Criterion Barrels - Thoughts?

shelton573

Active member
Looking at a barrel for my buddy's rifle and he wants a Shilen. It's a 12-14 week wait for the Shilen and he needs it soon. Jim has the Criterion on the shelf ready to go so my question is, are they a good barrel? I have read a lot of good things about them and have been told by Jim they are pretty much the same as a Shilen but a bit cheaper. Any input is much appreciated.
 
Dam good barrels!! Actually, if what I read is true, the use to be the button rifle side of Kreiger. I had one in 308 and it shot great. My friend has one in 6.5 CM and he says its shooting bugholes.
 
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I have one in 6BR 8 twist and one in 220 Swift. Both are hand lapped, easy to clean and extremely accurate. I'll be ordering another in 6BR 13 twist. Highly recommend.
 
I agree. I love my 260 Ackley barrel, very accurate and very easy to clean. And as long as things haven't changed they are still made in the same place as Krieger barrels.

And Jim is a great guy, when I started looking into building a Savage I found out he was my neighbor and he went above and beyond to help me build my rifle and get into competitive shooting, he would tell me to stop by just to check the concentricity of my ammo and bore scope my rifle to see how it was fouling.
 
On my gunsmiths advise, when I decided to build me a .243 AI I went with a Criterion barrel. Man, was that ever some good advice! My last three three shot groups all went 1/4" (the two before that were 3/8") and I said I am done until prairie dog and squirrel season comes along again.

I have Krieger, Shilen, Hart and other barrels on my guns. I dont think that I will ever look any further than Criterion again. Why bother?

Perhaps Ackleyman will weigh in here and tell us what he thinks of those barrels as well.
 
I had a 260 Criterion barrel....it would hang with my Bartlein barrel all day. They will shoot with the best of them.
 
I also have a couple criterion barrels and they both shoot great. The second one i actually got the new nss action wrench and did it myself. Its a 243 remage and it happens to be one of the most accurate guns i have. Like psycodog said,for 320 bucks you get one [beeep] of a barrel.
 
I screwed a 300 WM Remage CBI barrel on a stock un-trued 700 action from Wally World so I'd have something to mess around with while waiting on a custom barrel and action to show up.
I'm still messing around with load development on the new custom rifle, but I haven't been able to match the groups of the 700/CBI combo yet.
cry.gif
 
Issue to contend with:

Chamber dimensions?

Leade amount?

CIP or SAAMI standards

Look before you leap or you will shore nuff be sorry.
 
The Criterion barrel I had in .243 was the most accurate barrel I've ever had, hands down. It was a 28" bull barrel. I could literally shoot flies at 100 yards. Kicking myself for trading that rifle it was on.
 
I ordered a 24" 8 twist heavy sporter contour stainless in 223 Ack imp and am very happy with it. Good fit and finish, not to heavy to carry. I put 5 shots in less than 1" at 200 yds with 50 gr vmax with fire forming loads and killed groundhogs out to 650 yds. when shooting 53 gr vmax. I would not hesitate to buy another.
 
Stands saying again:

Issue to contend with:

Chamber dimensions?

Leade amount?

CIP or SAAMI standards

Look before you leap or you will shore nuff be sorry.
 
Not my call on that stuff. Its replacing the McGowan 243 barrel we put on it (two different ones, both damage from factory) and Jim said the criterion 243 will shoot the 95s and up like he wants to for deer.
 
I think what Ackleyman is saying is don't you want it to be your call??? Why let someone else make these decisions, especially if you are going to the expense and time to have a custom barrel installed on a rifle??? Don't get me wrong, I am sure they are fine barrels.
I will say this, once you get your hands on a really accurate good shooter that shags bullet holes...DO NOT SELL OR GET RID OF IT!!!!!! There is no telling how long it could take to replace one that shoots like that.
 


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