Barrel weights according to Jim Kibler

[Songwriter]

I received a new .40 SMR from Kibler about 6 weeks ago and it has a Rice barrel.

 

[TDM]

Yes, the .36 and .40 barrels are still made by Rice.

 

[sportster73hp]

All kiblers are swamped. Kibler used to buy barrels from Rice but has switched to GM. Apparently the barrels are delivered to Jim as straight octagon and he puts the swamped profile on them.

During the tour of his shop all i saw were full round barrel blanks . Were not octagon at all.

 

[TerryK]

The woodsrunner I just assembled had metal shavings in the barrel. I was pretty surprised. I felt something when I was measuring the ram rod, and I thought it would be a rag with lapping compound. So I put a worm on a rod and pulled out a bunch of swarth. There was more cuttings, maybe a teaspoon full, I just snapped a picture of some of it. There was no lapping compound in the metal cuttings, so I know it was not lapped. I did the lapping myself with knife lapping compound. It is like ice now, loads and cleans well. I don't know if lapping is part of the Green Mountain process, but this one was not lapped.
Rifling looks good, and feels uniform with a tight patch, but I was pretty concerned about quality control. I did send Kibler a quick email with the pics for their reference in dealing with GM.
It shoots really well, so really a nonissue, but I was anxious to finish it and do testing.

 

[wiscoaster]

The woodsrunner I just assembled had metal shavings in the barrel.....

That pic is disgusting!! I think maybe someone in the shop skipped a barrel prep step. The bore of my new SMR .45 cal barrel had some light machining dust in it; easily cleaned out, as I would do to any new barrel.

 

[longcruise]

During the tour of his shop all i saw were full round barrel blanks . Were not octagon at all.

That makes more sense than my assumption that he was buying in the Octagon. Why re machine when it's simpler to do it all more economical for gm and kibler.

 

[waksupi]

I've found it common to have machining trash in new barrels. The machinist is forming the work piece. It's up to the end user to be smart enough to realize maybe it would be a good idea to clean them before shooting.

 

[M. De Land]

The woodsrunner I just assembled had metal shavings in the barrel. I was pretty surprised. I felt something when I was measuring the ram rod, and I thought it would be a rag with lapping compound. So I put a worm on a rod and pulled out a bunch of swarth. There was more cuttings, maybe a teaspoon full, I just snapped a picture of some of it. There was no lapping compound in the metal cuttings, so I know it was not lapped. I did the lapping myself with knife lapping compound. It is like ice now, loads and cleans well. I don't know if lapping is part of the Green Mountain process, but this one was not lapped.
Rifling looks good, and feels uniform with a tight patch, but I was pretty concerned about quality control. I did send Kibler a quick email with the pics for their reference in dealing with GM.
It shoots really well, so really a nonissue, but I was anxious to finish it and do testing.

Looks like breech plug thread tapping chips, no big deal! I have quite a few muzzle loaders and BP cartridge guns I've built using GM barrels. I usually have to lap them to dull the land corners or they will cut patches for a hundred rounds or so.
They are the most uniformly bored and rifled barrels I have checked with my set of plug gauges though and I've yet to have one that was not accurate.