I've kinda narrowed it down to these three. Personal experience would help. Also anyone have any pricing on blueprinting, bedding and rebarreling? I have some quotes from a couple local smiths but id like to see what else is out there. Thanks!
- Thread starter Oppenheimer
- Start date
All three make top shelf barrels. But of the three, I would personally go with Broughton.
Regarding pricing, take a couple of minutes on some of the well known smiths' websites and you can get a pretty good feal on pricing.
Regarding pricing, take a couple of minutes on some of the well known smiths' websites and you can get a pretty good feal on pricing.
Broughton would be my choice. Hart would be second choice.
I own rifles with Broughton and Hart (no experience with Schneider). Both are absolute tack driving barrels. I can't honestly say one is better than the other. I would say select the one you can receive the quickest. Can't go wrong with either. You will be very happy.
As for smith check with any or all of the following. I have experience with all of them and they are first class in every way. In no particular order:
Hart Barrels gunsmithing
Accurate Ordnance
American Precision Arms
As for smith check with any or all of the following. I have experience with all of them and they are first class in every way. In no particular order:
Hart Barrels gunsmithing
Accurate Ordnance
American Precision Arms
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What I consider my tightest shooting rifle has a Broughton 5C. Could be the whole custom rifle and/or chamber & relative reloading. No Hart or Schneiders, have Bartlein and LW.
I had purchased from NM/Broughton direct via phone and it was a good experience. Talked to one person who immediately answered, knew stock, current planned runs, profile options, and delivery/run time. Shipped directly to G'Smith, no BS.
I had purchased from NM/Broughton direct via phone and it was a good experience. Talked to one person who immediately answered, knew stock, current planned runs, profile options, and delivery/run time. Shipped directly to G'Smith, no BS.
I went with Schneider, simply becasue I wanted the Marine Corps barrel. Nothing bad to day about it all and he's a very easy guy to deal with.
Kreiger....
I am a fan a single point cut rifling. Of course my 338 Edge will be a bartlein becuase my smith found exactly what I wanted in stock so no 4-5 month wait from kreiger.
I am a fan a single point cut rifling. Of course my 338 Edge will be a bartlein becuase my smith found exactly what I wanted in stock so no 4-5 month wait from kreiger.
All the barrels mentioned a good quality barrels but why not consider what is considered the best barrels in this community Bartlein or Rock? I have built a lot of rifles and chambered several different barrels for people. From the smith side I would only choose Bartlein or Rock. From the accuracy side I havent found a barrel to be better than either of these.
Just my .02
Just my .02
This is going to be one of those topics.... Check runout of any of those mentioned barrels across 24-28" or whatever the length of the barrel. If you have have chucked one up in a lathe and seen the runout of one of these barrels you would not be asking this question. Average runout for a Bartlein or a Rock is between 10-35 thousandths. Now check the runout of the others and you will be somewhere around the 200 to 250 thousandths and even more in some cases. If you think this doesnt matter to you, consider bedding a barreled action and centering barrel in the barrel channel of the stock. Once you shoot out the barrel and rebarrel hopefully your smith clocked the previous barrel to have the runout at 12:00 and will do the same for your new barrel. If not you could use all of your scopes windage to zero left or right depending on where its clocked. Another issue maybe that with a 20 MOA rail depending on scope you may not have enough travel in scope to adjust for zero if the barrel is clocked at the 12:00 position. Most quality scopes this is not a problem. My point is do you want a barrel that has minimal runout that you are not going to visually be able to see unless its chucked in the lathe. Or would you prefer to have a barrel shaped like a banana? There are a lot of benefits IMO to a cut barrel over a button. Will other barrels shoot just as good? Sure there are a lot of great shooting barrels out there. If you want to bring bench resters into this, ask them how many barrels they went through trying to find the right one. Every Bartlein I have chambered shoots and I didnt go through 10 barrels to find a keeper. Consistency is what sets them apart. Shoot whatever you want but I will only consider the two for my rifles.
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Or Rock, or Barlein, or Brux, or Mullerworks...... Thing about this is that when you get into these barrels, they are all good and will perform. You ask 10 guys and you can get 10 different answers. Any choice you make, you will be pleased.
I have shot Broughton,Hart and Douglass Barells. Broughton is the best of the 3 hands down
of the Hart and Schneider I've had, Schneider shot better...never had a Broughton. I do have a Bartline that shoots extremely well but I haven't had enough rounds or good weather day to find out exactly how good it is. From what I can see thus far, it's sub .5moa...probably going to be 1/4-1/3 MOA.
I have owned 3 Harts, 3 Broughtons and 1 Krieger. I have no personal experience with Schneider but I know they are good. All of these barrels are top tier and will serve you well. All of my custom rifles have been quarter MOA guns. I recommend that you decide on your specs and go from there.
If you want fluting Hart and Brux offer several options. Broughton charges 175.00 to flute Aka" we don't like to flute our barrels"
If you want a light sporter contour Krieger is out. #5 is the smallest profile they will make in stainless most calibers.
They all do heavy contours
Stainless vs. C M. Hart, Broughton and several others only make stainless. 90% of all custom barrels are stainless. You would only get CM if you want old fashioned bluing.
grooves? 3, 4, 5r, 6. 3 groove is popular for varmint rifles shooting hot loads like 22-250. PAC Nor is at the top of the 3 groove game. 4 or 6 are pretty standard and nobody can really tell the difference. 5R or 5C may or may not be faster and last longer. Krieger charges 30 bucks extra. If I was going this route I would probably go Broughton for no fluted and Bartlien for fluted.
Cut vs button rifled. Both are great from these companies. Button is Hart, Schneider, Broughton, PAC Nor, Shilen, Lilja
Cut would be Rock Creek, Brux, Krieger, Bartlien, Obermeyer.
Both have their advocates. The bench rest purest seem to traditionally like button barrels. They claim to have a superior interior finish with no tooling marks and easier break in. The tactical sniper crowd seems to like cut rifling. They claim a longer life and more consistent twist rates.
All across America this Saturday amateurs and professionals alike will be winning medals and getting their ass handed to them by all of the above.
RTO definitely has his favorites. As well as most other gunsmiths. I would ask your smith for his opinion. On the off chance that your rifle does not perform as expected you don't want him to say that you did not use the products that he recommends.
They all very slightly in price but are all very competitive. They all have wait times. If you can find what you want in stock I'd get it.
Personally my favorites include
Broughton 5c- phenomenal plain barrels. Remember they don't like to flute. Great CS and lots of medals.
Hart- great price, great barrel, lots of fluting options, no military contracts " Mrs. Hart says she insn't sure they would get paid" smart lady.quick wait time. Long steller reputation in winner circle BR following for good reason.
Krieger- great reputation. High demand and military contracts. Long wait but worth it. Remember 30 bucks extra for 5R and no light contours
Bartlien- broke off from Krieger. They are basically the same but do 5 R standard and do some sporter contours. More options than Krieger.
Brux- new kid on the block. Very high quality. Making a great reputation for themselves. I think I'll try them next. Great CS.
Rock Creek. No personal experience except I've lost to a few.
Shilen- old good reputation. With Hart have strong following in BR.
Any of these are great.
PAC nor- good but not at the top of the game. But again there 3 grooves are popular in varmint circles.
Douglas- been around. Good but again not a top competitor.
McGowan- changed hands and had some issues a few years back. I hear they are doing well now.
Lilja. Touch and go on CS. Would not be my first pick. But they do make good stuff. Also known for rim fire barrels.
Saturn- Another new one. Not getting the same hype as Brux. Jury still out.
If you want fluting Hart and Brux offer several options. Broughton charges 175.00 to flute Aka" we don't like to flute our barrels"
If you want a light sporter contour Krieger is out. #5 is the smallest profile they will make in stainless most calibers.
They all do heavy contours
Stainless vs. C M. Hart, Broughton and several others only make stainless. 90% of all custom barrels are stainless. You would only get CM if you want old fashioned bluing.
grooves? 3, 4, 5r, 6. 3 groove is popular for varmint rifles shooting hot loads like 22-250. PAC Nor is at the top of the 3 groove game. 4 or 6 are pretty standard and nobody can really tell the difference. 5R or 5C may or may not be faster and last longer. Krieger charges 30 bucks extra. If I was going this route I would probably go Broughton for no fluted and Bartlien for fluted.
Cut vs button rifled. Both are great from these companies. Button is Hart, Schneider, Broughton, PAC Nor, Shilen, Lilja
Cut would be Rock Creek, Brux, Krieger, Bartlien, Obermeyer.
Both have their advocates. The bench rest purest seem to traditionally like button barrels. They claim to have a superior interior finish with no tooling marks and easier break in. The tactical sniper crowd seems to like cut rifling. They claim a longer life and more consistent twist rates.
All across America this Saturday amateurs and professionals alike will be winning medals and getting their ass handed to them by all of the above.
RTO definitely has his favorites. As well as most other gunsmiths. I would ask your smith for his opinion. On the off chance that your rifle does not perform as expected you don't want him to say that you did not use the products that he recommends.
They all very slightly in price but are all very competitive. They all have wait times. If you can find what you want in stock I'd get it.
Personally my favorites include
Broughton 5c- phenomenal plain barrels. Remember they don't like to flute. Great CS and lots of medals.
Hart- great price, great barrel, lots of fluting options, no military contracts " Mrs. Hart says she insn't sure they would get paid" smart lady.quick wait time. Long steller reputation in winner circle BR following for good reason.
Krieger- great reputation. High demand and military contracts. Long wait but worth it. Remember 30 bucks extra for 5R and no light contours
Bartlien- broke off from Krieger. They are basically the same but do 5 R standard and do some sporter contours. More options than Krieger.
Brux- new kid on the block. Very high quality. Making a great reputation for themselves. I think I'll try them next. Great CS.
Rock Creek. No personal experience except I've lost to a few.
Shilen- old good reputation. With Hart have strong following in BR.
Any of these are great.
PAC nor- good but not at the top of the game. But again there 3 grooves are popular in varmint circles.
Douglas- been around. Good but again not a top competitor.
McGowan- changed hands and had some issues a few years back. I hear they are doing well now.
Lilja. Touch and go on CS. Would not be my first pick. But they do make good stuff. Also known for rim fire barrels.
Saturn- Another new one. Not getting the same hype as Brux. Jury still out.
Thanks guys. I had been leaning toward the broughton 5c for a while (a friend has one). You guys helped me put the nail in the coffin though. I have a remmy donor I want to play with and another .308 on the rack wouldn't hurt right? 
RTO,
If what you say is true then my gunsmiths must have got lucky more than once when they ordered the barrels in question. Mine will hang with a friend's Bartlien barreled rifle all day long. Again, Bartlien makes outstanding barrels, but the others perform just as well. As always the real differentiator is the individual behind the trigger.
Wow. The OP has made his decision and we are still defending our "favorite" maker. Funny stuff. Barrels I've owned:
Broughton
Bartlien
Krieger
PacNor
Lothar-Walther
Lilja
Douglas
Shilen
Hart
Brux
Of all of them Brux may be the best kept secret. I have had few gunsmiths that praised the lack of runout more than the one who did chambered my current Brux in 243. The fact that is has grouped (more than once) under 1" for 3 shots at 520 yards (longest on my private range) is no fluke. One gunsmith told me that he quit Krieger for Hart because of attitude. He says "buy your barrels from the guy with grease under his fingernails". My current krieger in 223 is showing great performance on the steel out to 1000 yards. No complaints there. My current Broughton is in 7WSM. It seems to have held up under a very steady barrage of 180 VLDs at 2900+ FPS and can still keep hits just under MOA at 800-900. For the BR game (short and long range) I have quite a few Bartlien barrels and they can deliver "teen groups" when all the shooting gods are smiling on me. I could go on and on there but the bottom line is this. Good barrel makers make good barrels but great gunsmiths make good barrels shoot their best.
Broughton
Bartlien
Krieger
PacNor
Lothar-Walther
Lilja
Douglas
Shilen
Hart
Brux
Of all of them Brux may be the best kept secret. I have had few gunsmiths that praised the lack of runout more than the one who did chambered my current Brux in 243. The fact that is has grouped (more than once) under 1" for 3 shots at 520 yards (longest on my private range) is no fluke. One gunsmith told me that he quit Krieger for Hart because of attitude. He says "buy your barrels from the guy with grease under his fingernails". My current krieger in 223 is showing great performance on the steel out to 1000 yards. No complaints there. My current Broughton is in 7WSM. It seems to have held up under a very steady barrage of 180 VLDs at 2900+ FPS and can still keep hits just under MOA at 800-900. For the BR game (short and long range) I have quite a few Bartlien barrels and they can deliver "teen groups" when all the shooting gods are smiling on me. I could go on and on there but the bottom line is this. Good barrel makers make good barrels but great gunsmiths make good barrels shoot their best.
