I fell into a couple decent black Friday deals, so it looks like I'm going to start building my long range rifle sooner than expected.

The one component I'm most in the dark on is barrels.  Who is your preferred barrel maker?

I'm looking to sticking with .308, since its a round I'm very familiar with.  And would like to start shooting the Missouri MOST matches with it, which go out to 1K.

Lilja, I have worked with two rifles sporting them. Scary accurate.

From my experience I like Rainier Arms ultramatch barrels, I had a 308 ultramatch barrel that I shot .443 moa after 3 months of shooting, previously just fired m4's and the saw.. so good for a beginner in precision... used hand loads. Because of that. My next rifle after I had to sell the 308 is a 6.5 creedmoor 22 inch fluted ultramatch bull barrel. Fired it this past weekend. Got a .411 moa 4 shot at 100 with factory ammo!

Check out Craddock Precision. Great price and any barrel option you can think of. I put one on my latest 308 build and it is a tack driver.

I have a .308 Lothar/Walther on my AR10T, and its a solid MOA barrel. But if I was going to rebarrel it, I would get one from Rock Creek Barrels and chamber it for .260rem. I have several Rock Creek barrels on bolt guns and they are all tack drivers.


Btw, the .260 has a flatter trajectory than a .308, and loaded with the 139gr lapua scenars is a great round for 1K paper punching. Also not a barrel burner. I have a couple bolt actions in 260 that are into the thousands of rounds and still shoot sub MOA... For distance, its my favorite round. It will also take any big game in the NE US when loaded with proper bullets.

2d that for Lothar Walther barrels. I just re-barreled my Rem R-25 308 Win. Just starting barrel break-in today. Shoots under 1/2" so far. But will one- hole with a freshly cleaned barrel. Right now I have wipe out in the barrel and will check tomorrow to see if I have a lot of copper coming out.

I am shooting factory FMG168SMK at 100 Yards.

So far, I am pleased with my barrel results. Once I break in barrel I hope will hold. Sub MOA al day.

I like my own barrels made out of Bartlein blanks.

Pick a gunsmith who will turn any blank to your spec then buy any of the top tier barrels. So many companies are making world class barrels nowadays you can't make a mistake. I like Compass Lake Engineering and White Oak Precision for AR barrel work. Satern would be another great choice, as is Noveske.

Broughton
Krieger
Pac-Nor
Bartlein
Schneider
Rock Creek
Shilen
and at least a half dozen other companies make superb barrels. Any one of which will shoot lights out with tuned hand loads.

Even less expensive sources are fantastic:

Douglas
Criterion
Wilson Arms

People fall into the mental trap that their is but one "best" barrel on the market and they are willing to pay whatever to get it. I have owned Krieger barrels that were average performers, I have owned Wilson Arms barrel that shot lights out. Each barrel is law onto itself and getting a truly great one is kind of the luck of the draw. People hate to hear this, but it's the truth.

Quality ammo makes more of a difference than the quality of the barrel. Too many rack grade rifles shoot very small groups for this not to be true.