Colerain or Rice........?

[Art Caputo]

I have rifles with Rice, Colerain, GM, and Rayl. I consider them all excellent barrels. My two favorites, one with a Rice(Kemper-top), the other a Colerain(Bratten-bottom) )are quite accurate, will maintain accuracy for over 15 shots without swabbing.. Hard call as to which I’d prefer but if I were to choose one, it would be the Rice. It is smooth as silk with little resistance when loading.

 

[JCKelly]

You might want to ask about what barrel steel they use. A low sulfur grade made specifically to withstand explosions, or resulfurized free machining screw stock? Screw stock machines beautifully but may behave badly if a crack is present.

 

[Kansas Kid]

I currently have one or more examples of all the mentioned brands. Only one I have never been able to get to shoot decent is an A weight 40 Colerain. I got it new several years ago and it’s appears perfect but shoots patterns and not groups. The best and least fussy are 8 groove Green Mountain square cut.

 

[M. De Land]

Hi
Another question from me........If I want round bottom rifling I need to decide on the brand of barrel.......either Colerain or Rice.......It will be in a cal.45 and in a B weight. Are there advantages to either brand?
As usual.....Thank you.......Macon

I have shooting friends that use both but I only use GM barrels now days, course they don't offer round bottom rifling that I'm aware of but then I'm not convinced round bottom rifling produces as good of accuracy as does the more traditional profiles of bore circumference or flat bottom rifling.
I could be wrong but I don't believe I've heard that many match shooters use it at Friendship.

 

[HighUintas]

I'm currently trying to decide between a colerain and rice. It sounds like it is a toss up but with rice being a bit smoother and maybe not putting out as many barrels.

The other part I'm deciding on is the $70 difference. The rice is higher due to being a tapered octagon and the colerain being straight.

 

[Grenadier1758]

The tapered Rice barrel will balance better since it's not so muzzle heavy.

If you are choosing a rifle barrel for a build, then the tapered barrel will be slightly more complicated to inlet in the barrel channel. But since it is a straight taper, it's not all that complicated. For a precarved stock get the barrel channel milled for the smallest dimension of the tapered barrel at the muzzle.

 

[oldwood]

I no longer shoot competition , but when I did , I used **** , and Donnie Getz barrels. Can't comment on the current owner's production. Also ,used Green Mtn. w/ success. I currently have produced a good number of guns using Colerain barrels of all description with good success. Currently have one on my personal deer rifle equipped w/ a peep sight. Very accurate . Used a Rice barrel ,it was good as any. No Complaints.
One note, the only time I've encountered any barrel w/ a tight spot ,was when I over tightened a new barrel in my bench vise. Stupid , but , I wasn't feeling well that day and took my frustrations out on the barrel. Replaced the barrel , and the damaged one going to Bob Hoyt , to become a smooth bore. , Waste not want not...........oldwood

 

[Darkhorse]

I have a Rice .40 and a Colerain .54, both shoot very accurately and I would buy either one again. The Rice was clearly better machined and finished while the Colerain took a good bit more time to finish up. The Rice is a nicer barrel and priced so but mine doesn't outshoot the Colerain. I like the twist of the Colerain better as I think it offers good accuracy with a broader range of powder charges.
I found my Rice took a lot more time to break in than expected given the descriptions I had read.
The first photo is the Colerain at 50 yards.

The second image is a group from the Rice .40 caliber. BTW it is legal to hunt turkeys in my state with a black powder rifle and I built this rifle to be my turkey rifle. It excells at that job.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I also find square bottom rifling easier to work up loads for, and to be more accurate. I've only used; FCI, GR Douglas, GM, and Rice to date, but wouldn't hesitate to use a Colerain. The secondary gun market doesn't seem to want to pay a premium for those however. Maybe it's because they are the most prolific maker.

And yes, like others, I find metal preparation (of all parts) to be the most tedious of all gun building tasks.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I have a 42 inch swamped Rice barrel, can not see using anything else.

 

[oldwood]

I've used many Colersin barrels ,and have no issues with them. ..............oldwood

 

[Headhunter]

My most accurate rifle is my Southern Mountain Rifle 40 cal. It carries a Swamped Rice.

HH

 

[user 34300]

I bought a Colerain 45 cal round bottom barrel. I could not get acceptable accuracy. I believe it is because the grooves were narrow and deep. That prevented making a seal with any loadable combination.

I saw no difference in cleaning that I could attribute to round bottom rifling.

I scrapped that barrel. Your mileage may vary.

 

[M. De Land]

I bought a Colerain 45 cal round bottom barrel. I could not get acceptable accuracy. I believe it is because the grooves were narrow and deep. That prevented making a seal with any loadable combination.

I saw no difference in cleaning that I could attribute to round bottom rifling.

I scrapped that barrel. Your mileage may vary.

Most muzzle loading barrels are made of 12L14 which will work as long as you don't make any loading mistakes such as short starting a ball or conical. They can and have come apart on occasion as the alloy does not have good shock load stress values and is not certified gun barrel steel.
They use it because it will generally hold up under the pressures of black powder , get legal cover because muzzle loading is by definition "reloading" and it is cheaper and machines well. Green Mtn and one or two others are the only ones I'm aware of that use 1134 or 4140 steel alloy which is gun barrel certified steel.