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Just how good are Douglas Barrels ?

As I mentioned in my post, I was not calling out Mr. JimPag shooting abilities in anyway. I hope he did not take offense to that in any way. Douglas Barrels has been in the barrel making business so long, I am sure they would stand behind a bad barrel if it was in fact a bad barrel. I do know enough to understand that Air Gauging Equipment is pretty accurate. All of the top barrel makers has had a barrel that was not that good or up to the standards that their company standards were.

I can say that I have been in Law Enforcement for many, many years in investigations, worked many cases over the years. Something is missing in this case and I for one am not a skilled enough shooter to figure it out. I have only ever tried bench rest a few times, and it is harder than I ever thought. I am glad that Mr. JimPag has done well in shooting, but the odds are what they are, Remington Custom Shop, Compass Lake, Advanced Weapons Technologies and many more are pretty strong statements for accuracy.

I would like to thank everyone for all of their input, good or bad.
 
Imagine this, all at the same time I had a Krieger, Bartlien and a Brux. I was not able to get two of them to shoot. After 400 rounds on the Krieger barrel I finally sent it back they said it was out of spec I had a new barrel in less than 3 weeks and in less than 100 rounds I had a load worked up for it that shoots quarter moa. The Bartlien I spent about 200 rounds on it, no consistency, never better than half moa at 200 yards. I saved it and used it on a hunting gun figured it was good enough for that. The Brux shot good for an entire season. Shot two matches with it the following season, started blowing primers ruining cases, just in general bad deal. Took it off and borescoped it it had a crack in it about 4 in long.
That was an extremely frustrating two years.

As far as Douglas goes I've had great luck with their barrels. All of them have been on hunting rifles of one sort or another. One of them is on a hunting rifle in 260 Remington and shoots under half inch at 200 yards consistently very happy with Douglas barrels.

I guess it all boils down to you can get a bad barrel from any maker out there. It's how you handle the frustration that counts the most.
 
I agree completely. It can happen to any manufacture of anything. Good companies stand behind their products, more so in the shooting industry and it sounds like Douglas Barrels had done that in this matter. I am looking forward to getting my old 40X up and running.
 
NorCalMikie said:
Got a couple of Pac Nor's as well as Shilen's. All shooters. :cool:

One of the better barrels I have run into are Green Mountain. I don't like to talk them up too much cause the next thing you know, the price has gone up as well as the wait time. Mums the word. ;)
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I took a chance on a green mountain and it paid off. It shoots with my bartleins. I would definitely be willing to try another.
 
Getting a new barrel from a manufacturer for a defective one is fine. The problem is you have to front the threading and chambering cost. After I received a barrel and had it installed, I could see a visible defect an inch from the muzzle. With the naked eye. I called them, not Douglas, and they said it would be replaced if they found it defective.

So my point is, if you do not access to a lathe and pay someone to do the machining, inspect the barrel with a bore scope before it is chambered. Save the hassle of pulling the barrel, packaging it and waiting for the replacement. I still have pictures and the two inches that were cut off. Thank goodness it was an easy solution.
 
Follow up that I want to share. I had a Douglas barrel put onto my Remington action close to 30 years ago. It did not shoot. I took the rifle to a well known barrel maker because he lived close to me. He determined that there were swilling chatter marks in the barrel. I looked through his bore scope and could also see them. My gunsmith pulled the barrel and it was sent back to Douglas. They replaced it with an air gauged barrel and threaded it and short chambered it so my gunsmith could install it. I took that rifle and shot in a hunter class, prone at 600 yards. Beat everyone, including my gunsmith with it.

My point is that this a great company, in my humble opinion. They are overlooked by most competitive shooters. Including myself. You will not be disappointed with your 40X.
 
i have built rifles using all types of barrels for the most part i leave it up to the customer . however when i'm building a hunting rifle and the choice is mine i call douglas started way back when it was Fred now Stan . but the quality has never changed and pretty good turn around time .
 
GPalman said:
Go to the NBRSA and IBS websites and look at the various shoot equipment lists. I would stick with those listed if you want the best chance of a good or great barrel.
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EXACTLY!!! I would use a Douglas barrel on a hunting rifle, no problem but in SR score or group competition forget it they are just not even close to being competitive when it comes to those two types of shooting.
 
Mr. JimPag, I would be glad to send my action to the barrel maker of your choice to have your choice of barrel installed for me if you are willing to pay for it for me. Sounds like a great donation to my LEO retirement fund. But, since I chose Douglas and I am paying for it, I guess I will be taking the chance on my dollar. Win or loose, I am excited to get my old 40X up and going.

Thank you Sir for your opinion, but it will either be my win or loss. Will keep you all posted either way. Again, something is missing in this case ? Just a old LEO gut feeling.
 
troupe said:
Mr. JimPag, I would be glad to send my action to the barrel maker of your choice to have your choice of barrel installed for me if you are willing to pay for it for me. Sounds like a great donation to my LEO retirement fund. But, since I chose Douglas and I am paying for it, I guess I will be taking the chance on my dollar. Win or loose, I am excited to get my old 40X up and going.

Thank you Sir for your opinion, but it will either be my win or loss. Will keep you all posted either way. Again, something is missing in this case ? Just a old LEO gut feeling.
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I was curious if your going with a stainless or CM barrel from Douglas? Didn’t know if one was supposed to be better over the other.
 
I am doing a CM barrel since my action is a very early model. They came with CM barrels on the early rifles, then switched , I think around 1965 range to stainless. It will be blued when completed.
 
Heard today from Mr. Taylor with a pic of my rifle with the barrel installed. The old action is coming back to life because of the great folks with great advise on this great forum, and the help of Mr. Taylor and the crew at Douglas Barrels. Really looking forward to it.
 
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