More Carbon Barrel Joys

[gunsandgunsmithing]

5.5 or so after the paint job and recoil pad install

Pretty light.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Pretty light.

Well it is all carbon fiber. Made to be as light as possible. Its a 33nosler though so its not for the weak hearted

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Well it is all carbon fiber. Made to be as light as possible. Its a 33nosler though so its not for the weak hearted

I bet that's right!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I bet that's right!

Its lighter than my short action christensen but ive never weighed em before

 

[INTJ]

Several smiths I do work for, will not chamber anymore carbon fiber barrels due to issues like this. The winds of change are blowing again.
Paul

If it were up to me l wouldn't do any carbon barrels. They are inferior in just about every way.

 

[Judd]

Dusty…nice hunting rifle. I bet that thing kills on both ends

I’ve got two Proof barrels in the shop to do for myself 28 and 30 Nosler and been sort of wondering if I would need to modify my fixtures. The knowledge on this forum is amazing and invaluable to me. Thanks guys!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Dusty…nice hunting rifle. I bet that thing kills on both ends

I’ve got two Proof barrels in the shop to do for myself 28 and 30 Nosler and been sort of wondering if I would need to modify my fixtures. The knowledge on this forum is amazing and invaluable to me. Thanks guys!

It has a fat bastard brake on it. Doesnt kick at all actually. Built one for my dad with a #3 barrel on it and no brake and ill shoot it all day. Its past the sharp recoil of like a 300wm and its into the pushing recoil that doesnt really hit hard. Its kinda like a real light load in a 375h&h. Now the 30 and 28 nosler are a bit different in the recoil department…

 

[Bc'z]

Ag composites makes an actual carbon fiber stock with a sporter forend and rem varmint barrel channel. They work perfect with the proof barrels. Real carbon fiber is cured in an acetylene chamber under heat. Heres my personal CF hunting rifle brett painted. Its a proof barrel and AG composites stockView attachment 1351522

You still have that?
That was in the beginning of my stock painting days.
Sumbitch does look good!!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

You still have that?
That was in the beginning of my stock painting days.
Sumbitch does look good!!

I keep my personal guns. Doesnt get any better so why sell it?

 

[Bc'z]

I keep my personal guns. Doesnt get any better so why sell it?

I sent the picture to my buddy.....
He said how much?? Lol
I explained some things in life can't be bought.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I sent the picture to my buddy.....
He said how much?? Lol
I explained some things in life can't be bought.

I build myself one about in the same league every year. They are all for sale

 

[butchlambert]

You might check with Mark Brown with Brown Precision. They built a Kevlar-graphite hunting stock for my Pierce TI 280AI.

 

[Bc'z]

You might check with Mark Brown with Brown Precision. They built a Kevlar-graphite hunting stock for my Pierce TI 280AI.

What does the stock weigh in at?

 

[butchlambert]

What does the stock weigh in at?

Wow, Mark built it quite some time ago! I'm a very old man with a poor memory. About 1.5lbs as near as my old mind works.

 

[WSnyder]

Hey Butch I have an all Kevlar shell Brown Prec from the early 80’s, way before carbon fiber came along for us regular folks I bought it around 1982 or so as a 90% and had to finish and paint it. The Kevlar fuzz was a PITA to deal with. The stock itself is 26oz full up with auto texture paint (think Chevy Blazer top paint), bedded, pillared, recoil pad and trigger guard.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Brown makes the “brown pounder” that is 1lb. They are the lightest stocks ive ever dealt with. The main issue with the real light stocks like that is they are designed around a #1 or #2 taper barrel. When you go carbon fiber barrel you have to have a varmint barrel channel, which back when they first came out were only available in normal weights. AG was the first i know of to make the extreme light stocks with varmint channels. Christensen and proof made them but they werent for sale to the general public, only available on house builds. The proof stocks are my first choice if you got the money and time. They actually bed them in carbon fiber and its a work of art. Last one i had done was almost $2000 and 11mo wait. I cant imagine what it would be now

 

[butchlambert]

Hey Butch I have an all Kevlar shell Brown Prec from the early 80’s, way before carbon fiber came along for us regular folks I bought it around 1982 or so as a 90% and had to finish and paint it. The Kevlar fuzz was a PITA to deal with. The stock itself is 26oz full up with auto texture paint (think Chevy Blazer top paint), bedded, pillared, recoil pad and trigger guard.

Bill, I still have rifles built on the old Brown stocks that Remington used in the middle 90s I believe.
Dusty, Mark did mine from ground up using my barreled action. It wasn't inexpensive, but wasn't close to $2000. A CF barrel will never grace one of my rifles.

 

[INTJ]

A spiral fluted steel #5 is usually within 2-3 oz of a Sendero contour carbon wrapped barrel. That gives the fluted #5 about the same amount of steel as a non-fluted #4, but allows the muzzle to be threaded 5/8-24. As well all know #4 contour steel barrels usually shoots very well all the way to .338 bore.

My experience with carbon fiber barrels--and I have shot a bunch over the last 18 months--is that 50% are excellent to outstanding. Another 20% are fair, not wanting to consistently shoot much under .7 to .8 MOA. About 30% are just bad. Those percentages are approximate. Almost all the steel barrels I have shot have been excellent.

Now the carbon barrel makers are all extremely good about replacing a bad barrel under warranty. When you think about it it's amazing that they shoot at all. There are three materials--steel, carbon fiber, and the resin that holds it together--all expanding and contracting at various rates. The light contour carbon barrels are the ones I have had the most issues with. The bull contour carbon barrels seem decent.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A spiral fluted steel #5 is usually within 2-3 oz of a Sendero contour carbon wrapped barrel. That gives the fluted #5 about the same amount of steel as a non-fluted #4, but allows the muzzle to be threaded 5/8-24. As well all know #4 contour steel barrels usually shoots very well all the way to .338 bore.

My experience with carbon fiber barrels--and I have shot a bunch over the last 18 months--is that 50% are excellent to outstanding. Another 20% are fair, not wanting to consistently shoot much under .7 to .8 MOA. About 30% are just bad. Those percentages are approximate. Almost all the steel barrels I have shot have been excellent.

Now the carbon barrel makers are all extremely good about replacing a bad barrel under warranty. When you think about it it's amazing that they shoot at all. There are three materials--steel, carbon fiber, and the resin that holds it together--all expanding and contracting at various rates. The light contour carbon barrels are the ones I have had the most issues with. The bull contour carbon barrels seem decent.

Back when proof used bartlein barrels i never got a bad one

 

[Judd]

I’ve seen more tight two shots then go to crap carbon barrels than anything else…the barrel mirage is significantly worse too…you don’t hear people talk about that often. I’m not a fan but in my opinion where the use case shines is 24-26” and wanting to have enough meat/shoulder to have a 5/8-24 suppressor…otherwise…stainless barrels are still the answer. My 2 cents from a shooter perspective not a chip maker.