Barrel blanks

[unclemoak]

I started dabbling in making barrels, mainly for myself and undoubtedly the first question I always get asked is what blank is you use?

Why is this? Is there really a big difference in accuracy between manufacturers?


This is a five shot group out of a very budget friendly blank using factory ammo at 100 yds.

 

[oldrifleman]

I think every company can put out decent barrels, the difference is can you count on them to be up to snuff on a regular basis. Also it is much easier to be good at 100 yrds than 1000 yrds than many here shoot on a regular basis. I am also less fussy about barrels for my ARs than I am my Bolt rifles. My precision rifles I want a cut rifled barrel, on a blaster I am fine with a button rifled barrel.

 

[bfoosh006]

I'm comfortable there is a difference in barrel blanks.... but , IMHO, and as you pic shows..

Attention to the additional details matters a lot.

 

[oldrifleman]

I'm comfortable there is a difference in barrel blanks.... but , IMHO, and as you pic shows..

Attention to the additional details matters a lot.

Agreed, Take a top quality blank and give it to Henry the drunk machinist next door and you will have great chance of getting a piece of junk. Take a lower tier blank and give it to a great smith and the chances of getting a piece of junk decrease significantly as they will preview the blank and determine how best to work with it (or bail on it if the blank is not fit). Give a great blank from a top tier maker to one of the talented smiths here on the hide and they will turn it into a tack driving beast.

 

[papershredder]

The person machining the blank and the person shooting the rifle are what usually "makes or breaks" the barrel. Like illustrated in the posts above, the good machinist has happy contest winning customers, and Choppy Mcgee has to avoid the internet due to all his unhappy customers. The real differences in the blanks come down to material selection and source. Blanks made with cheaper materials might not have as much of a round count before needing replaced compared to the blanks made by the higher end barrel manufacturers. The barrel maker using the cheap material might have a higher internal QC rejection rate not seen by us, but due to lower material costs and manufacturing methods used, it doesn't effect the end price for the consumer. So quantity gets placed slightly above quality while still maintaining the QC standards that matter to keep prices down. As long as QC standards are kept by the barrel maker, the average shooter won't see or shoot the difference.

 

[JR1200W3]

I started dabbling in making barrels, mainly for myself and undoubtedly the first question I always get asked is what blank is you use?

Why is this? Is there really a big difference in accuracy between manufacturers?


This is a five shot group out of a very budget friendly blank using factory ammo at 100 yds.
View attachment 8535003

You're probably better off talking to Mark Chanlyn, Frank Green, and Ken from K&P than asking the peanut gallery at SH. As a consumer, I occasionally use McGowen and Shilen for better priced blanks for experiments and I have been pleasantly surprised every time. When I want a barrel for a project that needs to be accurate and I'm going to invest a lot of money in via machining I'm going to buy a cut rifled barrel from Bartlein, Mullerworks, or K&P. I think everyone can put out an accurate barrel and everyone can put out a difficult, troublesome barrel. But it's the likelihood of getting a good barrel that makes the difference. I think when consumers buy barrels some of them know they're playing the lottery. They're going to pay a little extra to hedge their bets on ensuring they're not the guinea pig. In this industry it's easy to describe vignettes of talented machinists that venture into expanding their business and suffer a down turn in quality as they find out that being a doer vs a manager are two different things. I can make a mean steak, but I can't run a steakhouse.

All that said, I see a lot of new shooters post on here, "I'm doing my first custom build and want the best barrel. Who makes the best?". These guys are still working on their marksmanship and shoot factory ammo. They'll never test the limits of that high dollar cut rifles barrel. But they think they're laying down real money finally and want "the best" they can afford. So there's that mindset that can be prevalent.

 

[Triple D]

I started dabbling in making barrels, mainly for myself and undoubtedly the first question I always get asked is what blank is you use?

Why is this? Is there really a big difference in accuracy between manufacturers?


This is a five shot group out of a very budget friendly blank using factory ammo at 100 yds.
View attachment 8535003

Shoot multiple groups and see what the average looks like, vs just 1 group. The other pics you’ve posted have included a target that was good, but also had an errant round.

Most have touched on the big items, but I’ve found with some of the cheaper barrels they were more prone to walk as they heated up.

 

[RTH1800]

As said above, it’s not so much about results as CONSISTENT results.
Yet some mid grade barrels have been consistently good for me. Douglas and Hart come to mind. Lilia always sucks in my experience with 3 rimfire barrels.
Bartlein and Proof are uniformly superb.