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Trueflight Barrels


walkabout

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It was my understanding that the AI AWs etc had Border barrels , and they where cut , and I had the impression the cheaper AIs , the AE series had the Border Archers or LW barrels .

 

I have only AWs with the std 26 inche tubes , and my AWM, AWSM have the std fluted barrels , and the AX338 has a un-fluted barrel .

 

Maybe these all have German barrels on them then .

 

My comment on Trueflite , is not just button against cut , I prefer the imports over the local , as I said , approx half the guys here like the them and half donot , and I am in the group that would rather have anything else .

 

I like the fact cut rifle induces little stress & can make the canted 5R lands easy as well as its ease of changing the twist rate .

 

When I need to replace the barrels on my AIs , it will be with cut rifled Borders with a 5R land , if at all possible .

 

Later Chris

 

P.S. What year did AI start to use LW barrels only ?

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I am not trying to be un-clear , guys in NZ have had barrels that shoot well from TF and also guys have had barrels from TF that donot shoot well at all , and so there is a chance you could get a dud , the impression is you will not get such a barrel from K or B , .

 

Be aware there is a new barrel maker in NZ called Vulcan , they seem to do both cut & buttoned barrels , some guys are using them now , I have not used them yet , so far the results from them appear positive , time will tell .

 

If I lived in UK , I would be very happy to use just Border cut barrels , and would not be looking at K or B or any others , end of story .

 

To me cost of a fitted barrel will be approx 1k NZD , or 500 GBP , and thats either a TF or a K or B ( if available ) , and as such I go with cut at the same price , as buttoned SHOULD be cheaper ???

 

Later Chris

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It was my understanding that the AI AWs etc had Border barrels , and they where cut , and I had the impression the cheaper AIs , the AE series had the Border Archers or LW barrels .

 

I have only AWs with the std 26 inche tubes , and my AWM, AWSM have the std fluted barrels , and the AX338 has a un-fluted barrel .

 

Maybe these all have German barrels on them then .

 

My comment on Trueflite , is not just button against cut , I prefer the imports over the local , as I said , approx half the guys here like the them and half donot , and I am in the group that would rather have anything else .

 

I like the fact cut rifle induces little stress & can make the canted 5R lands easy as well as its ease of changing the twist rate .

 

When I need to replace the barrels on my AIs , it will be with cut rifled Borders with a 5R land , if at all possible .

 

Later Chris

 

P.S. What year did AI start to use LW barrels only ?

 

I believe it's commercially driven and down to the 'the contract of the moment' rather than a policy; so what you've got will depend on who happened to be the contracted supplier at the time your rifles were manufactured. I think it speaks volumes that the brands are used interchangeably - and users can't tell what they've got. My understanding is that the over the last decade-ish or so contracts have been with Lothar more often than with Archer, so, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that your rifles are wearing Lothars.

 

My own experience of Lothars has been phenomenal. I also love hearing gunsmiths whinge about how hard the metal is on their tools - sounds like the metal I want in my barrels! :lol:

 

Be interesting to see if your rifles stop shooting as well, now that you know they're almost certainly button rifled, not cut :lol::) :)

My experience, direct and observed, is that top-end barrels whether button or cut are top-end barrels; everything else is in the mind. :)

 

Alice of AI is on the board (forgotten her board ID at the mo :blush: , she may be able to chip in and clarify what they're using the most)

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It is just my luck. Everyone praises Lothar Barrels. It would appear i have the only inaccurate one made :rolleyes: . I paid a small fortune for it too as i opted for the so called Bench Rest Programme Barrel and had it Fluted. Fitted to a Borden Action too. I pray the Truflite will be better.

I will ask my RFD to keep the Lothar and may push a 257 Wetherby Reamer up it for a future project.

 

Nick.

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It is just my luck. Everyone praises Lothar Barrels. It would appear i have the only inaccurate one made :rolleyes: . I paid a small fortune for it too as i opted for the so called Bench Rest Programme Barrel and had it Fluted. Fitted to a Borden Action too. I pray the Truflite will be better.

I will ask my RFD to keep the Lothar and may push a 257 Wetherby Reamer up it for a future project.

 

Nick.

I don't praise them.

Some years ago we bought a batch of about 15 .224, 1:7" twist blanks.

Half of that batch wouldn't stabilise a 77gn SMK.

 

I had a friend who had a Walther 1:9 on a .223 and the only bullets it would stabilise were 52gn SMK's

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I think that any barrel manufacturer has their off days.

 

However, in my limited experience of chambering and fitting barrels from a variety of manufacturers, ive yet to come across a bad one,

 

I use LW and Border the most and they work very well for the purposes intended and they are easy to get hold of.

 

 

Have to say ive used alot of Bartlein, Broughton and Kreigers too and they machine wonderfully.

 

 

I accept that LW can be a pain to machine,

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I like the fact the LW are a hard material , makes it hard for the poor old gunsmith , but should be a longer lasting tube , I get the impression , that when LW where cheap , they where more popular ?

 

Call me old fashioned , I will not pay cut rifling prices for a buttoned or CHF barrel , as I know the last 2 are not as time consuming to make/cost .

 

As I said , with cut barrels , the maker can change the twist rate very easily , so to make twists that are used less , or less popular , it will be esaier to get the unusuall twists , ie very tight ones for either , Heavy VLDs or heavy subsonic etc .

 

With LW , they in the main make std twists , one thing they do , that I am very interested in , and if I was in the UK or Europe , where you have access to LW , I would be using a 1-10 twist , polyagonal ,in a 308 or 300WM rifle , with a short barrel , just to see , what the old McM M89 suppressed sniper rifles where capable of .

 

I have a TF on a suppressed 308 rifle of mine , and its not very accurate , its meant to be a select match grade suppressed barrel , 1-8 twist , cannot fault the rifle action , can or glass , M2008 , BT & S&B PMII ,

 

Later Chris

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Beer fridge in workplace? good reason to avoid as any. Only a lush works better after alcohol, health and safety nightmare here in UK of course

Maybe they have a different attitude towards alcohol and can control their intake ie. a nice cold beer with workmates after a long hot days work.

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I visited Truflight in Gisborne whilst on holiday this year, just on off chance they might have a couple of barrels on shelf in the calibre and profile I was looking for. Well there were loads of barrels but none profiled ,no problem says Andy I'll just do them for you now. I went off to transfer some money and came back about an hour later, just about done he says have a cold beer and I'll show you round the shop. {beer fridge in middle of shop].

I came away with two profiled barrels and they didn't cost anything like £500 more like £300 each.

I recently waited six weeks for Border to profile a barrel for me.

 

Hi there mmppcpete,

 

I'm so sorry you had such a long wait. Can you please give me your order number on the barrel that you were waiting 6 weeks for profiling. I'd like to investigate for our future improvments. thank you and sorry once more.

 

I know since summer last year and to this day, the contract work has been incredible. This year we have went through 8 tons of steel!

 

 

Lee

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Hi Danny,

 

we do sell unchambered blanks direct and have done for many years! ?? The only time we have concern is any pistol calibre rifled barrels or dodgey looking emails requests, to which we then ask for futher information to be provided to us for it's intended purpose so we can assure the items are for legitimate usage.

 

Lee

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Maybe they have a different attitude towards alcohol and can control their intake ie. a nice cold beer with workmates after a long hot days work.

AFTER being the operative word.

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Hi Danny,

 

we do sell unchambered blanks direct and have done for many years! ?? The only time we have concern is any pistol calibre rifled barrels or dodgey looking emails requests, to which we then ask for futher information to be provided to us for it's intended purpose so we can assure the items are for legitimate usage.

 

Lee[/quote

 

Ok mate thanks for that. I ask as I recently emailed and asked the question as the wife was looking to buy me a blank (as a birthday/xmas present)to spread the cost of a rebarrel and was told you don't supply barrels in the UK.

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, no problem, email or call me, only too pleased to help.

 

our current lead times for un chambered rifled blanks is about 6-10 weeks

contoured blanks about 6-12 weeks

 

it really depends on the contract work at hand, the problem with a small workshop and limited machines is that when a MOD contract needs barrels everything has to stop, otherwise we loose the contract!!!!. I try my best to organise and get single barrel orders and custom stuff through as quickly as possible.

 

Lee

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As a pretty good "dip test " here is a list of barrels I,ve fitted in the last few days.

1. A border archer in 22-250

2. Two border archers in .223 Wylde

3. A Bartlien in 6 x 47

4 A bartlien in .260

5. A bartlien in 6.5 x 47

6.A border archer in .308

7. A shilen in 22-250

8. A Truflite in 6.5 x 47.

 

The two Bartlien 6.5,s were from a batch of ten blanks I had recently from Brownells. All so far have been tack drivers, and all so far have been absolute b astards to chamber. Hard and soft spots, and generally arse nippers when reamed. The chambers were unusually glass-like when reamed.

The Shilen was the same.

Unusual for both brands .

 

Never had a problem with a truflite, and hand on heart , they have been the most consistently accurate barrels I,ve ever used . If it wasn,t for the fact they are ridiculously overpriced due to the exchange rate, I would use them in front of Bartlien any day of the week.

Truflites are softer steel. Most Bartliens appear the same, as do Kriegers when machined. The steel chambers out in beautiful long ribbons.

I,ve long thought that softer barrels shoot better. Experience has found this to be borne out in testing. I believe the harmonics to be better.

 

The Borders chambered like they always do...easily. Very consistent steel.

 

All manufacturers have bad barrels , most of the time its the steel supplier that lets them down.

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i made my choice last saturday-truflite v bartlein and as Baldie explains the crap exchange rate ruled out the truflite.so the bartlein was snagged.this is for a 7mm.

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