I want a 20" 260 Rem barrel from a Proof CF blank I supply. I'd like to just ship the barrel off and not the whole gun. Any recommendations?
Any shops specialize in chambering AI AT barrels from a supplied blank?
- Thread starter boomfab
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He’s done all of mine. I did not know he retired. I have not talked to him in sometime.
I forgot to mention that I have heard a lot of positives about this shop from other AI owners. Since Dave seems to be out of the picture, I plan to use this shop to build my 6.5 PRC barrel if and when AI ever ships me a LH bolt for my MC
Manzella Precision
Manzella Precision
Fritz at Black Canyon Customs
He’s been doing AI barrels for years.
He’s been doing AI barrels for years.
With all due respect, stock barrels are just that.
They use a lighter weight "AI" contour, they are not chambered with a particular cartridge in mind, twists are generally standard and the blanks can come from a variety of sources which are not necessarily specified.
I always buy a blank that is exactly what I want in terms of metal composition, rifling, contour and twist rate. The gunsmith will chamber it to meet my needs for cartridge
Not saying pre-fit, "Off the Shelf" from EO or MHS won't shoot well but why not get what you want?
if you buy a chambered barrel from tooly, bartlien or bug holes they will all shoot the same unless they are using a proprietary chamber dimension
they all use bartlien barrel blanks, come might be the new BB material but they are all the same barrel/quality
unless someone sends in the actual rifle or send in their measurements...there is no such thing as a "custom barrel"
I agree.
Stock/generic options with generic SAAMI chambers are uninteresting to me.
I don't have an AI, but I prefer to get the barrel brand that I want, in the contour that I want, with the twist, grooves and bore size that I want, chambered for the projectiles I will be shooting.
I would be doing the same if I had an AI. Why not put a truly custom barrel on your custom rifle?
@brianf
Lies! My current cult supports Brux Blanks over Bartlein! Clearly our part of wi produces better barrels than Bartlei
What I think nik was getting at was that in stock is sometimes limited in contour and twist (gain twists are a pita to find).
But the point is any of those smith's will chamber the barrel for you, you just may have to call em up and say I want it chambered as 'xyz' rather than clicking a link on the website
Lies! My current cult supports Brux Blanks over Bartlein! Clearly our part of wi produces better barrels than Bartlei
What I think nik was getting at was that in stock is sometimes limited in contour and twist (gain twists are a pita to find).
But the point is any of those smith's will chamber the barrel for you, you just may have to call em up and say I want it chambered as 'xyz' rather than clicking a link on the website
There are certainly options for sure. Some places are better than others for that.
I personally like to have some control over my chamber specs, but that's a preference thing.
Really??? Think again...
Robert Gradous who built most of my barrels used Krieger and so does Mike at TacOps.
I'll continue to follow my own path...
100%.
Used to work for one of the shops listed and still does work for then from time to time, or did, after he opened his own shop.
He is 15 min from me and my go to plumber.
He did the barrels for my daughter’s switch barrel rifle.
Easily group 5 shots under 1/2” with my reloading and shooting.
Top notch person on top of kicking ass as a smith.
Mile High and Euro will tell you what blank and who did the work.
It's extremely hard to mess up a chamber job in 2023 and it's also extremely hard to find a bad barrel manufacturer. Not to mention extremely hard to find a commonly offered twist that doesn't work with most bullets.
Unless you're planning on running something obscure like an odd chamber size or solid bullets.....you could do a Pepsi challenge shooting barrels and you'd never be able to tell them apart.
Fritz for sure, just got a barreled action back from him a couple weeks ago and he has another of mine as we speak. Awesome communicator, makes him great to deal with.
Fritz, at Black Canyon has done 4 barrels for my ATX. I'm currently waiting on 2.
I talked to Fritz and am sending it to him. Thanks for the help all!
Who is offering prefits in the old AI contour??? Everyone I see offering ready to go prefits is in either the post-'18 heavy contour or is offering traditional Marksman, Heavy Palma, or M24/MTU contours. I had been looking for one but recently accepted that I am going to have to go the blank route again.
and for OP, LRI is my smith of choice for AI barrels from whatever blank you want. You can't go wrong with Fritz though. Enjoy it.
When I looked at offerings from EO some time ago (2016?) they were mostly medium Palma contours which are similar to the AI contour I had on my AT purchased in 2015.
I prefer Heavy Palma or MTU since I shoot mostly from prone. That is why I went the do it myself way
Mike Manzella at Manzella Precision, one the best ai barrel makers. He was the machinist who brought AI barrel chambering in house at AI, prior to Tooley cutting them. He does stock some Hawkhill blanks. I have 6 barrels from Mike, they all shoot fantastic. He's shipping another 3 barrels and a rimX barreled action to me this week. Excellent results thus far. This post is counter productive for me, as he gets busier my lead times get longer, but he's a great guy and I try get his name out there as much I can.
I’m still waiting to hear what makes a “good AI barrel maker” relative to any other competent gunsmith.
People act like there’s some special secret to making them shoot well. I can assure you there is not.
People act like there’s some special secret to making them shoot well. I can assure you there is not.
Not everyone offers pre-fits. I don't want to ship an $11k rifle off it if don't have to. K thanks
Wasn’t aimed at you so much as the others suggesting that there’s something that differentiates a “good AI gunsmith” over any other gunsmith that spins AIs. There’s nothing special needed to make them shoot well. It’s the same as any other barrel with a different tenon/thread pitch.
If you want a prefit that’s cool - there are tons of options like MHSA (AI factory), Proof, Bugholes, etc. as others have stated.
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