Preferred barrel?

[Guy M]

Eventually the factory barrel on my little CZ will wear out... That's what barrels do.

Is there a preferred custom maker for the .204 barrels?

Mostly I've been shooting .308's and have used primarily Krieger. Those nice cut-rifled barrels are a favorite of the long-range prone shooters, and NRA highpower shooters, at least here in the PNW - they seem very popular with that crowd. They tend to give long accurate barrel life. I've also got a .30 cal Hart that has done very well. There's an Obermeyer on the shelf, waiting for the current .30 cal Krieger to wear out.

But - I've got no info on what might be the preferred custom maker for lightweight .204 barrels... Any input? What worked well? What didn't?



Thanks, Guy

[glenn asher]

You just opened a can 'o' worms , That's okay, it's about time to go fishing, anyway PacNor, Lilja, Douglas, Shilen, any of the better known barrels should be good, including Lothar Walther, which I've heard good things about, too. I don't know if Hart makes .20 barrels, but they'd sure be good ones, if they make 'em.
Most guys who are doing the small caliber wildcats and domestics over on http://www.saubier.com are using Lilja or Pacnor, from what I can gather. You'd probably be fine with any of the ones listed, and probably more, to tell the truth. No hard and fast rules apply, and anyone can make a lemon, too. Not very equivocal, am I? As you know, you can get a good one or a bad one from any maker.

[Glen]

I like those maple stocks!! Nice rig Guy!!

[skipper]

I picked a Lilja barrel when I was building my 204 because of Dan Lilja's reputation with small caliber barrels. I figured that since he knows how to produce such winning rimfire barrels he would have more experience with small bore barrels. After reading around on his website, I could see that he also knows the value of consistent twist rate from chamber to muzzle and has the tooling to ensure quality control. There is some really good information on his site about what makes a barrel accurate.

If I haden't picked a Lilja, my second choice would have been a Kreiger.

[Ray P]

Good luck in your choice I been working with Hart barrels. I have a 30" 1-10 on my bench gun, a custom 7 STW with a Hart fluted 30" 1-8 on a Rem sendero rifle. My .338 Lupa ImP wears a fluted 30" 1-10 Hart and I have 2 fluted 26" 1-12 204"s on Rem 700"s that shoot 39 Sierra's, 40 bergers and 40 hornaday's. My peferance is the 40 bergers for best groups, followed by 39 Sierras and then the 40 Hornadays. The only problem with Harts is the longest you can get is 30". Lija,Krieger and Obermyer will to longer barrels if needed. Hart is close to me here in Pa and right now their turn time is 6-8 weeks. I always ask for spec barrel and they send me what I ask. .3080 for 30cal., 2840 for 7mm, .3381 on my .338 and both my .204 came in at .2040
Hope helps a little.
Keep us posted on your descision!
later
Ray P
Later

[Guy M]

Aww... Fat lotta help you guys were! Now I know that for best results I should go with one of the well-respected custom barrel makers. Doh! Like I didn't already know that???

Laughing here guys - lightheartedly. I figured everyone would have their favorites - and I do understand that Dan Lilja has been building some superb small-bore rifle barrels... Along with others as well. Hopefully I have a while to make the decision, only have a few hundred rounds through the little CZ so far. Have to confess, one of the reasons I bought that rifle was the maple stock... I really like it!

Skipper - I think your rig is just a wee little bit beyond what I've got in mind... But very cool. I'll bet that thing shoots bugholes! Someday I'll likely bed the action on my CZ and properly free-float the barrel - but otherwise it's going to remain pretty close to factory specs until that barrel wears out - I like it as my "walking varminter" rather than a bench type gun.

Regards, Guy

[msphotog]

Guy, let me put in my 2 cents for Shilen. My gunsmith put a shillen on my VLS when the factory barrel smooth wore out. He used a standard reamer from PTG, and if I use 24.5grs of RE-10X behind a Berger 40gr and 205M primers, I'll get groups in the .25 range. Also, a friend of mine is using a Kreiger on his 30BR and has shot 1500 rds through it. The Kreiger shows no signs of wear at all!
Good Luck!

Mark S.