• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Clues to when you think you have received a bad barrel

Criterion makes great barrels. They will take good care of you
So far they have not! Been almost 2 months now and still no replacement barrel. I called them awhile back and they said it would be here in less than 2 weeks and that is almost 3 weeks ago. I think I have bought my last barrel from them as I have missed 4 matches with my BR.
 
I don't know what size great is. Could you give us some numbers? Thank you.
20200913_141338-1.jpg

I shot 500 looking for a load at 100 (that's all I have to test on) never got 2 to go in same hole. Took my best and went to the match.
The last two 600 matches I've shot my best groups in 3 or 4 yrs.
Of course I manage to screw one out of 4 up enough to knock me out of the winners circle. But I do stay close to top 10 most the time.
 
Last edited:
In my experience the first clue is when you've dropped $300+ in reloading components by changing bullets, powder, primers, brass and burned a lot of gas going back and forth to the range with the same results each time. We humans have a propensity to kick dead horses.

Had that happen with a respected barrel maker on a Savage action as well. Spent a lot of money and time on getting that barrel to shoot. Finally sent it back. They sent it back to me saying they'd lapped it and it was within spec. Screwed it back on and still did not shoot. Bought a Criterion through Northland Shooters, screwed it on, went back to my original load and boom, the thing was shooting 1/4 MOA again.
 
Criterion has been very good to me. I have only had one problem but they took care of it nicely. You will get a good shooter from them.
 
I am by no means a great shooter but have been trying to get in more matches that are farther away from me. My only goal is to better myself at each one and when I finally build a gun that was working out well I get stuck with a "dud" of a replacement barrel and now I cant get the factory off their duff and get it replaced, been well over two months now and they wont return phone calls now either?
 
I've had one bad Barrel that I could not get to shoot. 8 TWIST 6.5 in 6.5 X 284. Best I could come up with was 3/4 of an inch at a hundred. Tube was mounted on my 1000 match gun.. it's shot like a hammer with any of my Dasher barrels but whenever I screwed 6.5 Barrel on it was a dud. Sent it off to my gunsmith so he could scope it out. No problem found. I had him cut an inch off the end of the barrel and re crown.... still no joy. Sent it back to the manufacturer and they gave me a new one. They were satisfied that I did everything I could. Their response was sometimes some barrels just don't shoot. It took me nearly 400 rounds to figure that out
 
I've had one bad Barrel that I could not get to shoot. 8 TWIST 6.5 in 6.5 X 284. Best I could come up with was 3/4 of an inch at a hundred. Tube was mounted on my 1000 match gun.. it's shot like a hammer with any of my Dasher barrels but whenever I screwed 6.5 Barrel on it was a dud. Sent it off to my gunsmith so he could scope it out. No problem found. I had him cut an inch off the end of the barrel and re crown.... still no joy. Sent it back to the manufacturer and they gave me a new one. They were satisfied that I did everything I could. Their response was sometimes some barrels just don't shoot. It took me nearly 400 rounds to figure that out
Well for me I got a clue early and figured it out in about 140 rounds. I have since found another barrel maker that uses Benchmark or X-Caliber blanks and does his magic in a timely manner so with this "dragging ass" issue with Criterion leaving me hanging (but they got my money) I'm going to switch brands. Currently having 2 replacement barrels made and hope to get them this week sometime.
 
Update as of 10-14-20
Out of the blue a barrel showed up on my door step? It's a replacement for the bad one. No notice or nothing just here it is. Oh well I least I got it, now to decide if I'm going to shoot it or sell it???
Well I guess it's a case of "Better Late Than Never". I'm glad they finally sent you something and I truly hope you can get back to the match schedule you want. It is not easy to get past that kind of Customer-No-Service.
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,804
Messages
2,203,336
Members
79,110
Latest member
miles813
Back
Top