Bartlein Barrels Update

Frank Green

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 27, 2006
2,666
6,364
wisconsin
www.bartleinbarrels.com
Gonna post this here because the bolt gun forum gets the most views. Dear Forum Moderator, If you need to move this post to another forum that is more appropriate please do so.

I/We post on SH quite a bit. So I figured I should make a post about this.

Just want to be up front and honest with everyone here. We are telling customers the same thing on the phone.

Depending on what you are ordering and when you order it....lead times can be as long as 10-12 months right now.

Some guys (not necessarily anyone from the Hide) when we've told them this they have gone off on us on the phone about it. So we are taking a beating at times but I want everyone to understand that we are all in this boat together. Ammunition and bullet makers etc...are backed up, gun manufacturers are backed up, action makers, stock makers and scope manufacturers.

I won't name the ammo maker but we have had some ammo on order since May of 2020 and I cannot get a delivery date/time frame. We're not mad at them....it is what it is.

We've been helping out individual customers to manufacturers to ammo makers etc...when they/you have an emergency that won't change. We do what we can / when we can.

I know of other barrel makers lead times are out pretty far as well. So it's not just us.

I'm also asking and I will use this as an example...a guy wins a barrel gift certificate at a match. Calls in to redeem the certificate and order the barrel. He was told 10 months. He went off on my office guy about it and demanded the barrel should be done next month. So don't put anyone in front of the firing squad for this. Free or not....we are doing what we can to take care of everyone in a timely fashion.

I don't care what you are buying and from whom....barrels, scopes, ammo etc....guys please do your best to plan ahead and plan for the worst case scenario. If you burn up 4 barrels a year in matches and only have one brand new spare left....get it on order. Regardless of where you get it from. If your planning on building a new rifle right now and already have the stock and action and barrel on order and will need a scope for it.... don't wait...get the scope on order as well.

I don't for see things getting any better anytime soon for any of us. Like I said, "We're all in the same boat!"

Pretty much the whole shop here is working 55 to 60+ hours a week. This next pay period....just between 3 guys in the shop they have a 153 hours of overtime alone! That's in a two week period and that isn't a typo!

I've also been asked and will put it out here as well..."Are we o.k. on steel?" The answer is yes! No steel shortages. We have orders scheduled into 2022 already. Nothing is holding us up from making barrels. Just not enough hours in the week!

Any questions please feel free to call. If you post a question here I'll answer it the best I can and as quick as I can but keep in mind...I don't log in everyday.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels
 
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Just ordered a barrel last week and when i asked lead time there was a long pause before i was told around 10 months (i was expecting 12-14) and i said oh, cool thanks so much. I could tell the guy on the phone was taken back and didnt know what to say. I could tell by the reaction that they had been getting hammered by people on the phone. My advise for anyone that is that "important" and impatient please go buy cheap shit from china off amazon. After reading that it kind of makes me want to go order another barrel just for the hell of it.
 
Think about it .... 153 hrs of OT for 3 guys means average 51hr per person. If those guys are working 1 extra day per week, then they are working 6x10hr days plus change each week. And I would imagine that you haven't hired more guys because:
- It takes a few weeks to train them
- you don't have the machines to put them on and it takes YEARS to get a rifling machine ordered, made and installed
- Good machinists aren't waiting on the corner for the next job to come up

I get it. It's taking me 4-6 months to advertise and hire for skilled labor for my maintenance crews.

Keep putting out the great product you do and good customers will wait patiently. Those who feel entitled and won't, can get on down the road.
 
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Gonna post this here because the bolt gun forum gets the most views. Dear Forum Moderator, If you need to move this post to another forum that is more appropriate please do so.

I/We post on SH quite a bit. So I figured I should make a post about this.

Just want to be up front and honest with everyone here. We are telling customers the same thing on the phone.

Depending on what you are ordering and when you order it....lead times can be as long as 10-12 months right now.

Some guys (not necessarily anyone from the Hide) when we've told them this they have gone off on us on the phone about it. So we are taking a beating at times but I want everyone to understand that we are all in this boat together. Ammunition and bullet makers etc...are backed up, gun manufacturers are backed up, action makers, stock makers and scope manufacturers.

I won't name the ammo maker but we have had some ammo on order since May of 2020 and I cannot get a delivery date/time frame. We're not mad at them....it is what it is.

We've been helping out individual customers to manufacturers to ammo makers etc...when they/you have an emergency that won't change. We do what we can / when we can.

I know of other barrel makers lead times are out pretty far as well. So it's not just us.

I'm also asking and I will use this as an example...a guy wins a barrel gift certificate at a match. Calls in to redeem the certificate and order the barrel. He was told 10 months. He went off on my office guy about it and demanded the barrel should be done next month. So don't put anyone in front of the firing squad for this. Free or not....we are doing what we can to take care of everyone in a timely fashion.

I don't care what you are buying and from whom....barrels, scopes, ammo etc....guys please do your best to plan ahead and plan for the worst case scenario. If you burn up 4 barrels a year in matches and only have one brand new spare left....get it on order. Regardless of where you get it from. If your planning on building a new rifle right now and already have the stock and action and barrel on order and will need a scope for it.... don't wait...get the scope on order as well.

I don't for see things getting any better anytime soon for any of us. Like I said, "We're all in the same boat!"

Pretty much the whole shop here is working 55 to 60+ hours a week. This next pay period....just between 3 guys in the shop they have a 153 hours of overtime alone! That's in a two week period and that isn't a typo!

I've also been asked and will put it out here as well..."Are we o.k. on steel?" The answer is yes! No steel shortages. We have orders scheduled into 2022 already. Nothing is holding us up from making barrels. Just not enough hours in the week!

Any questions please feel free to call. If you post a question here I'll answer it the best I can and as quick as I can but keep in mind...I don't log in everyday.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels
I'm just glad I picked up one of your new carbon fiber barrels earlier this year before all this happened.
I'm getting .3 groups out of it by the way with my 6.5 prc. I could probably get better groups if I was a better reloader.
Thanks for the sweet barrel i've been using it to pop hogs at 600 yards all winter in the oats fields. I won't ever call you to yell at you lol
 
There are too many stocking dealers that anyone would just have to be without a barrel completely...

They may not get the EXACT barrel they want, but they could have a barrel

Frank has been nothing but a helpful in my couple small observations of his character. Seems more than glad to help those of us that don't know...

Now to the guy that won the cert and demanded a barrel.... I'd send him one! The ugliest one I could find and bend it into a pretzel before i mailed it to him.

Or maybe screw it up just enough to look fine, but shoot like crap.
 
Are you hiring? Could be a gross over-simplification, but it sounds like you need more help.

Gross, for sure. Just a few questions; rhetorical, of course.

1. Do you know how long it takes to build a rifling machine from scratch? Because currently we are running them at full capacity:
"Pretty much the whole shop here is working 55 to 60+ hours a week."
2. Any idea how much it costs to buy a new machine, install it, and then how long it takes to set it up and get it running correctly so we can put another man on it? A lathe, a few months, a rifling machine.... Drills - hah!
3. Some of the machines are running 24 hrs a day, 5-6 days a week. Where are we supposed to put the guys we hire?
4. Do you have anything ACTUALLY constructive to add?

Currently, I personally have been on the phones 8-9 hrs a day and then I go run a machine in the evenings. Can't get as much done as one of the guys running the machine for 9-12 hrs, but I'm helping open the spigot a little bit. I talk to AWESOME people every day, and I am so happy to help them -- all of you! But we are doing everything we can.

Thanks to @NukeMMC for saying it nicer than I did:

- It takes a few weeks to train them
- you don't have the machines to put them on and it takes YEARS to get a rifling machine ordered, made and installed
- Good machinists aren't waiting on the corner for the next job to come up - (YEAH THEY'RE ALL BUSY TOO!! HAHAHA)
 
What would be the lead time for an uncontoured blank? Do you guys even do those?
The least we will do is a straight cylinder blank. 1.250 is most common.

Lead times are still the same. It's not about the contouring. It's about the other thousands and thousands of orders in front of you vs. the amount of time it takes to make one.

It's 10-12 months. Or, as I have been saying: "Sometime in 2022 - I am not sure when."

Honestly, we are doing everything we can, we are not trying to push anyone off! If you REALLY need something, check out our stocking dealers. They are listed on our LINKS page on our website: www.bartleinbarrels.com/links/

Best of luck, and call with anything you need.
 
There are too many stocking dealers that anyone would just have to be without a barrel completely...

They may not get the EXACT barrel they want, but they could have a barrel

Frank has been nothing but a helpful in my couple small observations of his character. Seems more than glad to help those of us that don't know...

Now to the guy that won the cert and demanded a barrel.... I'd send him one! The ugliest one I could find and bend it into a pretzel before i mailed it to him.

Or maybe screw it up just enough to look fine, but shoot like crap.

LOL
But, we won't do that. As funny as it is, and a "F-U" to that guy, we still want to have the best stuff out there! Even if someone is a jerk, we are going to give them the best barrel and the best service we can. No shady stuff!
 
So you guys donate a free barrel and the guys who wins it demands to be first in line ahead of paying customers🤦🏽‍♂️Classic first world problems... should have canceled the cert
You don’t know how bad we wanted to burn that certificate!

OK we wouldn’t have done that....but it doesn’t matter if it’s a paying customer or one that won a gift certificate. It’s happened in the past a few other times (the vast majority of the times it’s a non issue/doesn’t come up) where busy or not....the guy asks, “well why can’t I get it right away?” Ummm...because there are 4K customers in front of you that had a barrel on order either by payment or gift certificate!

Thinking about it more and more...is it also because that everything is in short supply everyone is stressed about things? I can say possibly/yes but want everyone to know we’re all in this.

Thanks everyone!!!!
 
There are too many stocking dealers that anyone would just have to be without a barrel completely...

They may not get the EXACT barrel they want, but they could have a barrel

Frank has been nothing but a helpful in my couple small observations of his character. Seems more than glad to help those of us that don't know...

Now to the guy that won the cert and demanded a barrel.... I'd send him one! The ugliest one I could find and bend it into a pretzel before i mailed it to him.

Or maybe screw it up just enough to look fine, but shoot like crap.
Thanks!!!!

Yes as much as I’d like to put a bad bow in the barrel.....it would come back to haunt ya as the guy would call up complaining!

You’ll like this one...guy gets his barrel and there is a minor scratch on the outside of it. Basically a rub mark. This was like 8 years ago before we had the polishing machines that we run them thru for a final polish after all the work is done to the blank. The rub marks/minor scratches would come after the barrel got contoured and basically polished but the barrel still had to go thru the reamer, get prelapped and go in the rifling machine and get finished lapped. Guy calls up and go‘s off the deep end about it. I tried telling the guy what your showing me isn’t anything a couple of minutes would clean up as well as the gunsmith is going to put it in and out of his lathe and will most likely at times get the same type of rub marks. The last thing you do is a final polish or glass bead/creakote it before final assy. You won’t see it/will be gone etc...nope not good enough. We said send it back and will repolish it. Terry put a 1000 grit polish on it and went over it with buffing compound! Thing looked like a mirror! LOL! Guy never called back and said thanks either!
 
Gross, for sure. Just a few questions; rhetorical, of course.

1. Do you know how long it takes to build a rifling machine from scratch? Because currently we are running them at full capacity:
"Pretty much the whole shop here is working 55 to 60+ hours a week."
2. Any idea how much it costs to buy a new machine, install it, and then how long it takes to set it up and get it running correctly so we can put another man on it? A lathe, a few months, a rifling machine.... Drills - hah!
3. Some of the machines are running 24 hrs a day, 5-6 days a week. Where are we supposed to put the guys we hire?
4. Do you have anything ACTUALLY constructive to add?

Currently, I personally have been on the phones 8-9 hrs a day and then I go run a machine in the evenings. Can't get as much done as one of the guys running the machine for 9-12 hrs, but I'm helping open the spigot a little bit. I talk to AWESOME people every day, and I am so happy to help them -- all of you! But we are doing everything we can.

Thanks to @NukeMMC for saying it nicer than I did:

- It takes a few weeks to train them
- you don't have the machines to put them on and it takes YEARS to get a rifling machine ordered, made and installed
- Good machinists aren't waiting on the corner for the next job to come up - (YEAH THEY'RE ALL BUSY TOO!! HAHAHA)
I wasn't implying you were fucking up. Sorry if it came off that way. Just honestly curious.
1. Nope.
2. Nope.
3. Don't know.
4. Yeah, I have 1 Bartlein barrel, and it's my favorite. It won't be the last. Please keep putting out the gold standard, and let the SH community know if there's anything we can do to help (aside from quit ordering barrels, because that's not going to happen).
 
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LOL
But, we won't do that. As funny as it is, and a "F-U" to that guy, we still want to have the best stuff out there! Even if someone is a jerk, we are going to give them the best barrel and the best service we can. No shady stuff!
Even when firing a client any work I do for them will be beyond reproach. I won't give someone the ability to say I did something wrong or bad quality. It usually pays off as most beg to to come back and I say "Sorry, nope".
 
I wasn't implying you were fucking up. Sorry if it came off that way. Just honestly curious.
1. Nope.
2. Nope.
3. Don't know.
4. Yeah, I have 1 Bartlein barrel, and it's my favorite. It won't be the last. Please keep putting out the gold standard, and let the SH community know if there's anything we can do to help (aside from quit ordering barrels, because that's not going to happen).
No worries brother! We are just busting our butts to keep stuff rolling out the door! All these conversations have been had, re-had, and had once more!

You should see the shipping dept. day to day... wow!

Thanks for all the kind words everyone, and call if we can help.
 
The other thing with expanding the business.....

People/workers. Thanks to pandemic and the Gov't extending unemployment benefits and increasing how much they can get isn't helping anything either at times. Please don't take it wrong as I do know of people that truly need the help!

Here is what we are seeing as well as other manufacturers. Why should a person who is laid off and getting an increase in money as well as extending how long they can get the money....if they are basically getting they're paycheck what incentive is it for them to go out and look for a job.

Our daughters boyfriend (whom we have serious issues with) is a classic example. Got fired/laid (don't think we are getting the whole story) off last November. We've been all over him to go get a job. I even offered a job to him here at work. All he kept saying was I'll be getting unemployment and they are passing another stimulus package. I'm good! So he actually did get a job (worked exactly 1 day and quit) because the next day he got his first unemployment check for $4k and is now getting what was equivalent to his paycheck. Supposedly the unemployment person at the agency told him not to go back to work and he should go back to school!

Not getting people back to work is messing up the whole manufacturing and any place that needs workers. Letting people get a free ride that are able to work and truly don't need the help is hurting everyone!

Every where around here and other parts of the country I see help wanted signs up. Everyone is struggling to hire people. I hear the same thing from other companies regardless of the company/type of industry they are in.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels
 
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