Are you kidding me? Field research? What about a think tank?
Some of these folks who have replied to your thread have 50 or more years of m/l shooting and building experience. Is that enough field research? If you would carefully re read the first page of this thread, before the pioneers used mud hijack, you would find the answer to your question.
Lets review...
Money is tight. I want a good cheap barrel for my next project? I cant afford $400. What about ebay TC/CVA/Traditions/Douglas used for $50 I'm not interested in saving money to buy a fine rifle or parts.
Stone wall creek has Rayl barrels around $200. CVA barrels are good but check a used one out well.
A new barrel and breach from TOTW can be had for $160 if you do some work yourself. Used barrels are a crapshoot.
GM barrels are good, they keep the cost down but prices are rising.
I have used old Italian barrels with good results, not ideal for building, GM barrels are good and faily inexpensive. Do not cut corners on a barrel.
Problems with used barrels, book recomendation, personal help offer.
Used barrels are a crapshoot. CVA can be fine shooters. GM good.
CVA Good, Numrich crapshoot GM good. Its risky to try and save a buck.
Bought 2 used CVAs one was unusable. Built a flintlock for $200. Bought new CVA bbl from Deer Creek 3 yrs ago $110 close to GM but breached and dovetailed.
Italian barrels accurate, Deer Creek has old CVA parts. Personal help offer will look whats laying around.
I built a Plainsman flinter had fun, not perfect, looking forward to next build buying books...
GM good
You can build a Southern rifle very inexpensively.
swamped colerain at $200
I'm going to make a barrel???
The pioneers used mud
I saw the mud house. people should live in a mud house
A train engineer fixed a Cruiser Prop with a tree trunk and butter, OK, It was lard. What was not said was this, It was the USS Indianapolis in which a Jap sub was able to hear and track down in the pitch black Phillipine Sea due to a wobbly prop. It slammed two torpedoes into its side but not after it delivered the big one, the Hiroshima Bomb.
Grumpy ole 76 says your looking for the tallest midget.
The original question is re-phrased and asked again..
54ball the ML forum's renowned OCD thread killer waisted a lot of time but being a smart A$$ and sumarized this whole thread.