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After market barrels? |
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eyeCyou
Optics GrassHopper Joined: February/04/2010 Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Posted: February/07/2010 at 17:57 |
This may be a silly question but here goes. I have a Howa 1500 30-06. Can I put any brand barrel on my rifle? Do they have a universal fit?
FYI- I want to put a 20 inch stainless bull barrell w/ the Trinite coating like the Rem. XCR. Then get it fluted so it shows stainless flutes on black barrel. |
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Yes, you can put any brand barrel on your Howa action. No, there is no "universal fit." You cannot just buy a barrel and screw it onto your action. With the exception of short chambered barrels (requiring final chamber ream and headspace), prethreaded barrels for Savages, "drop in" fit rimfire barrels (i.e. 10/22), AR platform barrels, etc, no barrel maker sells completed barrels, only blanks. Any barrel you buy must be threaded, chamber reamed, and headspaced for your action, so you need to have it installed by a qualified gunsmith.
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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eurolynn
Optics Apprentice Joined: January/24/2010 Location: Oklahoma Status: Offline Points: 179 |
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No. It has to be made for that action.
A barrel is like a car part, got to have the right make and model. Or at least the right design. The contour has to be correct to fit the action, the threading has to be properly machined. You can have a barrel blank made to fit your Howa action, but I doubt you would want to put that kind of money in to it. Check out Douglas Premium barrel, or ER Shaw. And just use a search engine and keep looking. I did a bit of surfing, and found the Howa 1500 barreled actions are sent as a whole. So the importer has no spares. |
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"Guns aren't toys! They're for family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals, and keeping the King of England out of your face!"
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eyeCyou
Optics GrassHopper Joined: February/04/2010 Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Howa makes actions for a number of brands like Weatherby (vangaurd) S&W, etc. U think that might be good place to start ?
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Even though Howa does make the action for the Vanguard and others, you cannot simply get a barrel for another rifle and exchange for the one you have, even from a rifle with the exact same action. Barrels have to be threaded and the barrel shank shoulder faced to the proper headspace length for safety TO THAT SPECIFIC ACTION. There is no shortcut to this. You might find a "take off" barrel that will thread into your action, but don't be tempted to use it. Unless it came off that specific action or is specifically fitted to that action, it may not be safe to use it!
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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Dale Clifford
Optics Jedi Knight Joined: July/04/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 5087 |
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and the labor cost is the same for putting on a cheap barrel as a good barrel, or working with a top action as compared to an average. so the cost of the completed job becomes alot compared to your initial purchase.
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silver
Optics Master Joined: November/04/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2291 |
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Finishing is normaly done After fluting. Fluting happens while the barrel is still a blank to make for a more stable cut and there is less to go wrong.
Talk to some place like Kreiger or Shaw for a barrel. Expect to pay a couple hundred bucks for a GOOD barrel. Surplus barrels are often junk, that why they got pulled. You will be better off in the long run to put the fluting money towards blue printing the action. It may not look as Kool, but will be a more dependable tack driver. Which in the long run matter when your buddy's beater rifle out shoots your Kustom Kool.
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"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane." Jimmie Buffet
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magshooter1
Optics Professional Joined: August/27/2008 Location: El Dorado, AR Status: Offline Points: 827 |
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Check out E.R. Shaw. I had a S&W (Howa) rebarreled by them. No other work done and it was $215 returned to me with my old barrel. It's less if you give them your old take off barrel.
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Some people are educated BEYOND their intelligence.
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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$215 installed and for a new barrel is a great price! I have an action at Douglas Barrels curretnly getting a new barrel and having it installed and it farily resonable prices and great folks to deal with. I will be doing a review on it as soon as I have it back so stay tuned.
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pyro6999
Optics Retard OT TITAN Joined: December/22/2006 Location: North Dakota Status: Offline Points: 22034 |
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shaw is good as is lilja douglas and mcgowan. a new company that many may not have heard of is a company called brux, i have a friend who has a couple of them now. their cs is excellent. my friend ordered a barrel from them for a rifle and he was comparing it to another custom rifle of his and he thought the contours were different even though he ordered a #2. so he measured it and come to find out it was in fact the wrong contour. he called the company and email pictures and they told him they were very sorry about the mistake and would promptly get him the right barrel. to make it even better they told him he could keep the one the messed up on and the correct barrel cost him nothing.
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They call me "Boots"
375H&H Mag: Yeah, it kills stuff "extra dead" 343 we will never forget God Bless Chris Ledoux "good ride cowboy" |
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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Bartlein makes some of the best barrels as well.
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own." |
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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As does Broughton, Lilja, Krieger, Shilen, Hart, Pac-Nor...
All the custom barrel makers make great tubes.
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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the age old question I have heard time and time again, who makes the best? is there a such thing as the most accurate aftermarket barrel? tell me this if say brand a shoots exactly 1/4 MOA and brand b shoots exactly the same are they not equal? even if brand a cost thre times more because of the engraved name on the side?
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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The short answer is "no."
At least not with certainty. If there was an absolute answer, all benchrest shooters would be using the same brand barrel. They're not. Plus, not all barrels coming from the same manufacturer are equally accurate, even though they are all made using consistent manufacturing processes. There's more than a little voodoo involved in turning out a superb barrel.
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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Roy Finn
MODERATOR Steiner Junkie Joined: April/05/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4856 |
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Just as important as the tube is the guy doing the fitting and chambering. You would be surprised just how many "bad barrels" there are out there that were really just not correctly installed. Have it fir properly.
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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Thank RifleDude you answered the more of a retorical question but got the point across It kinda like when you buy a car thats a lemon and someone else has one that runs to 250k miles. |
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Duce
Optics Master Joined: September/19/2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1231 |
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I have a Douglas barrel on a 30-06 it was the AA air gaged version, very happy with it made the old Savage into a tack driver. The blank was 30 in long when it arrived and I had to have it cut down, chambered and crowned etc. The gunsmith has to have your action and barrel to fit it properly.
Duce
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Duce
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Duce
Optics Master Joined: September/19/2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1231 |
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The smith that did the work for me wanted the entire rifle so he could test fire it after the fiting, that is not a bad idea to have him do the first few rounds and check out the entire package.
Duce
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Duce
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Absolutely! Excellent point!
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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eyeCyou
Optics GrassHopper Joined: February/04/2010 Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Thanx guys! Lots of great advice! I tell you what, when I am ready to do this I am going straight to the gunsmith I use and saying "here you go, this is what I want. Call me when its ready". He has got A LOT more experience than I do and he will save me much headache and time wasted (probably money too). Thanx again.
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