Who should turn my barrel blank into a barrel?

[Hooz]

I'm in the market for a very specific barrel profile for my next Grendel AR build, and I'm considering popping for a high-end (Douglas, Bartlein, Lilja or the like) barrel blank and sending it to a 'smith for profiling, chambering, etc.

If you were me, who would you send your barrel blank to?

[salm0trutta]

Bob Reynolds, at Templar Custom did my special contour. I wanted light and 20", he was the only one I could find that would do wanted. I went with a Bartlein, its consistently sub-moa with AA 115g Bergers and Factory 123 A-max, despite it being a very light and long barrel. The only thing is that he doesn't do flutes real deep or big, mine are rather superficial, compared to ones you might find on a Satern barrel.

[Costa]

Do you have any pictures of yours. I was thinking about having him do one for me in 22".

[LRRPF52]

I was going to recommend Bob Reynolds as well. For a lightweight barrel, it's not practical to do deep flutes without cutting into a 6.5mm bore, if we're talking a profile under .800" diameter, and that's a pretty medium-heavy contour for a pipe.

The original Armalite AR15's had some prototypes with about a .800" profile under the handguard, fluted, with a super-light fore end after the gas block journal to the flash suppressor shoulder.

[Hooz]

Wow. Templar is pretty proud of their cut rifled barrels... $700?!

For those of you who had Templar do a barrel, did you supply the blank? What work did you have him do? How much did it cost?

I need a specific profile, but not a complicated one. I want a 20" barrel that is .840" under the handguard, a .750" (rifle length) gas block seat, .740" from the gas block to the muzzle with a .700" x .700" step in the profile at the muzzle and threaded 5/8" x 24. I'd also like to get a nickel boron coated barrel extension and have the barrel melonited before it's all assembled.

Then if that one works out, I'm going to have a similar 6.5 Creedmoor barrel done for my LR308.

[appleseed-kdc]

Bartlein.

I have heard great things about them for years.

google bartlein barrels review and do some reading.

You won't be sorry.

[dukeboy_318]

Brad at Superior Tactical Solutions. Great guy.

http://www.superiortactical.com/

[Hobster]

Wow. Templar is pretty proud of their cut rifled barrels... $700?!

For those of you who had Templar do a barrel, did you supply the blank? What work did you have him do? How much did it cost?

I need a specific profile, but not a complicated one. I want a 20" barrel that is .840" under the handguard, a .750" (rifle length) gas block seat, .740" from the gas block to the muzzle with a .700" x .700" step in the profile at the muzzle and threaded 5/8" x 24. I'd also like to get a nickel boron coated barrel extension and have the barrel melonited before it's all assembled.

Then if that one works out, I'm going to have a similar 6.5 Creedmoor barrel done for my LR308.

Try proof research. What you're looking for is very similar to what they're building me right now. Www.proof research.com

[LRRPF52]

A Bartlein or Krieger blank is going to run you close to $400, and that's before the barrel smith even breathes on it, pre-12/2012 craze prices. To profile a barrel takes quite a bit of time, expertise, and focused effort from a good smith. The AR15 profile takes even more time, because of the multiple OD's required for the shoulder for the gas block, gas block journal, and fore-end, before we even talk about threading, chambering, and head-spacing your bolt and barrel extension.

Then there is the gas port, muzzle crowning, and threading if you want it. Then the barrel can be left in the white if stainless, or coated/treated. Mass-produced barrels can have the price lowered because these operations are standardized and repeated by less-experienced workers who aren't messing with custom one-offs. They are also not of the same grade of steel, and have looser dimensional tolerances for the bore uniformity.

You want a barrel smith who is talented and patient enough not to jack your premium blank up in the process, therefore, if a custom shop is offering you a price point near mass-produced barrels, red flags should be flying, unless they are providing you a barrel profile and work that they offer as a standard, like Compass Lake Engineering, White Oak Armament, and some other guys I ordered my SPR barrel from (Douglas Select Match). Those pre-spec'd profiles usually run over $400 per barrel for a nice mouse gun with an accuracy standard.

Custom work costs money, plain and simple. $700 is not bad, actually, especially if that includes anything like threading the muzzle or fluting.

[Hooz]

I am well aware of the cost of quality, but $700 seems awfully steep for a barrel. I could buy a custom Satern barrel (with bolt) for HUNDREDS less... If I was willing to wait.

[LRRPF52]

Satern has a few standard profiles that they offer, putting them into the category I mentioned before, which comes in around $400+. Fluting is going to be at least $100 per section, so if you flute the fore end and the area under the handguard, it adds up quick, and that's before threading the muzzle.

I'm not sure how Satern runs their operations, but I suspect that they profile barrels to standard profiles as a continuous operation to reduce costs and time. If you send a 1.25" diameter blank to a smith, it's going to take some time just to profile the barrel before any specific cutting operations are performed. Like I mentioned, the high-end blanks start in the high $300's price point before any work is done on them.