Shilen Match Grade barrel

That sounds good. Was going to get an Excaliber barrel but there customer sevice was very rude so I ordered a shilen barrel
 
I have both and very pleased. My Shilen is 223AI/ 9 twist. Shoots real good. My X-caliber is a 20 and it shoots good too. Sorry to hear about CS at X-caliber, they were very helpful when I talked to them.
Guess I should have said mines a select match, not the match.
 
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Depending on the purpose and expectations you have for the gun you're building with it, it's likely Shilen's Match Grade barrel will meet your needs. If you're building a bench or competition gun then Shilen's Select Match Grade Barrel would have been the preferred choice.

I have a 6.5x284 built on a Rem 700 that has a Shilen Chromoly Match Grade barrel. The don't lap the Chromoly barrels unless you special order it that way. The bore is definitely not as smooth as my other guns with custom barrels and it was a copper hungry S.O.B. until it was broken in, which seemed to take forever, but it shoots pretty decent now so I can't really complain to much.
 
I have talked to Dustin, Sherman, and Robert at X caliber on numerous occasions, never were rude to me. IN fact they went out of their way to help.

X caliber barrels are about $100 cheaper than Shilen, shoot the same, and never copper foul.

I have had great luck with Shilen barrels over the years.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanI have talked to Dustin, Sherman, and Robert at X caliber on numerous occasions, never were rude to me. IN fact they went out of their way to help.

X caliber barrels are about $100 cheaper than Shilen, shoot the same, and never copper foul.

I have had great luck with Shilen barrels over the years.

They must of had a bad day. I don't put up with that from anyone
 
Shillen barrel grades

Once a year Shillen has a open house. You can tour the factory, talk to the staff, and watch barrels being made. After a visit with the guy that laps and air gauges the barrels, I can assure you that the match barrels are lapped. They are just not perfect. The select match barrels are near perfect in straightness, and diameter. The match barrels just don't make the highest (select) grade.
 
There is so little difference {excluding the price} between the select and the match that many times a match grade will shoot as good or better. You will see some tool marks in a match grade that will not be there in the select. I have had very good luck with Shilen barrels and would use one anytime I need a barrel. They are that good. Very surprised to hear that someone has had a problem with X-Caliber. I have one of those barrels on a personal rifle and not only did it not have any tool marks but it also shoots lights out and yep, it doesn't seem to foul. There are really no bad barrel makers out there. I don't see anyone going wrong with any of them.
 
They have been in the barrel bussiness as long as i can remember ED was a great guy they dir and still build a good a barrel as any one you will not be disapointed
 
I picked up a couple Select Match Savage pre-fit barrels at their open house this year for $300 ea.
A 260 AI #4 contour,and a spare 6.5 Creedmoor varmint contour. I threaded both barrels for my suppressors,and cut the 260 AI barrel down to 20" since it will be a carry around hunting rifle when I build it.
 
I have a Shilen Match barrel, in 260 Rem., on a Savage 16. Very accurate, cleans up easily, and holds very little copper. I have a X-Caliber, in 308 Win., on a LR-308. It is finished well, cleans up easily, and holds very little copper. Accuracy isn't where I was hoping, but to be fair, I have tried a small sample of different bullets, in weights that are light for this cartridge. I did go with a slower twist, in hopes the barrel would like the lighter bullets, and I do have one load that is slightly under 1 MOA. The difference is the Shilen basically went on the action, and started shooting sub-MOA, with the first bullet I tried, and the second. With a little load development, I have a medium game load, and a predator load, sitting at .5 MOA...Nice. Me personally, I will look at Shilen first, for the next barrel.

Squeeze
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanI have talked to Dustin, Sherman, and Robert at X caliber on numerous occasions, never were rude to me. IN fact they went out of their way to help.

X caliber barrels are about $100 cheaper than Shilen, shoot the same, and never copper foul.

I have had great luck with Shilen barrels over the years.

Several custom barrel makers lap and polish their barrels, a lapped barrel won't foul much.

Shilen and others have taken to charging for polishing.
 
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