Smooth bore barrel wait

[oldhunter1954]

I have been searching for aTrade Gun - Smoothbore - Octagon to Round barrel - 20 Ga 36 inch. I have noticed that most places have extremely limited stock on smooth bore barrels. I see a 3 - 9 month lead time to get a barrel from most of the reputable sources. For us uninformed types, If I order a barrel I assume the barrel maker orders a barrel blank from someone and then finishes the barrel that I ordered. I am just trying to understand the 9 month lead time. Is this because there is a very long list of orders? I have no idea how many hours it take to make a barrel.

 

[rich pierce]

Long list of orders. Machinists generally do “runs” of a particular part. It saves on setup time. So barrel makers look at their orders and may wait till they see they can make 8 or 12 or more barrels of a particular profile, bore, rifled or not. Seldom a one-off and when it is the wait is longer.

 

[oldhunter1954]

Long list of orders. Machinists generally do “runs” of a particular part. It saves on setup time. So barrel makers look at their orders and may wait till they see they can make 8 or 12 or more barrels of a particular profile, bore, rifled or not. Seldom a one-off and when it is the wait is longer.

Thanks. I was not aware of the operation of a typical machine shop. Makes sense though.

 

[rickystl]

I had a barrel on backorder for an entire year. You might consider ordering your barrel with someone like TOTW - even if it's currently on backorder (assuming they normally stock the profile you want). As Rich mentions above, good chance you will get it sooner.

Rick

 

[Flintandsteel]

Which manufacturer’s have you checked with? Check with Rice Barrels, Jason will let you know what he has in stock,. Also, Bobby Hoyt. I suspect either will have something in stock if you are a little flexible on gauge and/or style.

 

[oldhunter1954]

I emailed Rice barrels a few days ago. I will try to contact Bobby Hoyt as well. Some places like The Rifle Shop, Inc. do not answer emails. I guess they are too busy.

 

[oldwood]

Go on the Colerain Barrel website and leave an e-mail. Scot will answer shortly and can tell you lead times.

 

[oldhunter1954]

Go on the Colerain Barrel website and leave an e-mail. Scot will answer shortly and can tell you lead times.

Thanks. I will do that.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Not sure who is considered reputable or not, "The Gun Works" in Oregon stocks barrels from Colerain as well as their "house brand" Oregon Barrel Company, you might give them a look, I have one of their trade gun barrels in 36" 20ga configuration, no complaints here.

https://www.thegunworks.com/GunIndex.cfm

 

[oldhunter1954]

Not sure who is considered reputable or not, "The Gun Works" in Oregon stocks barrels from Colerain as well as their "house brand" Oregon Barrel Company, you might give them a look, I have one of their trade gun barrels in 36" 20ga configuration, no complaints here.

https://www.thegunworks.com/GunIndex.cfm

I have been in contact with The Gun Works. They do not have any smooth bore barrels in stock.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

well crud

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Check with Stonewall Creek Outfitters

 

[oldhunter1954]

I want to say thank you to everyone that sent info or contacts. I just got off the phone with Jason from Rice Barrels. He has a 20 gauge english fowler barrel that will work for me. I will post an update very soon.

 

[BadDaditood]

Very cool. I was gonna say Rice might be gearing up for the launch of Jim Kibler’s new fowling piece, glad you got a bbl from them.
The Rifle Shoppe is a Very small family bidness (3) and they’re much too busy to answer phones or emails. I did get one from them last week saying they would ship the Harpers Ferry kit I ordered 2 years ago ... today! I’ll believe it when I see it.
I ordered a rifle barrel from Muzzleloader Builders Supply last week and it’s coming tomorrow!
Track of the wolf sent Saturday’s order yesterday so everyone is busy and sending stuff out fast if in stock.

 

[Treestalker]

You might consider Bobby Hoyt in Fairfield, Pa. He has bored out 2 rifled barrels for me for about $50 each, plus shipping of course. One was a civil war musket repro barrel, went from .58 cal. to .60cal. the other was a .50 cal. which he opened up to .58 cal. I had asked him to also turn the .50 barrel from full octagon to an oct/round configuration (for a half-stock) which he did at no extra charge. He performed impeccable work on my barrels, and now I have a decent half stock shotgun for yard work and a full round smoothbore barrel to build a matchlock gun out of, for a fraction of one new factory barrel. Bobby has been in business since the seventies that I know of. Just type in 'freischutz shop' and his contact info comes up. His turn around time was 2-3 weeks in my case.