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Douglas barrels
- Thread starter bowkill
- Start date
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Don't know when they started but they stopped, at least advertising them, in about 1985 when they were being sued over them if I remember correctly. There were a lot of them around for sale for many years that were in inventory when they stopped building them. You can still find brand new ones for sale today, which is almost 30 years later.
Doug Lykins
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2008
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- 303
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For what reason were they sued? I've never had a Douglas ML barrel but I've had several on cartridge rifles, all were good barrels.
galamb
58 Cal.
There was at least one high profile injury as the result of a barrel failure.
Never heard the exact outcome - probably the shooters fault, but it was enough for them to throw in the towel.
Douglas still does make center fire barrels.
Douglas BP barrels never had the following or the high profile that say a Wm Large barrel did so because of that I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one if it turned up unless it was such a great deal that you couldn't turn it down.
When you can get a Colerain or a Green Mountain for a little more than 150 bucks brand new, why pay that for a Douglas, which often had to be indexed because the bore was not exactly in the center of the flats...
Never heard the exact outcome - probably the shooters fault, but it was enough for them to throw in the towel.
Douglas still does make center fire barrels.
Douglas BP barrels never had the following or the high profile that say a Wm Large barrel did so because of that I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one if it turned up unless it was such a great deal that you couldn't turn it down.
When you can get a Colerain or a Green Mountain for a little more than 150 bucks brand new, why pay that for a Douglas, which often had to be indexed because the bore was not exactly in the center of the flats...
My 2nd LR build has a Douglas bbl and it's super accurate....100s of headless squirrels can attest to that....and a few deer.
Douglas used octagon drawn steel and then drilled, rifled the bore, ran a carbide plug through the bore which resulted in a very smooth bore surface...but, there was drill run out. Also, their rifling wasn't as deep as some today...but I think the bbl grooves in many of todays bbls are too deep.
Not many complaints from those fortunate enough to have a Douglas bbl...in fact, most extoll the accuracy of their Douglas bbls......Fred
Douglas used octagon drawn steel and then drilled, rifled the bore, ran a carbide plug through the bore which resulted in a very smooth bore surface...but, there was drill run out. Also, their rifling wasn't as deep as some today...but I think the bbl grooves in many of todays bbls are too deep.
Not many complaints from those fortunate enough to have a Douglas bbl...in fact, most extoll the accuracy of their Douglas bbls......Fred
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I have a Douglas on a 32 Caliber LH flint lock. It shoots absolutely great and it has fired thousands of rounds.
Their method of making the barrel made a very strong barrel but they did not bend or deform they shattered when over pressured. The first case was a fellow that lost a hand and there were a couple of others. I don't know how they turned out, and who knows what they had loaded the barrels with to make them blow like that, but Douglas figured the market was too low volume to be worth the aggravation and just went to making CF barrels only.
Those are great barrels too, I have a couple of featherweight ones and they are the only fetherweights I have that don't move when they get hot and will shoot multiple bullet weioghts to nearly the same POI.
I would take another Douglas BP barrel in a second but I don't think they are necessarily better than a Rice.
Their method of making the barrel made a very strong barrel but they did not bend or deform they shattered when over pressured. The first case was a fellow that lost a hand and there were a couple of others. I don't know how they turned out, and who knows what they had loaded the barrels with to make them blow like that, but Douglas figured the market was too low volume to be worth the aggravation and just went to making CF barrels only.
Those are great barrels too, I have a couple of featherweight ones and they are the only fetherweights I have that don't move when they get hot and will shoot multiple bullet weioghts to nearly the same POI.
I would take another Douglas BP barrel in a second but I don't think they are necessarily better than a Rice.
don hepler
58 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2010
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I bought a 36 cal. rifle with a Douglas barrel and it is super accurate and I like the deep rifling. I talked to an accomplished builder, and he said the barrel was worth almost as much, as I paid for the whole gun. I paid $300. for the gun, which was dog ugly, but I'm in the process of a complete redo. It would take 3 or 4 times that amount, to get it from me, now.
"IF" you can get a Douglas barrel.....get it.
They are great!
I have had several guns with Douglas barrels, never a problem, and great target barrels.
Often for a very good price.
Fred
They are great!
I have had several guns with Douglas barrels, never a problem, and great target barrels.
Often for a very good price.
Fred
Snakebite
45 Cal.
I have a .54cal Hawken made by a guy named Davie Boultinghouse with a Douglas XX barrel. He made it for me in 1978 and it shoots great. If I remember right, he used a lot of Douglas barrels and built some really nice guns.
