to that. There is a certain amount of pure CHANCE at a mile or more. Very, very few can hit the same man sized target even 2 back to back shots at one mile. Regardless of caliber/cartridge. Now make that 5, or 10 shots in a row? Fagettaboutit! Probably a handful of people in the world! Probably a handful of people in the world! And non of them are posting here!

Watch videos on YouTube showing a Mile shooting. They look like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C262u2n69w

It’s HIT…MISS…HIT…MISS…MISS…MISS…HIT, etc. all over the place. I’ve watched hundreds & hundreds of videos. And a back to back HITS at 1 Mile are few and far between. And some are questionable do to editing. Show me your unedited 10 consecutive hits at 1 Mile, and my hat’s off to you. Tell me you do it? Well, OK.:rolleyes:

[jkv45]

Shooting at One Mile is quite difficult. Saying it’s not is simply disingenuous. Shooting at 100yds is not difficult. Anyone with even a shred of basic skill can hit a man sized target over & over again. Even a hundred shots taken, & not one will miss. At a mile, there are variables beyond our control. Wind being the largest. And the flight time adding to that. There is a certain amount of pure CHANCE at a mile or more. Very, very few can hit the same man sized target even 2 back to back shots at one mile. Regardless of caliber/cartridge. Now make that 5, or 10 shots in a row? Fagettaboutit! Probably a handful of people in the world! Probably a handful of people in the world! And non of them are posting here!

Watch videos on YouTube showing a Mile shooting. They look like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C262u2n69w

It’s HIT…MISS…HIT…MISS…MISS…MISS…HIT, etc. all over the place. I’ve watched hundreds & hundreds of videos. And a back to back HITS at 1 Mile are few and far between. And some are questionable do to editing. Show me your unedited 10 consecutive hits at 1 Mile, and my hat’s off to you. Tell me you do it? Well, OK.:rolleyes:

If you watch any videos from the King of 2 Miles events, you will see many very experienced shooters, with some very special equipment, fail to make enough hits on the first target at 1550 yds to move on to the next target at 1700.

Depending on when they are scheduled to shoot, the conditions can be such that hitting a 24 x 36" plate consistently at 1550 yards just doesn't happen.

It's humbling to watch the some of the top names in ELR struggle to make consistent hits at less than a mile.

[Dave Hoback]

Precisely. Which is why I don’t take people at their word. Too much story telling telling in shooting, when a person can easily see hundreds of videos ALL showing the same thing.

But somehow, it’s not hard at all?

[Txhillbilly]

It all depends on the conditions you're shooting in. On a decently calm day, shooting out to a mile isn't that hard if you have the equipment to do it. The problem is those days are few and far between.
Even in perfect conditions, very few shooter's can make a cold bore shot on steel at a mile or farther.

[charlie b]

I think what pd was saying is that a 300WM is enough of a cartridge to shoot at a mile. He is also a good enough shooter to do the job.