Happy Now- both Kreiger and Shilen barrels- 1st class customer service

I just received a very nice phone call from Mr. Wade Hull- Pres. of Shilen. We spoke for 45 min. as I must say he and his company are first class. He would have called sooner, however he was at SHOT show and he had to play detective as he went thru every order for a 260AI that went out in the past 3 months and looked at my profile and found I was from NC, put it all together and called me personally. I was already satisfied with their customer service, as really what else could they offer to do, but to re throat it. I was just going to shoot it and see how it worked and decide then.
Well, unprovoked by me, Mr Hull called to find find out first if this barrel actually was not throated per my order. We decided that it probably was missed on the order. He was concerned how this got missed and got out of his shop and he is investigating that further.
He did however, make the offer for me to ship the complete rifle, scope and all, disassemble it, re-throat it, and re-assmeble it if I wanted to do that.
We did also discuss the difficulty in grading a barrel based on borescoping it alone as someone else suggested.
He shared his grading methodology with me and I found that they only make one grade of barrels- not 2. They only have 1 set of tooling so the Select Match and Match barrels are made on the same machienery, and the grade of Match or sel. match come from the grading criteria.

I must say that both of these companies did respond both very quickly, and also did all that they could to make me a happy customer. I would purchase barrels from both companies again based on their past track record both in the shooting community and with me. Their concern for their customers showed thru in the handleing of these 2 individual barrels.

I had a problem with a Shilen barrel about a year ago. Set up for a Remington when I ordered it for a Savage. Mr. Wade Hull took the full responsibility for the mistake himself. Did handsprings while bending over backwards to make me happy. Good man to deal with besides making good barrels. Never hesitate to do business with folks like that. ;)

I have had a couple of returns to Shilen with pre-fits. Wade @ Shilen is first class. They are close enough that I try to make it to the Shilen Swap Meet every year and pick up a barrel or a blank, tour the factory, and see what the vendors have to push. Wade has never told me anything that they didn't make happen as he promised. Customer service is why I have more Shilens than all the other barrels combined. The fact they shoot well doesn't hurt anything either,,,,, ;D ;D ;D

Glad to here things are working out. Tim

As my previous post stated:

I guess the bottom line of all this is, every barrel maker will at some time let a bad one get out of the shop. A good gunsmith also doesn’t always do perfect work.

As long as they back up there work/products, if some thing goes wrong, I can live with that.


we just have to give them a chance.

Glad to see they are working it out with you. Keep us updated.

My first custom was a Shilen, just completed the first of Dec....perfect transaction, can't say that. But I am willing to bet that my next custom barrel will be a Shilen for 2 reasons. 1st - the are close enough to me to call them local, and I always try to support the local business 2nd - And most important, they had great customer service and treated me with the respect of someone that might have purchased several barrels.

For me, it was much better than dealing with one of the big box stores - where you know you are just a number. These guys not only put a face on the business they extend a hand - when you can shake a mans hand and look him in the eye, you know if he really wants you to bring your business back or not.

Wade is a great guy. The things I like about him are, First he is president, but he still works on the floor. He got his start working there sweeping the floors, and worked his way up. He is a shooter, and shoots competitively. If only every company had a Wade Hull as president, the shooting world would be a better place.

Both company's are top notch, and have a great reputation.