Your PVA prefit experience
- Thread starter Lawnboi
- Start date
He probably does and no reason to doubt him at this point but the problem is that he has time to come on the internet and bad mouth it when that time would have been better spent getting with Josh and getting the issue figured out. No man made product is 100% perfect every time from scopes to actions to stocks to barrels. If there is an issue you need to get with the maker and get it worked out.
And then if they don't work it out that's when you can post the issues you're having
Didn't read the long thread, but to anyone who is still looking for an answer to this question, STAY AWAY! I have more barrels from PVA than I care to admit (very slow learner here) and almost all of them were WAY past the quoted deadline and/or out of spec and not what was ordered. My last barrel barrel from them (and it certainly will be THE LAST) was the wrong contour, length, and damaged in shipping. I received exactly ZERO help from PVA when I contacted them about it. To top it off, accuracy results have all been mediocre at best. I have whole bunch of Proof pre-fit barrels now and they have all been better shooters than anything I have from PVA and the wait/price is a much better deal. I'm not looking to get into a pissing match with anyone, just letting people to know to be cautious and IMO avoid PVA completely. There are too many good options to deal with crappy products and companies.
accuracy results have all been mediocre at best
I will concede that mistakes can happen with ordering custom products online, but when I read this, it makes the rest of your post sound like pure BS. You have sooo many PVA barrels you're afraid to admit it but yet none of them are shooters... bull shit.
Here is load development on one of mine. 10 shots at 2grains difference from lightest load to heaviest working up in .2gr increments shot one after the other. The very last shot of 10 kicked out of the group. Hot barrel and all. A lucky member bought this rifle from me and sent photos of solid groups with his loads.
Aaaand there's the butthurt response I knew was coming. Buy PVA, I don't give a shit if you waste your money. To those who aren't too emotional maybe they will read the multiple warnings that are all over this site. Also I don't have "sooo many" as you put it. I'm just ashamed to admit I was dumb enough to be lured in repeatedly by promised lead times and hot sales even after prior negative experiences.
I'm not butthurt at all and I don't care where you spend your money, that's your choice. However, News Flash! Lead times are an estimate.
My last one from them came in 1/2 the time they quoted me and all 4 of mine shoot lights out. So yeah I'll keep "wasting my money".
There's no butthurt from me but you give vague info and warn against a company that many are very happy with and you who has "have more barrels from PVA than I care to admit" but post about it with no specifics on when you got these barrels or what they were. Like RFutch I have not had a barrel I was not happy with from PVA and I have had 2 .223s, 4 6.5 Creedmoors, 4 6 creedmoors, and a .308 and that's off the top of my head over many years. I have sent some barrel blanks for him to thread and chamber and bought some of the Ospreys and all shoot great. Sorry for your bad experiences but saying they were all "mediocre at best" doesn't sound plausible with all the other reports from customers.
If you aren’t offended then why bother trying to debunk what I’ve said? Maybe you guys are personal friends with josh and crew, but I’ve read a LOT of issues from PVA on here over the years so don’t act like I’m the first to bring it up. I’m not going to list every barrel I’ve ever bought but PVA has screwed up several of my orders and then refused to help on top of that. Now that I think about it I did have a 6.5x47 from them that shot very good around 2017 timeframe. But it took 13 months to get AND was cut to the wrong finished length…
Not trying to debunk but get facts posted. You obviously are still emotional about it so don’t bother. Not worth it to me.
Roller coaster UP…roller coaster DOWN…weeeee! Put your hands in the air!
Emotional? Nope. Just stating my experience/facts. You are the one who had a problem with it remember? I don’t mind differing opinions, but won’t sit by when others call me out because they disagree. You do you. I’ll do me. Hopefully you continue to have success with them.
Well, my PVA pre-fit arrived a few days ago and while I have yet to use it, the product and workmanship look very nice.
One I bought from you awhile back looked like this too. Shot fantastic until it hit 2000ish rounds (6.5cm).
Seems you have the best lead time for PVA stuff lol
Its fairly common. Alot of the people who have issues realize its not worth their time to try to dick around with a smith (there's a lot of poor or misapplied information out there as to what pressure signs are) who will most likely blame everything else. There are members here who have had issues with PVA and some other well known places. They may have already posted in this thread. I could put on blast half a dozen smiths people rave about here I would NEVER spend a dime with due to experiences of people I shoot with, but I wont. Live and move on. Burning out a few barrels a year, not worth the hassle. Either have a local person you trust do it locally or use one of the Alpha Smiths (Stuetsville, LRI, SAC, Bugholes, Terry Cross. and a few others) who are using fresh reamers and have good protocols for putting out a barrel almost guaranteed to shoot.
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I have let go of far too many good shooting rifles, barrels, scopes, dirtbikes, kayaks, etc. Half the fun for me is messing with different stuff. It’s somewhat of a curse.
Did the groups just start opening up or did you start loosing speed and consistency?
Speed and consistency. Best shooting barrel I’ve ever had until that point tho.
I have a proof prefit sitting around waiting to put on after rifle season so we shall see how it compares
We have a partial pallet of barrels here left on an over-run from a contract job this year. These are "one and done" barrel prices, when it's gone it's gone. The only thing left is in 7mm 1:8 stainless blanks. Per contract agreement we cannot delineate the blank maker. It's a 6 groove, button, stainless barrel and they shoot well. I chambered up one for personal use and it's been a sub MOA barrel at 700+ all summer.
More to come...
Any contour is fine? Or are they set specifically from the contract?
We have a partial pallet of barrels here left on an over-run from a contract job this year. These are "one and done" barrel prices, when it's gone it's gone. The only thing left is in 7mm 1:8 stainless blanks. Per contract agreement we cannot delineate the blank maker. It's a 6 groove, button, stainless barrel and they shoot well. I chambered up one for personal use and it's been a sub MOA barrel at 700+ all summer.
More to come...
They're uncontoured and 27" blanks so they can finish at 26" and any contour that's listed on the website dropdown menu in that link.
- Nov 3, 2010
- 10,240
- 22,121
- Nov 3, 2010
- 10,240
- 22,121
Any chance of having one cut to 18 inches and maybe fit a sig cross barrel extension?
We have a partial pallet of barrels here left on an over-run from a contract job this year. These are "one and done" barrel prices, when it's gone it's gone. The only thing left is in 7mm 1:8 stainless blanks. Per contract agreement we cannot delineate the blank maker. It's a 6 groove, button, stainless barrel and they shoot well. I chambered up one for personal use and it's been a sub MOA barrel at 700+ all summer.
More to come...
$400 for a chambered barrel is pretty tempting...
Damn it! I don’t need a 7mm, I don’t need a 7mm, I don’t need a 7mm. But I have a bunch of 162 ELDs! Damn! Lol
Do you guys do pre-fits for Kelbly actions. I didn't see them in your drop down menu? Or do I have to ship my action to you?
We have a partial pallet of barrels here left on an over-run from a contract job this year. These are "one and done" barrel prices, when it's gone it's gone. The only thing left is in 7mm 1:8 stainless blanks. Per contract agreement we cannot delineate the blank maker. It's a 6 groove, button, stainless barrel and they shoot well. I chambered up one for personal use and it's been a sub MOA barrel at 700+ all summer.
More to come...
Doc
18" isn't a problem. The sig cross extension is. You have a barrel I can borrow to copy so you can stick it on an extension? Maybe I'll make some extension wrenches too...
The 162's aren't gonna shoot themselves.
I used to run a 7 Creed that Mark Gordon made maybe a decade ago.
162's and CFE223 was a pretty spicy combo for anything inside 1500 without going to a magnum.
Depends which variant of the Kelbly. Out of an abundance of caution I don't list the actions as a shouldered prefit because there are some versions of the action that I can't do. Best to send it to me and we'll return it with a shiny new barrel on there as well as a laser ID tag that will allow shouldered prefits in the future without having the action back.
I’ve been trying to get a hold of PVA regarding a barreled action, I’m only seeing the deposit price and am wanting an actual full price. Also can they or do they offer barrel fluting?
I want a 22” fluted 7PRC on a bighorn origin for a hunting rig
I want a 22” fluted 7PRC on a bighorn origin for a hunting rig
It is. The "clicker" issue seems to be more related to conic runout on the chamber from certain reamer holder practices. We have an original reamer and have not had an issue in those chambers nor did we have issues with 300 PRC reamers that have the same body on our reamer print as the 7-300. We couldn't replicate it in any of the chambers that we've cut to date but the one sample of "clicker" brass that I saw was blown out at the web like the Dasher brass that people had issues with in the past. The reamer change doesn't affect chambers out there that we made previously.
Discount Codes for everything else that IS NOT a prefit will be in honor of our current political trend in DC and Pennsylvania
"WordSalad2022"
The code is active as of 11/18/2022 through Dec 1st 2022.
The Discount is 17.89% in honor of the ratification of the US Constitution in 1789
Applicable Items:
Cleaning Accessories
Muzzle Brakes
Barrel Nuts
Small Tools and Parts
All Rifle Bullets
The capitalization is important. You must use WordSalad2022
The code has been tested and confirmed to work. If it does not work for you: you have a typo or you have selected a product that isn't covered or is already discounted.
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I used to care about all that stuff
Now I’m to the point that because we shoot calibers that eat barrels not like shooting a 308 15 years ago, as long as it shoots and has a good rep with quick delivery, I don’t care anymore
I was just curious. I have had several PVA button rifled rock creek barrels to know that a button barrel can perform.
It looks like PVA only uses Osprey barrels now. I wonder if the 7mm barrel overrun they have steeply discounted is leftover rock creek?
We use Osprey because they're ours.
No bad blood or anything with Rock, they're just super busy with 2 particular clients who have essentially bought the company by burying them with PO's and Rock is refusing orders from anyone else. They make great stuff; for me to continue to stay in business there had to be an alternative and rather than stand in line Oliver Twist style (please sir, can I have some more?) and beg for scraps off the others tables we decided to vertically integrate in 2020. It took until mid 21 to have something ready for market and we're at our stride now doing about 200pc a month. This is why I expanded the lineup into carbon wrapped blanks as well.
The leftovers are not Rocks. They were purchased from another company for an OEM contract that ran its course and these are leftovers. They need to leave so we're blowing them out. When the partial crate is gone, there won't be more barrels at that price. We're down to less than 20 of them left.
i have a proof carbon prefit on my tikka t3x in 300wsm. thinking of swapping that for a similar pva. the proof is a Sendero contour, anyone know what, if any, contour of PVA exactly matches up? want the same barrel channel fit in my mesa altitude stock, thanks
I don't have any prefit experience with PVA, but I have done two 22GT barrels with osprey blanks and both have shot fantastic and use the same exact load.
I wouldn't be worried about ordering another one. I used to be a cut rifling only believer, but with availability issues and the fact barrels don't last much more than 2k rounds anyway, if it shoots it shoots.
I wouldn't be worried about ordering another one. I used to be a cut rifling only believer, but with availability issues and the fact barrels don't last much more than 2k rounds anyway, if it shoots it shoots.
Only have one pva prefit on my sako trg22 in 260 . Lead time was 12 -14 weeks I think. Would have been a lot faster if it didn’t get bogged down at the Ceracoat guy they use. Not a big deal. Guess I didn’t read the fine print on the chamber specs when I ordered but my barrel has a really short throat. I can only load my rounds to the standard 2.8” overall length or I hit the rifling with a 140 elem . Have about zero free bore to play with. Got a few decent groups but it’s very load picky. Going to have my local smith open the throat up and see if I can get any decent jump and accuracy out of the barrel.
Don’t know if mine was a mistake or to them you have to actually tell them you want a standard 260 Remington throat but mine is short as hell. Used to load 2.825 in my old factory tikka. Tried to run them on my new trg barrel and the bolt closed super hard. Tested brass for head space which was fine. Took some throat measurements. Sure enough bullets where in the lands. 2.798 is about where I have my die set atm. Which most bullets I shoot like .060-.080 jump. Which I have no where close maybe .005-.010. Kinda shoots all over the place. Probly going to have smith rechamber to 260 ai and cut my throat. Factory ammo shoots to Probly 1.5-1 moa. Hand load I made Probly .7 with some weird flyers most days. Only maybe 100-150 rounds down the pipe on it. That’s with 140 eld. Tried to shoot 142 ablr. During a ladder test the best group was 1.5 moa lol. The rest were Probly 2-2.5 moa. Barnes factory 120 gr shot sub 10 fps on chrono and shoots maybe 1-1.25 moa. Most of the issues I think are just the throat. I dont know time will tell
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