Douglas Premium barrels

[JMJ888]

I tend to stick to the cut rifled barrel makers just out of preference...Krieger, Bartlein, and Brux but I know right now lead times are getting long. I was quoted 14 months on my last Krieger 458 barrel I ordered.

I have also owned a few Shilen and Lilja barrels on ARs that both shot well. The reality is most custom barrel makers hold tight tolerances and I defer to the smith chambering the barrel a lot of times...the variance of the quality of the machine work done on the barrel/action/bedding/stock makes much greater difference than the tiny variance between match grade barrels.

 

[DLSJR]

I don’t shoot competitively, I only hunt, so perhaps I’m not a good one to comment, but here is my experience with barrels.

My first custom build was a 416 Hoffman. Pre-64 express action, Brown Precision fiberglass stock and a stainless Hart barrel. it shoots various 400 grain bullets to same POI, grouping Bear Claws, CE Raptors and TSX all at .75-.80”. Solids are right at an inch and group with expanding bullets.

Next was a RE-barrel on my 338 Win Mag. Post 64 action, Brown Precision stock and a 24” Lilja stainless barrel that’s fluted. It shoots Barnes factory ammo with 225 TTSX’s to .75”, and I haven't bothered to see how much better we can do with handloads. This is my main “go to” rifle for nearly anything.

I finally shot out the original barrel on my Pre-64 Westerner in 264. I re-stocked it with a Brown Precision stock many years ago and it shot lights out. The factory barrel was superb, shooting handloads well under .50”. We replaced that with a Kreiger barrel, and it’s even better. The first handloads we tried, shooting a 127 grain Barnes LRX at 3,220 fps shot to .335”, so I decided it was plenty good enough and haven’t tried to do better.

Finally, I am doing a RE-barrel on another pre-64, this one a 375 H&H. We put a 24” Shilen barrel on it and once we break the barrel in we will see how it shoots. I expect it’ll be like the rest in that it’ll be capable of better groups than I can shoot.

I just buy whatever barrel my gun builder can readily get and so far every barrel we’ve used has been a shooter. As I’ve gotten older I decided to simplify things. I’ve tried to match each rifle as close to the others as possible. All model 70’s, all Brown Precision fiberglass stocks, all Leupold VX5 scopes, all triggers set at 2.75-3 pounds, etc. Other than a bit different weight due to barrel contours, they all feel the same and shoot the same.

 

[mdwest]

Its been a long time.. but I owned a couple of "precision" 308's in the early 90's that had Douglass premium air gauged barrels on them.. both were easily .25 MOA rifles when shooting federal gold medal match ammo..

I moved over to Shilen by the late 90's for custom builds.. I honestly dont know why other than a USAF armorer/gunsmith that had built several camp perry winning rifles really loved them and recommended them to me.. Now that I live about an hour away from Shilen and go to their factory about once a year (annual swap meet), I dont anticipate changing to anything else anytime before I take the final dirt nap..

At the end of the day when you start talking top 5% quality barrels, the vast majority of them when mated to a top quality action and chassis/stock and top quality ammo will outperform what 99.99% of the shooters in the world (to include guys that have won national championships, etc).. so its really a matter of personal preference.. most guys on this board (perhaps all of them) cant perform inside the capabilities of what a douglass, shilen, hart, krieger, lilija, etc. if its mounted properly to a proper action, tuned with the right ammo, dropped into the right chassis, etc..

I know when I was at the absolute top of my game, I couldnt out perform my rifle(s)... I was no national champ or member of the presidents hundred, etc.. but I did spend a few years on a sniper team, attended several "precision" and "sniper" schools, ran through a few thousand rounds of "precision" shots a year for several years.. attended several regional, 1 national, and 1 international "sniper" competition (and did well), etc.. and on my best days, my rifle was still capable of delivering better performance than I was (with a douglass or shilen barrel)...

 

[C.W. Richter]

my .416 has a Douglas installed by Shaw. it's fantastic! 21" heavy contour. open sights installed post-facto by NECG. I like Lilja for longer-range precision shooters.

 

[fourfive8]

Yep, Benchmark made their splash and built a reputation early on with their competition .22 barrels.

Another maker that was out of the loop for awhile but I guess is back in is Pac-Nor. I was interested in them because they were one of few who at that time made larger bore barrels with 8 groove rifling and faster twists. They have a good reputation.

Because of availability, I went with Lilja for a 45 cal rifle barrel because they offered an 8 groove and fast twist option. No regrets because that rifle in 450 Watts has turned out to be one of my most accurate larger bore rifles.