White oak barrels

[skeetlee]

I am needing a premium AR varmint type barrel for a customers rifle that I have here in my shop.
Me knowing very little about AR type rifles and what most people want or like. I am looking at the White oak line of varmint barrels. I guess my question is? Are these White Oak barrels the same quality as say a Krieger or even a shilen? My client will be shooting in a few local type matches so accuracy is the first priority. thanks Lee

 

[Jammer Six]

What are you doing accepting work on a gun that by your own words, you "know very little about"?

Gunsmiths who take work when they don't know the gun or the sport is what's wrong with your trade.

Have some integrity. Give the weapon back to the owner, and tell him you don't know enough about his rifle to charge him to work on it. It will be good for you, it will be good for us, and it will be good for your trade.

Stop being part of the problem, and being the punchline in bad jokes about gunsmiths.

And for god's sake, going on the internet and asking Skeeter, Booger and Bubba how to do the work or what parts are the best is not the way to find information about gunsmithing!

 

[akajun]

Yes white oak barrels are very high quality .
The standard barrels are cut from Wilson blanks, you can upgrade to a Krieger or pac-nor for extra cost.
These local type matches your customer is shooting , are they highpower matches? If so make sure you get the barrel with the windage adjustable front sight base.

 

[cmillard]

give compass lake engineering a call. top notch service and are actually nice people. you can choose what barrel blank is used.

 

[Stumpy1]

SkeetLee,

If your guy is wanting to get started in F-class with an AR, or Sling Shooting with an AR, the stuff that White Oak sells is good to go. The barrels are button rifled, and Jon cuts a great chamber. You CAN get a cut rifled barrel from him, but the button barrels do the job on (especially) sling targets. White Oak generally uses a +2" longer gas system on their varmint barrels and high power barrels (at least on the longer barrels, not sure on the short ones), so you need to be aware, but they include a gas block and longer gas tube with the barrel. The only issue might be your handguard (appearance wise).

Hope you find this useful,

Frank

 

[Bamban]

I am needing a premium AR varmint type barrel for a customers rifle that I have here in my shop.
Me knowing very little about AR type rifles and what most people want or like. I am looking at the White oak line of varmint barrels. I guess my question is? Are these White Oak barrels the same quality as say a Krieger or even a shilen? My client will be shooting in a few local type matches so accuracy is the first priority. thanks Lee

Give John Holliger a call, there are 2 Whiteoak lines; the Armament and Precision. The WOA are typically Wilson, but he offers them in Shilen for a little more, that you can order online. Then the WOP are the customer specified variety, barrel makes from other suppliers are offered with custom contour or the standard ones used in competition. In the past John did the WOP ones himself.

Curious to see how this AR shoots compared to the bolt guns that come from your shop.

 

[Ggmac]

Jammer six , I could not agree more !

 

[msinc]

I think there is a big difference between "knowing how to work on guns" and knowing what the general consensus is on preferred equipment for a given weapons platform. At least that is what I got out of the OP's original post. As much as people would like to make them out to be...sorry guys, the modular AR is just not rocket science to work on. The most complicated piece of gear you need to do it is a torque wrench, I mean, come on!!!!! It's a plug and play gun and you swap out parts till it works. If AR's are all you work on then you are not exactly a stellar gunsmith as I understand the meaning.
I have had good luck with Wilson barrels...I don't particularly care much for the man that makes the barrels, but they are decent barrels for a decent price. They are not on a par with Krieger or Pac-Nor, but it doesn't sound like the difference will matter too much in this case.
White Oak Armament is first rate all the way. I have one of his 26" barrels on one of my personal AR's and it is hard to beat for accuracy.

 

[hogpatrol]

I have a WOA upper 24" Varmint chamber and it shoots great. One option for your customer is to just purchase an entire upper from them instead of incurring barrel and chambering costs. He'd probably only be talking a couple hundred bucks or less.

 

[johnfred1965]

The poster is a GUNSMITH, trying to LEARN more about his profession. Whats wrong with this industry is everyone is a specialist, and you just can't take any firearm to these type gunsmiths and have them worked on. While it is good to have experts who are top of the line in their area of expertise, you still have to have the jack of all trades, who can take whatever firearm you bring them and just do the job. While this forum may not be gunsmith school, it does provide some excellent guideance and is a good starting point, and a GOOD gunsmith has the aptitude to learn what he doesn't know.

By the way, White Oak and Compass Lake are top of the line, you cannot go wrong with either. Good Luck!

 

[Baddog0302]

Does anyone else find it annoying

What are you doing accepting work on a gun that by your own words, you "know very little about"?

Gunsmiths who take work when they don't know the gun or the sport is what's wrong with your trade.

Have some integrity. Give the weapon back to the owner, and tell him you don't know enough about his rifle to charge him to work on it. It will be good for you, it will be good for us, and it will be good for your trade.

Stop being part of the problem, and being the punchline in bad jokes about gunsmiths.

And for god's sake, going on the internet and asking Skeeter, Booger and Bubba how to do the work or what parts are the best is not the way to find information about gunsmithing!

I'll say half of blame on this situation belongs to said customer who bought a Wally World or other big box store 16" Bbl. AR and doesn't know any more about his weapon that to buy bulk 55 or 62 gn. ball ammo , load a Mag. and go "zombie hunting " at the local sand, clay or gravel pit.
But, to the OP's question; Suggest that the customer, [ if he is serious about competition shooting] look at either Compass Lake or WOA complete uppers complete with sights designed for match shooting.

 

[skeetlee]

I always find it amazing how comfortable people get from the safety of their dinning room desk. Lol. A monkey could bolt together an AR rifle. I don't want a wally world run of the mill AR.
My client who also happens to be one of my best shooting buddies seems to think I need to get into this market. So together we are going to build an AR and see just how accurate we can make the darn thing. Top Accuracy is a must or I am not interested. All I asked about was barrels. I wasn't asking for anyone's permission or blessing.
I have read about white oak barrels over the years but I've never owned one. I like cut rifled barrels, but a cut barrel doubles the price and I am not sure it's worth it in an AR platform? Maybe it is? I just wouldn't know. All I am after is a blank. I will cut the chamber myself, and attempt to square up the upper receiver face a bit. If my name goes with this rifle you can dam well rest assured I've put 100% of myself into it.
I respect a lot of the folks here on this forum and I have made some really good friends here over the years. I like including you all when maybe I am just not 100% sure.

 

[hunter243sgk]

I have noticed a couple of new guys on here who are always bashing someone. What is the deal with this!! This forum didn't use to have that.

 

[hunter243sgk]

Good luck on your build skeet.

 

[Bamban]

Skeetlee,

In your journey into the black rifle world, if you find a breakthrough in the precision department, I hope you don't mind sharing with us. I am most definitely interested. I am always looking for continuous improvements in anything I do. I am not a gunsmith nor a machinist, but I have a BP mill and 3 lathes in the garage and have been cranking out AR barrels from blanks donated by Shilen for our state Junior shooters. I am doing the work for free since I am not in the business. .

 

[Jammer Six]

Lee Gardner Precision.

Got it.

 

[jimcasey01]

I have no experience with WOA barrels, but as expected the Krieger barrels are phenomenal. With single shot sled, adjustable gas block, and replacement trigger with modifications, they can rival most bolt rifles.

 

[BigBlueandGoldie]

White oak is great and he's got some proven load data on his website as well.

 

[jwink]

I'm having very good results from my Shaw s.s., 20" heavy tube 1-8. I, like you, am looking for accuracy from my ground up build and am not being disappointed.

 

[akajun]

I always find it amazing how comfortable people get from the safety of their dinning room desk. Lol. A monkey could bolt together an AR rifle. I don't want a wally world run of the mill AR.
My client who also happens to be one of my best shooting buddies seems to think I need to get into this market. So together we are going to build an AR and see just how accurate we can make the darn thing. Top Accuracy is a must or I am not interested. All I asked about was barrels. I wasn't asking for anyone's permission or blessing.
I have read about white oak barrels over the years but I've never owned one. I like cut rifled barrels, but a cut barrel doubles the price and I am not sure it's worth it in an AR platform? Maybe it is? I just wouldn't know. All I am after is a blank. I will cut the chamber myself, and attempt to square up the upper receiver face a bit. If my name goes with this rifle you can dam well rest assured I've put 100% of myself into it.
I respect a lot of the folks here on this forum and I have made some really good friends here over the years. I like including you all when maybe I am just not 100% sure.

WHite oak does not sell blanks, only ready to go barrels, and he does a good job too, as does Compass Lake and Keystone accuracy.
If all you want it a blank, look no further than a green mountain gunsmith special blank. THey are 50$ and shoot well enough to post high master scores and earn leg points with the ones I have cut.
you will have to profile it yourself though, it is a rough blank.
If you want a pr profiled blank, buy a Krieger or x caliber.