x-caliber barrels

[Riesel]

There is a barrel manufacturer in Kalispell Oregon named X-Caliber barrel maker. Does anybody know anything about this company and had any experience with their barrels? The barrels are advertised as what seems to be a very good quality and are priced rather inexpensive. Let me know if you have had any feedback on this company.

Thanks,
Robert aka
Riesel

 

[shortgrass]

That's Kalispell, Montana,,,, not Oregon. I wonder if that's the "new" barrel company that MRC formed? Might have to make a phone call tomorrow and find out. I had some barrels made by the 'old' MRC barrel company in the shop and bore scoped them. Nice and slick, no tool marks. Used several, they shot very well for the price and cleaned up easily. Looks like prices have increased, but, what hasn't had a price increase?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

The new mcgowen barrels are the only ones i know of in that town. Could be their new cut rifled barrels. But i guess there could be others in the same town

 

[shortgrass]

Their web site says "pull button"rifling. Prices look higher than , say, Krieger or Hart for a contoured barrel. No reason to buy a barrel that's not already contoured unless you've got a CNC with a air cylinder follow rest that's doing nothing. Contouring on a manual lathe will pretty much take the majority of the morning. And then there's polishing.

 

[Riesel]

OOPs on the geography thing, brain gears going in opposite directions. I have one of their barrels in the lathe that I'm turning down. Actually my first stainless barrel and it works a little different than CM. I plan to fit it to a Rem 700 in 6BR and see how it shoots to determine it's calling. Might have something to report in a month, got a lot of irons in the fire. Would like to hear from anyone else on these barrels.

 

[Larryh128]

Could very well be the old Montana Rifle Co with a new name. There are a bunch of straight blanks out of Kalispell on ebay starting at about $100. No brand name attached to them.

 

[Larryh128]

I just looked and the seller is now listed as X caliber.

 

[Riesel]

Bought one of 'em, it's a 6mm 7 twist in the lathe right now getting turned down. Looks like a dern good barrel.

 

[shortgrass]

When I sent MRC a copy of my re-newed license, a couple of months ago, I asked about the barrel company. The response was "Remington was leaving Kalispell and MRC was getting the barrel making business back." I don't know if this MRC or not.

 

[trailrider121]

I'm curious if anyone here has been using x-calibers, and what are your thoughts?

http://www.x-caliber.net/main/XCAL-page.asp?P=1

 

[shortgrass]

I just exchanged e-mails with MRC. X-caliber isn't theirs'!

 

[alintx]

I was told that John (formerly of broughton barrels) moved west and started his own company. He has an excellent warranty, and I have two on order. Cant wait to get em in the lathe !!!

 

[spitfire_er]

Anyone have any new news about these barrels or the company. I just ordered a barrel to test it out for a F-Class rig. Would be nice to know some history about the company.

 

[GAnderson]

I just ordered 2 20cal barrels in 3 groove/11 twist. The pricing that they have listed on the website is not even close to the price they quote if you call them...here is what I know, they offer the blank for $120....if you want a contour it is an additional $50, so a new barrel in SS with your choice of caliber and contour will be $170 and about $15 for shipping. They say the price of chrome molly is equal to stainless, so they are the same price. Jon Frost is who I dealt with and he never once failed to call me back or e-mail me on questions I had. The lead time on a barrel is about 4 weeks....I ordered the barrels Monday the 6th and spoke with Jon today and they are working on my barrels today. Hopefully these barrels will be the quality of the other barrel makers....certainly, the price is right.

Gene

 

[jonbearman]

This is good news as it may cause some competition for the higher priced blanks, but then again probably not. My only hope is they shoot good for the price.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I just talked to one of the founders of the company about a barrel and if anyone from Broughton worked there. He said no one from Broughton worked there but there were several people from Remington/MRC and McGowen. I will have my barrel tomorrow and should have it chambered fairly quick to evaluate. It will be a .30-338 Norma Imp. I have a Bartlein barreled version now that usually shoots in the .1's and .2's for 3 shots and the .2's and .3's for 5 shots if I do my part. So it will be interesting to see if the X-caliber barrel can hang with the Bartlein or even be in the same ball park. I told the guy I talked to I'd tell him the result, good or bad. I think they are more geared toward production/volume rather than extreme accuracy. The barrels on eBay are over run barrels from production runs.

Anyone else have any feedback yet?

 

[waterfwlr]

Anyone have any first hand experience yet?

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

I am having one of the 20 Caliber 3 groove X-Caliber barrels chambered currently. When it arrived at the Smith's shop last week he said it looked good. I am looking forward to getting the barrel back and installed on one of my Savage LRPV actions. I will report back with more details as soon as i can.

 

[Biggdawg]

i just got a 7mm blank from them for a wildcat i am working on. it looks good will report back when i start shooting it.

 

[Riesel]

An update on that 6 BR. Using 107 SMK for load developement with R15 and H4895 and it seems to prefer a stout load. I can't catch a day that the wind is not gusting but it's shooting .3-.4" groups at 200. I don't know if they're on ebay any more, but would certainly make a dang fine hunting rifle barrel if you don't mind piling swarf to the door.