Wilson barrels

[Fuj]

What's the word on some Wilson .30 cal. barrels twisted 17-18?

I've never dealt with Urban but, I have with Ragged Hole Barrels.
Wilson themselves only sell in large quantities, and the last I heard,
only do a 10 twist in 30 cal.....I like to go right to the main source
though. I'd check on lands and grooves also. Probably just pushing
6 groove buttons.....

 

[urbanrifleman]

What's the word on some Wilson .30 cal. barrels twisted 17-18?

What is the application for this caliber and twist?

 

[rijndael]

30BR

 

[Fuj]

What is the application for this caliber and twist?

Pure bench rest, where if you shoot in the ones, you'll still get beat.
As rijndael mentioned....30br. However, there are many other wildcats
based around it that need those slow twisters. The guy's I know like
them 4 groove barrels also.....

 

[806guns]

Im just the average shooter and hunter, in the last year i have bought 5 barrels from brad @urbanrifleman and will continue to use him for many years. Every barrel shoots better than i can. I dont shoot competitions, if i were i wouldnt be scared using wilson barrels.

More importantly im not scared of remage barrels. Barrels are consumables, the fact i can screw one off and on another without special tooling is a plus for me. For one gunsmiths arent common in my area of Texas. I dont have to wait for someone else to do it. Fraction of the cost of other manufacturers by quite a bit. So yes i may not win a PRS or F class but it damn sure puts a smile on my face with i can shoot in the .2 or .3 with my wilson remages barrels.

 

[Adam in WI]

I think Wilson Combat uses a 13 twist for their 300 Ham'r also.

 

[Fuj]

I think Wilson Combat uses a 13 twist for their 300 Ham'r also.

Not the same company.

 

[Adam in WI]

Not the same company.

The reason for Combat being italicized. Moot point anyway since my brain didn't process the 18 twist correctly. I obviously deleted the left side of the "8" when I read it...

And, the Hamr uses a 15 twist so my mistake is further compounded... one of them days I guess

 

[Jerry S]

Shooting mostly PRS type matches now, I go through about 4 barrels a year. The last one 1 ordered from a top PRS gunsmith cost me $900 + shipping. I decided that’s too much for me.
I ordered a nut barrel in 6 dasher from Bradly as a test. Paid $400 with muzzle threading for my suppressor.
I’m betting I can’t tell the difference shooting off a rooftop or cattle gate. I’ll share my thoughts on the Wilson after I get some time behind it.

 

[HTSmith]

Shooting mostly PRS type matches now, I go through about 4 barrels a year. The last one 1 ordered from a top PRS gunsmith cost me $900 + shipping. I decided that’s too much for me.
I ordered a nut barrel in 6 dasher from Bradly as a test. Paid $400 with muzzle threading for my suppressor.
I’m betting I can’t tell the difference shooting off a rooftop or cattle gate. I’ll share my thoughts on the Wilson after I get some time behind it.

$900 is steep!

 

[LVLAaron]

$900 is steep!

For a barrel, and labor?

 

[JB10]

I have 2 wilson barrels now. Both shoot good

 

[HTSmith]

For a barrel, and labor?

Understand this is coming from a feller that as a young adult bought spark plugs, WD40, and quarts of motor oil for $.99 each. I certainly think a skilled craftsman using expensive machinery should get paid for his work, but you can get a barrel fitted around here by a benchrest caliber local smith for a good bit less than $900 ( including a cut rifled blank). And that is at their asking price. Of course I think most everything is too high

 

[Dgd6mm]

I'm almost a young 65 years old. I know that yesteryear is gone. $900 may be a bit steep but my last 6mm Competition Match barrel wax $700+. That was before covid.
I have 2 barrels from Bradley and I've shot plenty of pdogs with them, small groups, and banging steel.
He'll get my business when I order my next barrel.
I've moved over to the 6br.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Shooting mostly PRS type matches now, I go through about 4 barrels a year. The last one 1 ordered from a top PRS gunsmith cost me $900 + shipping. I decided that’s too much for me.
I ordered a nut barrel in 6 dasher from Bradly as a test. Paid $400 with muzzle threading for my suppressor.
I’m betting I can’t tell the difference shooting off a rooftop or cattle gate. I’ll share my thoughts on the Wilson after I get some time behind it.

Thank you so much Jerry for giving me a shot. I do appreciate it.

I think I told you that story about the local PRS shooter that came to my house. He was obsessed with getting one of my old personal barrels because it had a shoulder on it, and goodness knows he couldn't be seen with a nut (I went back to all nut barrels for my personal use). I was getting his barrel ready and he pulled out the target for that barrel. He said is this the target from that barrel? I said yes. He said so you don't think that that's very good? I said no, not really. It's okay. It was about half minute.

He said "that's plenty good for PRS" .

I told him if that's the case then why in the heck are these guys paying for premium cut barrels to shoot PRS? They could buy three of my barrels for one of the others.

If one of my barrels can go to the national championships in Washington and place third in heavy gun I'm pretty sure it's going to be good enough for PRS. I might have brought that up a few times, in recent days, probably banging that drum too much, but I'm starting to wonder what it will take before people will believe the results.

Apparently, one of my other customers won some big 600 yd match in Florida shooting my barrels. I didn't get the details from it, sadly.

 

[Jerry S]

Yep $900 for barrel and labor. The prices are outa hand at this point and I refuse to pay it any longer.
$450 for the Bart blank and $450 for labor.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Yep $900 for barrel and labor. The prices are outa hand at this point and I refuse to pay it any longer.
$450 for the Bart blank and $450 for labor.

Mine are $320 and it's slow... I think the "shortages" and the post covid economy has finally hit into the heart of shooting sports.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Understand this is coming from a feller that as a young adult bought spark plugs, WD40, and quarts of motor oil for $.99 each. I certainly think a skilled craftsman using expensive machinery should get paid for his work, but you can get a barrel fitted around here by a benchrest caliber local smith for a good bit less than $900 ( including a cut rifled blank). And that is at their asking price. Of course I think most everything is too high

Plumbers here are charging $180 to $250 bucks an hour.

Things are upside down.

 

[DShortt]

Understand this is coming from a feller that as a young adult bought spark plugs, WD40, and quarts of motor oil for $.99 each. I certainly think a skilled craftsman using expensive machinery should get paid for his work, but you can get a barrel fitted around here by a benchrest caliber local smith for a good bit less than $900 ( including a cut rifled blank). And that is at their asking price. Of course I think most everything is too high

I'd say if you can find it cheaper for just as good a product then that's your source.

Perhaps your employer will start thinking the same way, if not already.

If you're out of the workforce, then the second point is only philosophical.

 

[DR_2297]

$900 isn’t out of line if all you are doing is delivering a rifle to a smith. If he has to spend the time to buy the barrel (and you want a top of the line brand / mfg), pay the shipping and front the $ to do so and then collect sales tax on the barrel you are likely over $500 just for the tube. If the guy can do the entire job in 4 hrs that is $100 an hour and that is CHEAP if he has a ligit business with overhead and taxes and all of that jazz.

If a barrel indicates easily it takes me 4 hours or there about just to do the machine work on a barrel. Another hour worth of labor by the time I disassemble your rifle, screw new barrel on, mark barrel and put rifle back together. Never mind test firing or sighting or anything else you may want.

Remember if you are using a reputable qualified machinist you can live by the old adage of “Good, Fast, Cheap - chose two”…

Think of it this way… If you pay yourself $60 an hour and bill 2080 hours a year (40 hrs x 52 weeks) that is only $125K and that isn’t enough if you have to pay for your own health care or put enough in a retirement account to actually retire some day and still have some kind of comfortable existence…