Question 1

What type of rifling do we do?

Accepted Answer

We only do single point cut style rifling. No button rifling and no broach cutting.

Question 2

Do we lap our barrels?

Accepted Answer

Yes our barrels are prelapped/honed before rifling and finish lapped after rifling.

Question 3

Do you offer other types of steel for the barrels?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we offer Chrome Moly (C.M. 4140) steel, Stainless Steel (S.S. 416R) as well as Mod400 a Bartlein Barrel exclusive.

Question 4

Which steel is better?

Accepted Answer

Each type of steel has strengths and weaknesses.  
-C.M. must be used for some of the lighter contours of barrels.  C.M is also needed for customers wanting to "blue" the steel.  C.M. is more likely to rust if not properly cleaned and stored.
-Our standard stainless steel covers 95% of the barrels that we run.  It is the most widely used material for target and hunting purposes. It is possible to rust if not properly cleaned and stored but far less likely than C.M.
-Mod400 is a Bartlein Barrel exclusive and was designed to achieve longer barrel life. Mod400 is still a 400 series stainless so no new tooling or machine speeds are needed.

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Question 5

What is the "T" Style rifling?"

Accepted Answer

We call it Transitional rifling. Some will call it gain twist, progressive twist or incremental twist. We cut virtually any twist into a barrel (subject to tooling etc…). We can start the twist out at 1-14 and end up at 1-7 and have it uniformly increase from the breech to muzzle. Also we can increase it very slowly say from 1-7.5 at the breech to a 1-7 at the muzzle. This can be done to the .0001" to fit all your needs.

Question 6

What would the "T" style rifling be used for?"

Accepted Answer

Some say bullets with the driving bands benefit from it as it doesn’t damage the driving bands as much. Also some have proven with lead bullets that just increasing the twist by as little as a .5 of an inch increase uniformly thru out the length of the barrels will help accuracy. We have the capability to provide any twist per length of barrel for the customer. We have not tested every possible combination of calibers, bullets, etc. We can give our recommendations on things we hear, and the barrels we shoot.

Question 7

Can a gain twist barrel be finished lapped?

Accepted Answer

Some say no but we do finish lap all of our gain twist barrels. It’s not a problem.

Question 8

What are the benefits of the gain twist type rifling?

Accepted Answer

I’ll quote what Pope (Pope was one of the greatest barrel makers from a bygone era. His barrels along with Schalk who he learned from and gives credit to and Schoyen, and Zischang made barrels for the Schutzenfest type of guns/shooting in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s) said around a 100 years ago first. “The advantages of the gain twists are three. 1st The twist being less at the breech, gives less friction to the bullet; it therefore starts easier and quicker, giving the powder less time to burn on in front of the chamber, which therefore fouls less than in a barrel of uniform twist at the same necessary muzzle pitch (twist). 2nd The slight change in angle of the rifling, in connection with choke bore (lapping choke bore of the barrel), effectually shuts off any gas escape of gas and prevents gas cutting, which is another case of imperfect delivery. 3rd It holds a muzzle loaded bullet in position much better than a uniform twist…
 
Now I will add some more to this. First off I feel this applies more to a lead bullet shooter than a jacketed bullet shooter but some of the why’s and why not’s do overlap. With a gain twist barrel the bullet cannot go to sleep. The rifling is always putting a fresh bite on the bullet as it goes down the bore of the barrel. This is why I always go back to a cut barrel being better than a button barrel. A cut barrel even with a straight twist is more uniform and consistent than a button barrel. With button rifling the button can hit a hard spot/soft spot in the steel and it will slow the button down. The button could speed back up and do the twist it’s suppose to be doing but either way you end up with a non uniform twist and it the twist keeps getting slower towards the muzzle. These two things are a accuracy killers and lead to consistency problems/fliers etc… I feel even a slight gain twist will help accuracy wise and not hurt a jacketed bullet shooter as well. For the most part I would say there is no velocity gain in a gain twist barrel with the same load. What has been conveyed to us and it goes back to Popes 1st point is that shooters have noticed that they can run a slightly heavier powder charge vs. a shooter with a straight twist barrel. As the bullet is starting easier into the rifling my only guess is the pressure isn’t spiking as fast or is delaying the pressure curve. Hence forth they can get more velocity out of the gain twist barrel. I feel pressure is pressure and that the twist doesn’t have anything to do with pressure for the most part but my only guess is that the gain twist like I said earlier is delaying the pressure curve. So you don’t see problems as early like hard bolt lift etc… Also it’s noted that even now a days our military in some 20mm and the 30mm barrels like on the A10 Warthog ground attack aircraft have gain twist type rifling in the barrels.

Question 9

Do we recommend fire lapping our barrels?

Accepted Answer

No. You will not make a barrel any smoother. If you feel you are having a problem with one of our barrels, call before you do anything out of the ordinary to it. If you fire lap one of our barrels it is yours. We cannot warranty anything that is done to it out of the ordinary. We have no control over what the shooter is doing to the barrel.

Question 10

What types of cleaners do we recommend?

Accepted Answer

Please see our "Learn about barrels, How to clean a barrel" tab. We do not recommend things like Losso bore paste. There is no way to be sure you have removed it 100% from the barrel from cleaning. Some shooters who have used it clean their barrel have found afterwards the barrel suddenly had fouling issues. We will not warranty any barrel cleaned with Losso bore paste type cleaners. We feel the paste cleaners get embedded into the bore and not properly cleaned out. So the next rounds fired thru the barrel, any residual paste left over it will damage the bore. If you want to use a paste type cleaner we recommend Rem. bore cleaner (it is called 40x cleaner now previously called Gold Medallion) or use JB Bore compound (not the JB Bore Brite).

Question 11

Do we recommend the use of brushes?

Accepted Answer

Frank Green has not used a brush in any of his barrels since around 1990. Cleaning patches and solvent only is what we recommend. If you insist on using a brush we recommend one caliber smaller or an old worn out one and wrap a patch around the brush and push it breech to muzzle. Unscrew the brush before pulling the cleaning rod back thru the bore/over the crown. More damage is done from cleaning that physically shooting the gun. A big no-no is the use of a brush along with the paste cleaners. That’s guaranteed damage to the bore of the barrel.

Question 12

I've been told I don't have to clean my gun. What do we think?

Accepted Answer

I shoot them I clean them. Why? The biggest reason is carbon fouling. The carbon fouling will keep building up and can cause pressure issues/problems. Also as the barrel wears over time it won’t hold accuracy as long between strings of firing. So you have to clean the barrel/gun.

Question 13

Do cut rifled barrels last longer than button rifled barrels?

Accepted Answer

In our opinion and many others, both experienced shooters and even people who use ammunition test barrels, the answer is yes.

Question 14

Why do cut rifled barrels last longer?

Accepted Answer

It is because button rifling work hardens the bore. It’s not to say you cannot get a button rifled barrel that will not last a long time but on average a cut rifled barrel will last longer. If I had to pick a number it would be around 15% longer. Remember there a lot of variables that effect barrel life also.
 
Also, cut rifled barrels have a more uniform consistent twist than a button rifled barrel. This is because sometimes as the button is being pushed and or pulled thru the bore it can slip and the end result is the uniformity of the twist is not consistent through our the length of the barrel.

Question 15

Which is better 5R style rifling or conventional rifling?

Accepted Answer

In terms of accuracy and barrel life we don’t see a difference. There are a lot of varying opinions on this. Some say if you want hard core accuracy to go with conventional rifling. We feel in the real world there is no real difference. The more uniform your bore and groove sizes over the entire length of the barrel, the more uniform the twist and the straighter the blank the more forgiving the barrel is going to be.

Question 16

Some say the 5R style rifled barrels clean easier, is this true?"

Accepted Answer

Maybe from a carbon fouling stand point because your patch isn’t trying to get down into a 90 degree corner vs. conventional rifling. The way we clean our barrels we don’t see a difference. From a copper fouling stand point we see no difference here.

Question 17

What does 5R stand for?

Accepted Answer

The 5 stands for a 5 groove barrel and the “R” stands for Russian. Obermeyer was the first to do 5R type barrels here in the U.S.

Question 18

Will the 5R style rifling help with jacket/bullet failure?

Accepted Answer

Possibly. This is because the lands don’t directly oppose one another. This might help distort/upset the bullet jacket less which I feel helps with bullet failure. Bullet failure is more of a problem for a long range shooter than a short range shooter.

Question 19

Does fluting do anything for accuracy?

Accepted Answer

Depends on how the barrel is made. I would never flute a button rifled barrel.  Button rifling induces a lot of stress into the steel. Any secondary machining work like fluting, contouring of the barrel especially where you make a drastic contour change or even just cutting and crowning the muzzle. If you hit a residual stress point in the steel the machining operation will relieve the stress and this can cause the bore to go sour (open up on you). The last place you want it to go sour is right at the muzzle. Even though a button rifled barrel typically gets restressed relieved again after button rifling there are no guarantees. Also, no barrel maker can measure for residual stress in the material. 
We do single point cut rifling this doesn't induce any stress in the steel. When machining flutes into the barrel, we don’t run into the problem with the bore opening up/going sour like you do with a button rifled barrel. We do have minimums as to the depth of the flutes. It is possible to  flute a barrel too deep and cause harmonic / vibration problems which can effect accuracy.

Question 20

What is fluting good for?

Accepted Answer

It only does a few things. It will remove steel from the barrel making the barrel lighter and hence forth help make the rifle lighter overall. It will give the barrel more surface area which can help it cool a little faster, and some people just like the way it looks. If properly done on a good barrel it shouldn’t affect accuracy.

Question 21

Does fluting make the barrel stiffer?

Accepted Answer

Depends on how you’re measuring it. If you we’re to put a weight in the center of the barrel or hang it on the muzzle end it will flex more than a barrel without flutes with the same contour. How the barrel is effected when you shoot ammo thru it and vibrations that is up for debate. Might be a bad comparison but picture a flat piece of sheet metal. Running with the ribs it’s real easy to bend but try and bend the sheet metal going against the ribs and it won’t flex as easy. Again how the barrel reacts to the heat from heating up when shooting it and vibration etc… is/can be a different story as well.

Question 22

Do shooting suppressors have an effect on barrel life?

Accepted Answer

Yes they do. On a gas gun it can shorten barrel life as much as 50%. It does shorten bolt gun barrel life but we don’t have hard numbers on that. What happens is the suppressor is keeping more of the fouling inside the bore of the barrel and with this happening it shortens the barrel life. On gas guns it also accelerates the wear of the gas port. Which will also lead to bullet failure and damage to the suppressor.

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