SmallCaliberCentral

It appears that my CF Cooper (204 Ruger) will be needing a new barrel.

What are your thoughts on the quality/accuracy of Wilson barrels?

The company has initially quoted me a difference of almost $300 between re barreling with a Wilson barrel and a Krieger barrel. That makes me think the price of Wilson barrels to them is almost nothing as Krieger barrel barrels are $325.

Cooper is owned by Wilson I am told........

I think Cooper owns Wilson? That's what I've read. I'm sure RIO will chime in he's pretty good at answering Cooper questions.

I believe Wilson owns part of Cooper . The quality/accuracy is on par with any of the majors for recreational uses , my 204 is on its 3rd bbl ,6000 rnds for 1st one, 5200 one the 2nd ,basically new (less than 500) on the 3rd. My 20vt is approaching 5000 and still shoots lights out. Sorry no pictures ,just my 2 cents.


Good luck

Larry

On my ar builds I use White Oak Armament barrels which uses Wilson match blanks and all will shoot sub 1/2 moa in .223 & .204. Jim D

One of the selling points of Cooper rifles is accuracy. They come with Wilson barrels. If you were satisfied with the original accuracy, why pay more for something different? Any idea what your round count is on that barrel?

Cooper recently replaced a barrel for me with a Wilson and it shoots as good as hoped it would. But before replacing the barrel they told me they wanted to check it out and make sure it needed a barrel and was not a damaged crown or something that could be repaired which I appreciated.

By the way, I thought Hugo Vivero (Wilson barrels) bought Cooper early 2009.

Lots of good barrels out there but don't overlook who fits the barrel.

doublepumper wrote:I believe Wilson owns part of Cooper . The quality/accuracy is on par with any of the majors for recreational uses , my 204 is on its 3rd bbl ,6000 rnds for 1st one, 5200 one the 2nd ,basically new (less than 500) on the 3rd. My 20vt is approaching 5000 and still shoots lights out. Sorry no pictures ,just my 2 cents.


Good luck

Larry

Assuming these were bought new by you, did they replace the barrels, and if so how much did they charge?

Thanks

Allen

Allen: Yes I did purchase them new. The first barrel cost me 125.00 ,the second one was in the neighborhood of 300.00 because I had requested a fast twist that Wilson did not produce. I wanted a 1in10 to shoot 32 nosler non lead to be California complaint, has worked out excellently.

Good luck ,

Larry

Not disputing your results with Wilson barrels - after all you own and shoot them. I also own two Coopers in 17 HMR and am very happy with how the guns shoot.

Actually my hope is that Cooper will decide the chamber was a factory error and they will replace the barrel for free or at a greatly reduced cost.

But you NEVER EVER see a Wilson barrel shot in major CF benchrest competition, mostly Bartlein or Krieger. Also, I shoot competitively as a High Master in High Power mid and long range prone matches and you see Obermyer, Krieger, Bartlein, Shilen, and some factory barrels, but NEVER a Wilson barrel.

Just saying............

Wilson barrels have been used in Service Rifle competition and I believe one of the well known gun builders uses them (WOA if I recall but it could be someone else). For that venue and IMO, the downside to any button cut barrel is longevity.

On average, single-point cut-barrels just last longer than the others. There are some mitigating factors that come into play mainly steel quality from LOT-to-LOT. However, when one takes into consideration the time and cost to fit a M1,M14 or M16 barrel coupled with the number of rounds that are shot each year, if one can squeeze another thousand or more accurate rounds from the same tube, the cost per round of button vs. cut barrels starts to rear its [expensive] head; and over several seasons, it "does" add up.

In my experience; while a cut-barrel may shoot straighter for more rounds they don't any better [nor worse] than their button cut counter-parts. That's why on my M1's M4 and AR competition rifles, I used Kreiger and Obermeyer barrels [Bartlein didn't exist back then]; but they didn't shoot any better than the Douglas barrels that was the most prominent at the time. The "nut" behind the trigger is the main culprit that keeps the consistent winners in the circle and prevents those who desire to get in from doing so until their skills are honed accordingly.

For shooting varmints, I really don't need that degree of accuracy but it is there and I don't shoot near as many rounds through them like I did in competition and they're just as accurate, including the factory barrels. My Remington and CZ factory barrels shoots just as good as my Lilja (20VT) and my Cooper 221 FB.

WRT to Cooper and Wilson barrels there is some relationship there. I was told by Cooper what it was but I just don't remember the details. For those out there that have earlier model Cooper rifles, its quite possible you could have a Wilson, Obermeyer, Kreiger, Shilen, Lilja, Schneider or what ever they could get their hands on at the time.

HTH,