Rimfire barrels
- Thread starter Pyscodog
- Start date
They are as good as anything else, But they have great bedfellows! Kreiger, Hart, Shillen. In other words they're fine and you will not get better care
When I was a kid I remember hearing of Douglas (air gage!) as the best available anywhere. At this point I think Douglas is as good as any other. They have just been around so long they are no longer a factor?? Bottom line is they are as good as anyone else!!
All manufactures have a nitch or product specialty. In the 80's and 90's, Douglas barrels were the prefered brand in Service rifle competion. I would like to hear from someone who currently shoots a Douglas rimfire barrel. I just checked Brownells and they don't stock a rimfire barrel made by Douglas.
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th82457
Silver $$ Contributor
I would think the best bet would be to order one directly from Douglas. Most distributors do not stock Douglas barrels - but a lot of good gunsmith's use them. I believe Melvin Forbes used them on his ULA & NULA rifles. I have had 3 centerfire rifles re-barreled with Douglas barrels and each one shot extremely well, so I would not hesitate to try a rimfire barrel from them.
No one in serious rfbr shoots Douglas barrel's...Call Paul Tolvstad and get a 8 groove or 4mi barrel....club level or not...the barrel will make or break you!
I also have two rimfire benchrest bolt action rifle's. One is made with a Turbo action and the other is made with a 2500x action. Both have a Shilen ratchet barrels. Last weekend I went to the range with some new lupua midas+ ammo and was able to shoot a 5 shot group of .037 with the 2500x rifle. The other rifle doesn't like that ammo. Once you get your rifle built you will have to find ammo your barrel likes. You will find that is the biggest challenge in rimfire. If you find a lot# of ammo your rifle likes you better get as much of it as possible. It seems the rifle is the easy part of rimfire benchrest. Feeding the ammo it likes is another story!!!
Attachments
I've owned a couple of Compass Lake Engineering's dedicated 22RF AR uppers, both with stainless Douglas barrels done by the owner, Frank White. These are the only Douglas 22RF bbls I've owned, and they both shot really well - comparable to Bartlein, Benchmark, Krieger, Lilja, and Shilen blanks that I've fitted & chambered to repeaters built on converted Rem 40X/XB actions, Stiller 2500X, Vudoo V-22 & V-22S, and CZ457s. IOW, I wouldn't shy away from Douglas for a 22RF barrel. Having said that, the Shilen Ratchet Rifled select match I used on my V-22S is probably the best-shooting 22RF barrel I've owned to this point in time....
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SGW Gunsmith
"Accipere non casus-Virga Bis"
If I may ask. What are you planning on installing your new .22 rimfire barrel on to?
I now dang well that Douglas makes very good center-fire rifle barrels, but there are also a few others who "specialise" in GREAT .22 rimfire barrels, just depends on which action will be getting the implant.
I now dang well that Douglas makes very good center-fire rifle barrels, but there are also a few others who "specialise" in GREAT .22 rimfire barrels, just depends on which action will be getting the implant.
SGW Gunsmith
"Accipere non casus-Virga Bis"
That is a FANTASTIC group. At what yardage was that fired at? I can assume it was the standard 50 yards, but I'd like to read what was actual.
Thanx,
Dennis
Shooters should be careful about reading too much from a single group.
Below are two different five shot groups shot with two different non-modified (except for trigger pulls) factory rifles, all with factory barrels. The distance was 57 yards. The ammo was CX on the left and SK RM on the right. The POA and POI were different, so that the latter wouldn't obliterate the former.
Although not as small as the group posted earlier, they don't mean a thing. If the entire five group targets on which both these groups occurred were shown in full, it would be embarrassing. At the very least, the ammo was not capable of consistent performance with more groups, and neither were the barrels, although one of them was much better than the other.
If you shoot enough it's going to happen, more often with a better barrel, less with a more average one.
More than one group should be shown as a reflection of barrel and ammo performance.
Below are two different five shot groups shot with two different non-modified (except for trigger pulls) factory rifles, all with factory barrels. The distance was 57 yards. The ammo was CX on the left and SK RM on the right. The POA and POI were different, so that the latter wouldn't obliterate the former.
Although not as small as the group posted earlier, they don't mean a thing. If the entire five group targets on which both these groups occurred were shown in full, it would be embarrassing. At the very least, the ammo was not capable of consistent performance with more groups, and neither were the barrels, although one of them was much better than the other.
If you shoot enough it's going to happen, more often with a better barrel, less with a more average one.
More than one group should be shown as a reflection of barrel and ammo performance.
SGW Gunsmith
"Accipere non casus-Virga Bis"
Why? It shows the capability of that gun/ammunition combination. I rather doubt any owner would expect those results EVERY time shooting.
Hi-NV Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
Exactly, knowing what it is capable of shooting with any given ammo, will at the very least tell you if you are the problem! as you know what the rifle is capable of shooting!
Lee
I shoot at 50 yards with the rimfires. That rifle has not done to well with any of the lots of ammo that I have. I have several different lots in eley 10x lupua center x and midas+. Although with the new ammo i had just got it really likes it and does shoot pretty consistent with it. I was not posting to brag about the group I didn't even shoot it my girlfriend did. I was just trying to show how different barrels like different ammo. That has been true with all four of my rimfire benchrest rifle's. It was a pretty amazing group though and I made sure she understood what she did.
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I said "Shooters should be careful about reading too much from a single group."
It's surprising that any serious shooter, especially someone like Lee, who has a number of years of .22LR bench and lot testing experience, would take the opposite position that shooters should be reading a great deal about their rifle and ammo from a single very good group. According to that view, one group proves much about the rifle, ammo, and shooter.
It's a rather myopic point of view. Why? One single group proves nothing by itself. If it did, it would be possible for shooters to evaluate a rifle or ammo by shooting a single group and making firm conclusions based on five shots. Random acts of accuracy occur. The single targets I posted are just that.
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