Wilson barrels

[DShortt]

The subject has been beaten to death but the opinion I've formed out of it is the advantage of a barrel nut is primarily ease of installation for those who do not possess the skills or equipment to chamber and thread a barrel themselves. All you need is a means to remove the old barrel, a means to set the headspace and a means to correctly install the new barrel. The downside is the additional complexity of additional parts and fitting. If the nut, barrel and action are correctly machined then it's not a problem. The same can be said of a shouldered barrel. The difference being there is no barrel nut to further complicate things.

IMHO, Savage has an Achilles heel in a three areas. One being the floating bolt head. Simply because it's an addition of parts which may correct alignment issues or may add to alignment issues depending on what isn't concentric and where. In a perfect scenario it won't matter but my observation has been perfection is the oddity and not the norm in mass production.
And the second being the bolt lift. It's rarely suitable for accuracy from the factory. Usually it can be improved upon but it just can't rival custom actions.
And lastly the interior finish if the factory barrels. I personally have never seen one that shoots best without some degree of fouling and once accuracy deteriorates then they aren't easy to clean. And a return to accuracy requires fouling which is more difficult to achieve with some barrels than others.
Savage produces a good product for the majority of the market that buys their rifles.
However, they definitely have their potential problems and limitations.

Or so I see it at this time.

 

[jelenko]

Urbanman, have you ever not tried so hard to not sell your Wilson barrels, there is always some comeback that just does not look good on your part. I do understand your passion for your product, and that is a good thing. Just don't go at it so hard. You sell a good barrel for the money and I hope you sell a bunch of them. I even bought a 223 barrel from you.

It is not a trap for you, you just cant help it to not comeback with something. Your, or Wilson blanks that you sell is a medium quality barrel for a fair price. There is a market for everyone, but there is a reason that the Wilson blanks are not at the top in the ultimate accuracy levels. The competitions that you mention are accuracy oriented, but not at the level of the BR crowd. Competitions bring out folks that wants to win and the folks that are serious about there accuracy just don't shoot Wilson barrels for their level of accuracy that they are capable to shoot at.

If I was spending my hard earned money, I would wait if I needed a few more dollars for the top quality barrels, even though I can't shoot at the BR levels, I would just know in my little old brain that I have what I feel is the best. Mr. Al brought up a very good point, stock a few 30 cal. 17 twist barrels and get a 30BR reamer. It won't hurt your overhead to prove your point about your Wilson blanks, get the 30BR barrel to a well known shooter, I am sure someone here on this great forum would put one through it paces and report on it.

This is a great forum where you should find a taker. I do wish the best and I hope the OP purchases one of your barrels, I am sure he will be very pleased, because you do sell a good product for the money and do back it up with great passion. Just ease up a tiny bit and also good luck with the old Blazer, it will be a lot of fun.

Well said.

 

[Acyr]

Since we are comparing barrels to dogs...
Most of us have had mixed breed dogs that were fantastic pets.
But if we take them to the AKC National Championship and expect to win we would surely be disappointed.
Good barrels and great barrels are 2 different things.

 

[Owens85]

My first year in 600 yard benchrest I used a Wilson prefit from urban. And it did great for my first year and learning the ins and outs but it never won me any fake wood and my best group was around a 1.8 for 5 shoots at 600. This year I used premium barrels and got a stack of fake wood and best group was a .994 at 600. Is a Wilson a good barrel I believe so but not a CONSISTENT winning barrel for BR.

 

[moondog]

troupe
I feel the same way that you do about Urban. Sells a good product at a good price point and I have told alot of people to check his website out. People not on this site. But he just can't seem to help himself. So I put him on the ignore list a while back. But I just told a buddie of mine the other day to check him out for a prefit barrel on a savage. Some people just can not help themselves.

Exactly! Don't own one, but I've told several guys to give him a try. I've been tempted to try one for a fun gun though. I have one gun that has a barrel nut. I was asked by a premium barrel maker/Smith to try it and give feedback. He had been getting a lot of requests for prefit barrels. I've won a few matches with it but it's now just my fun gun till it gives up. He decided to Not do it.
I get Prefit shouldered barrels all the time for my Kelbly's and TL2s. Why do the nut?

 

[Dgd6mm]

My first year in 600 yard benchrest I used a Wilson prefit from urban. And it did great for my first year and learning the ins and outs but it never won me any fake wood and my best group was around a 1.8 for 5 shoots at 600. This year I used premium barrels and got a stack of fake wood and best group was a .994 at 600. Is a Wilson a good barrel I believe so but not a CONSISTENT winning barrel for BR.

There's a lot of cut rifled barrels that can't shoot 1.8 at 600 yards. It's possible that you probably improved from your first season to your 2nd. Also your reloading practices may have stepped up.

 

[urbanrifleman]

My first year in 600 yard benchrest I used a Wilson prefit from urban. And it did great for my first year and learning the ins and outs but it never won me any fake wood and my best group was around a 1.8 for 5 shoots at 600. This year I used premium barrels and got a stack of fake wood and best group was a .994 at 600. Is a Wilson a good barrel I believe so but not a CONSISTENT winning barrel for BR.

Or maybe you shoot better now. After a year of practice and matches. That might have something to do with it.

 

[urbanrifleman]

If you want any information about Wilson barrels, just send me a pm.

 

[jghoghunter]

Or maybe you shoot better now. After a year of practice and matches. That might have something to do with it.

you just can't help yourself

 

[DShortt]

you just can't help yourself

Or he's been reading this.

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

I actually like hearing Urban defend his/ Wilson barrels. He has lots of customers and he gives actual evidence and results.

In today's forum world you hear way more negative reviews than positive ones.

He is a site sponsor on one of the best forums with all levels of shooters including the best in the world.

People search for information on this site and he provides people an affordable quality option with excellent customer service.

He's helping shooters shoot more and keep cost down as inflation has blown things out of the water.

Thank you!

 

[Tesoro]

Other than a handful of old pros on this thread and short range benchrest maniacs, I'd bet most could not outshoot those affordable Wilson or Criterion pre-fits. Nut or shouldered pre-fit.

 

[DirtySteve]

I love using Rock Creek Barrels. I had some people on this forum tell me they are nothing but boat anchors. Folks also do not favor Douglas barrels here. Stan, may he rest in peace, shot them till the day he died and I never heard him even mention shooting another brand. Folks on this site barely touch them...

Wow, I am old and forgot where I was going with this. Wilson barrel probably shoot well enough for a lot of applications. Maybe not Bench Rest but maybe they are fine for that too...

There I think I recovered from my mental lapse... Still not exactly where I was heading but it is in the right direction.. Urban, keep faith in your product.

 

[jelenko]

Wilson barrel probably shoot well enough for a lot of applications. Maybe not Bench Rest

This.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I love using Rock Creek Barrels. I had some people on this forum tell me they are nothing but boat anchors. Folks also do not favor Douglas barrels here. Stan, may he rest in peace, shot them till the day he died and I never heard him even mention shooting another brand. Folks on this site barely touch them...

Wow, I am old and forgot where I was going with this. Wilson barrel probably shoot well enough for a lot of applications. Maybe not Bench Rest but maybe they are fine for that too...

There I think I recovered from my mental lapse... Still not exactly where I was heading but it is in the right direction.. Urban, keep faith in your product.

Love Rock Creek barrels. Love them. Love love love them. The prettiest barrel I ever scoped was my Rock Creek prefit prototype.

The FIRST Rock Creek Remage nut barrel was made for me by Russell back when he worked the floor. He runs the place now.

It was a brand new 6mm design at the time. It was a 6 groove. It was a very fast barrel. As are the Wilsons, which are incredibly similar.

Bet you didn't know that.

 

[CharlieNC]

Other than a handful of old pros on this thread and short range benchrest maniacs, I'd bet most could not outshoot those affordable Wilson or Criterion pre-fits. Nut or shouldered pre-fit.

My buddies and I started shooting Fclass using Criterion barrels, and I even shot a NRA record that first year. Fast forward and the last six barrels I know of in the last year would not shoot up to par, including the replacements. Bore-scoped fine but would not shoot up to par as in the past, apparently a quality deterioration.

 

[urbanrifleman]

My buddies and I started shooting Fclass using Criterion barrels, and I even shot a NRA record that first year. Fast forward and the last six barrels I know of in the last year would not shoot up to par, including the replacements. Bore-scoped fine but would not shoot up to par as in the past, apparently a quality deterioration.

THAT is very interesting. Maybe they changed the button design.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I love using Rock Creek Barrels. I had some people on this forum tell me they are nothing but boat anchors. Folks also do not favor Douglas barrels here. Stan, may he rest in peace, shot them till the day he died and I never heard him even mention shooting another brand. Folks on this site barely touch them...

Wow, I am old and forgot where I was going with this. Wilson barrel probably shoot well enough for a lot of applications. Maybe not Bench Rest but maybe they are fine for that too...

There I think I recovered from my mental lapse... Still not exactly where I was heading but it is in the right direction.. Urban, keep faith in your product.

I used to use a lot of rocks. They are excellent cut rifled barrels. I got them to make us a 4 groove for 6mm BR because I liked them so much. Those barrels hammered. @GlennK still has some horded. The only problem with rock is they get big contracts and its hard to get barrels out of them when they do otherwise Id still use them. They are all gain twist too. Even though they do not advertise that, which I like.

 

[paperpuncher]

I used to use a lot of rocks. They are excellent cut rifled barrels. I got them to make us a 4 groove for 6mm BR because I liked them so much. Those barrels hammered. @GlennK still has some horded. The only problem with rock is they get big contracts and its hard to get barrels out of them when they do otherwise Id still use them. They are all gain twist too. Even though they do not advertise that, which I like.

I was unaware of the gain You are correct about them being excellent barrels

 

[urbanrifleman]

I used to use a lot of rocks. They are excellent cut rifled barrels. I got them to make us a 4 groove for 6mm BR because I liked them so much. Those barrels hammered. @GlennK still has some horded. The only problem with rock is they get big contracts and its hard to get barrels out of them when they do otherwise Id still use them. They are all gain twist too. Even though they do not advertise that, which I like.

If you want to do an order I'll throw in 50 or so...

Would LOVE some 6mm 4 groove Rocks. Now that would be fun to do some "head to head" shoots against the Rock and the Wilson. That would be FUN!!