Low cost vs. high cost barrels

[Dithsoer]

How much of a difference in accuracy can one expect between a Green Mountain barrel and,say one made by Colerain or Rice? Is the Colerain really worth the extra seventy bucks and the Rice worth the extra one hundred and seventy? I realise that the G.M. barrel requires more of a break in period but once it's been fired a hundred times or so what's the accuracy like with one? I'm putting together the parts for a new build and trying to decide which barrel to get. Accuracy is really important to me (as I'm sure it is for most people), but if there is going to be scarcely a difference between a broken-in G.M. barrel and one more expensive then I may as well go with the cheaper barrel.

 

[Roy]

You start to pay more for the profile... straight oct. versus swamped

They all can be made to shoot really well...

Rice does make a fine barrel, the last several that I have used seemed to like about any powder/patch/ball combo and still shoot accurately.

 

[rabjr]

I have GM, Ed Rayl, Colerain and Rice barrels. In all honesty they all probably shoot better than I can hold them at all ranges. I do find a difference in loading and cleaning the Rice over the others which is super smooth but again to be honest, I have not shot the others enough to reach that "break in period". The Rice is ready to go soon as you get it.

 

[rich pierce]

Green Mountain barrels shoot really well. A lot of this depends on bragging rights and what your customers want for bragging rights. If they ground off the makers marks and had a blind loading and shooting contest I doubt we'd see much difference. But I will go for the name barrels every chance I get and generally I want a 4-letter name.

 

[Roy]

Nothing wrong about how GM barrels shoot at all. :thumbsup: If they preformed poorly they would not still be used.. :v

 

[Vaino]

As a builder using mainly swamped bbls, I buy only Rice bbls because of the nicely finished outside. Colerain requires quite a bit of draw filing and GM doesn't supply fitted breechplugs. Getz bbls are evidently not available to common folk. As far as accuracy, my experience is only w/ Rice and Colerain and IMO are equal......Fred

 

[rich pierce]

I'm feeling uncommon today, Fred. Yesterday my wife told me my surprise birthday present was coming- a custom Getz rifle barrel! Now that's a great wife! :thumbsup:

Here's a trick for ya (don't tell John) that could work to advantage for many barrel-makers: Have your missus sweet talk the custom barrel makers. Either they are suckers for it or they don't want to bear the wrath of an angry woman. :surrender:

 

[Packdog]

When you are comparing barrel cost, make sure it's apples to apples. You need to add the cost of a breech plug and cost of breeching the barrel to a GM barrel. Rice and Colerain both come breeched as part of the price. Getz and Rice both have excellent outside finish which will save you building time. Colerain will require some draw filling time.
In my humble opinion, you'd be hard hard pressed to see a difference in accuracy between any of the 4 barrels mentioned. They are all good shooters.

 

[Vaino]

Congratulations Rich on your spanking new Getz bbl....however it was acquired. Perhaps I've given up too soon on Getz {my first 3 LRs} but seeing the availabilty of Rice bbls is much better and the quality of Rice bbls is equal to Getz, I just don't want the hassle of even trying to contact John. If I ever need a custom bbl I might try to contact him. I have noticed that the "big names" in gunbuilding do use his bbls and that's the reason for the remark. By the way...on what rifle are you using that bbl?....Fred

 

[rich pierce]

You know, Fred, I don't even know what barrel my wife ordered. She saw John at Dixon's last year knowing I always get one of his barrels when available and John said, "This is what Rich would really like". So I assume it is a heavy swamped early barrel of at least .54 caliber. When I questioned Susan more closely, she said it was "a Haga" so I am guessing it might be a replica of the barrel on RCA #21, #22, or #23. Just guessing. I have not done a classic early Reading rifle before so this would be a good opportunity to do so.

I am "working" on RCA #19 with a custom Getz barrel but it's been sitting there for a few months as I have been doing work on our house. The barrel is inlet into a really dense walnut stock blank John had sitting in the shop for a few years. Nice figure and hard as many msplr stocks.

 

[Zonie]

"You know, Fred, I don't even know what barrel my wife ordered..."
-------

I was wondering why John was acting so happy. When I asked him about it he said, "You know that fluted .223 M-16 barrel I didn't know what to do with? The one with the ugly Parkerizing on it? Well I just sold it to a lady. She said she wanted whatever old barrel I might have laying around for a gift for her husband so I sold it to her. Hot dam! I thought I never would find a buyer for that thing!"



Just funnin. :rotf:

 

[Headhunter]

In my opinion, Yes, they are worth the extra money. I have and shoot GMs but my match rifles carry custom barrels. I am building a Half Stock Hawken 58 with a Goodoien Match Barrel.

Its ALL about the barrel.

HH

 

[Vaino]

Those Berks, Reading {Haga} style LRs are very intriguing and would for me anyways,require a different mindset after building mainly slim Bucks County LRs. Asre bbls, some bbl makers make the threads for the plug too deep which to me pulls the lock, trigger and TG too far forward. Rice plugs are 17/32" deep which could well be 7/16" but for the case of some lawyer using the fact of not having threads as deep as the diameter. Don't want to rebreech the bbl to 7/16" because of the addt'l labor. Please excuse this slightly off topic reply.....Fred

 

A couple things that have not been mentioned. I have not used a GM barrel, but a discussion about the swamps elswhere mentioned that in addition to the lack of a breechplug, the breech threads are cut a bit deeper than some (0.550"). To get proper architecture on a flint gun, you may want to shorten that by about 0.05". They are also made of different steel than Rice, Getz and Colerain barrels and are a bit harder to drawfile.

Sean

 

[flintriflesmith]

The Green Mountain swamped barrels that Tip Curtis had in his trailer at Friendship had breech plugs already installed. I have no idea about thread depth.

Gary