GM barrels (again)-question

Are you folks that have recently gotten GM barrels from TOW or other places happy with them or do they still have the problems we have read about? I have a friend that wants a RB bbl.. Fox Ridge doesn't have any such on their website. (Roundball, any secrets here?) Thanks, Bill in Oregon

 

[john s mosby]

I got my drop in GM barrel from Tip Curtis back in November and really like it. It doesn't have that helli coil thing in the nipple threads. So far it's shooting really good, better than I can hold it. It's a 15/16 barrel, percussion in 54 cal with a round ball twist.
Give Tip a call and ask him about it. His number is 615-654-4445. Or e mail him at [email protected]
I'm sure others may have different thoughts but for me it's fine.

 

[leslie]

Fox Ridge has 1/66 twist barrels on their site click on thompson center custom shop and look around in there.They have all kinds of barrels.

 

[Robert58]

When you go to the T/C website click on the links in the heading. That will bring up a number of different places. Then click on Fox Ridge. Then Hunting. Then Muzzleloading. Then Muzleloading accessories. then original replacement barrels.

Robert

 

[shmrck1]

OR562,
Or go directly to[url] www.gmriflebarrel.com[/url]
snake-eyes:hmm:

 

[AgesofDays]

this is my gm barrel 58 cal 21 inches on a renagade ,I was having problems hitting anything after banging my head against the wall I sent it to cain`s and had it cut down from 33 inches .all I can say is what a pleasure to shoot it now ,some get tack drivers from day one and some dont...being me

 

[roundball]

Are you folks that have recently gotten GM barrels from TOW or other places happy with them or do they still have the problems we have read about? I have a friend that wants a RB bbl.. Fox Ridge doesn't have any such on their website. (Roundball, any secrets here?) Thanks, Bill in Oregon

Both TC and Fox Ridge catalogs sometimes leave a lot to be desired...if you'll just call Fox Ridge at 800-243-4570, menu option #3, you can buy cap or flint .50cal & .54cal 1:66" RB barrels.

If you're looking for .40, .45 or .58cal RB barrels, you'll need to go to GM...and my personal choice would be not to accept one with a helicoil in it...

 

[bwhoffman]

I am thrilled to no end with my non helicoil 32x.40, it came from track and its a shooter!

 

[TennesseeJed]

I love my 38" .40 calibre barrel that I got from them a couple of years ago.

The little brown truck delivered a 32" .58 calibre barrel from TOTW today and it has a helicoil in the nipple threads. The serial # is over 29000, so they're still out there. I'm going to lay off shooting it until I can get opinions from Track and Green Mountain about potential problems.

The underlug and rib are not any sort of major problem to overcome. I'll have to work on them a little to get a perfect fit.

 

[roundball]

"...until I can get opinions from Track and Green Mountain about potential problems..."

TJ, IMHO, asking for opinions about helicoils from the people who make and market it is sort of like sending a fox into the hen house to count the chickens.

I don't know of any ML shooters who trust them, and two well established TC & GM suppliers, Tip Curtis in Tenn, and Cains Outdoor in West VA, retured their inventory of GM barrels that arrived with helicoils in them...refused to sell them...that should tell you something.

I had them pick up a new .40cal Flint barrel I bought and replace it with one without a helicoil.

 

[Mad Professor]

I had a 54 cal perc. GM heli-barrel. They installed the insert too deeply into the flash channel and had MANY MANY mis-fires.......(do a search here, ca. Nov. 2005)

I wasted ca. 1 lb of powder and a bunch of lead until I unscrewed the cleanout and saw the threads hanging down where they should not be. :shake: I was cursing the caps I was using for no good reason til I found the source of the problem.

IMHO send it back, and tell TOTW you don't want a heli-barrel. Maybe if (all) the vendors who sell GM barrels start sending them back GM will finally do the right thing, e.g. RECALL THEM ALL!!!!

BTW, when I contacted GM about this they said this was their current way to make barrels, it was "stronger"and "ALL NEW BARRELS WOULD HAVE THE HELI-COIL".

As I see the latest GM barrels do not have this "stronger" feature I can only assume I was fed a line of B.S. :bull: :youcrazy: :shake:

P.S. Do not accept a B.S. story from them (TOTW or GM), if they won't get you a non-heli-barrel refuse it and get a proper one from one of the vendors listed above.

 

[BS]

I had a 54 cal perc. GM heli-barrel. They installed the insert too deeply into the flash channel and had MANY MANY mis-fires.......(do a search here, ca. Nov. 2005)

I wasted ca. 1 lb of powder and a bunch of lead until I unscrewed the cleanout and saw the threads hanging down where they should not be. :shake: I was cursing the caps I was using for no good reason til I found the source of the problem.

IMHO send it back, and tell TOTW you don't want a heli-barrel. Maybe if (all) the vendors who sell GM barrels start sending them back GM will finally do the right thing, e.g. RECALL THEM ALL!!!!

BTW, when I contacted GM about this they said this was their current way to make barrels, it was "stronger"and "ALL NEW BARRELS WOULD HAVE THE HELI-COIL".

As I see the latest GM barrels do not have this "stronger" feature I can only assume I was fed a line of B.S. :bull: :youcrazy: :shake:

P.S. Do not accept a B.S. story from them (TOTW or GM), if they won't get you a non-heli-barrel refuse it and get a proper one from one of the vendors listed above.

As my name was brung into this! :grin:

I agree Too!

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have two Stainless steel Green mountain LRH barrels. Theey are both outstanding barrels. Ron

 

[TennesseeJed]

The reply from TOTW said that all of the barrels Green Mountain is currently producing have helicoils in them.

I don't have a response yet from Green Mountain about replacing the breechplug.

 

Has there been any reports of serious failure of the helicoils in these barrels?

 

[faw3]

While I wait to hear from them too.. I can hear it now...easy to fix than change a breec..or ? The helicoil as I remember them are stronger than the metal in the breech plug, BUT (big but) putting one in right as you can read isnt something they can do, so I wouldnt trust them, I got another breech for T/C in case. Fred :hatsoff:

 

Thanks to all for the info !! I did find the T/C RB barrels (finally) on Fox Ridge site. They are just a hair more $$ but I'm going to shy away from GM. Too bad, because I have several older GMs that are really good barrels. I may think about a threaded GM bbl and TOW breech plug. Gots to ponder on it a spell!. Thanks again, Bill

 

[ss1]

I got my drop in GM barrel from Tip Curtis, 40cal, 38". Great guy to do bussiness with. Go with the best and forgrt the rest. Too many "runarounds" from others.

 

[Jac Spring]

So all current production GM barrels utilize this heli coil gizmo... to correct for incorrect threading or some such? How in the heck could that happen? Or are they just using them as they are cheaper - but again, why in the world?

Doesn't make any sense to me at all. I'm in the process of launching a business myself and my product isn't going to be accepted from my fabricator unless it is 100% to spec. - and won't ship to my customers unless it's 100% to spec and works as advertised. I've delayed the first ship date to ensure this - which is driving me crazy as I have no income and all loss until I start filling orders. But there simply is no other choice. Like the old Ford comercial stated "quality is job one".

Green Mountain has been a high quality name for a long time right?

 

[roundball]

So all current production GM barrels utilize this heli coil gizmo... to correct for incorrect threading or some such? How in the heck could that happen? Or are they just using them as they are cheaper - but again, why in the world?

Doesn't make any sense to me at all. I'm in the process of launching a business myself and my product isn't going to be accepted from my fabricator unless it is 100% to spec. - and won't ship to my customers unless it's 100% to spec and works as advertised. I've delayed the first ship date to ensure this - which is driving me crazy as I have no income and all loss until I start filling orders. But there simply is no other choice. Like the old Ford comercial stated "quality is job one".

Green Mountain has been a high quality name for a long time right?

It's GM's cheap attempt to fix improperly drilled & tapped threads that resulted from implementing a new automated drilling & tapping operation for nipple and vent seats, that drilled & tapped them incorrectly.

GM announced a big recall 2-3 years ago..ie: had to send my .58cal flinter back and they installed a new, properly made breechplug.

Then they ran out of their supply of new properly made breechplugs, and began repairing the defective ones using a helicoil insert.

Two big ML supliers Tip Curtis Frontier Shop in TN, and Ed Cain/Cains Outdoor, West VA both sent barrels back to GM that arived with heilcoils in them, refusing to sell the barrels to customers with a helicoil installed...that tells us all something right there.