colerain barrels

[Don Getz]

Hooch.......from one who has been in business, this is not the way it should have been handled.   Maybe he was just having a bad day,  over the years I have run into people like this, and ended up feeling just as you have.   Now, back to
the practical thing.....I would just go ahead and build the gun, have fun and forget the bad things, that is until you are
ready to build your next rifle, then this experience will return and you will probably buy a different barrel.   These type
of things happen every day.....did you ever have a bad experience with a car, swear off that make, and buy a different
make the next time.   Grin and bear it.........build that gun........Don

[hoochiepapa]

I fully intend to build that gun.
I received a call from Steve at Colerain this a.m., and there were lots of apologies. Me, for being ignorant and letting some convince me that the barrel was flawed, and he apologized for his partners crass statements. He described that they are having a run on .54 cal barrels, and that there is only 20 some thousandths between the bore and the threads for the breech, giving only 10 some thousandths on each side.
He was very convincing that my barrel was ok, so I feel better.
So that everyone understands, it wasn't so much the barrel as it was how I was treated on the phone. But the guy could tell that I was a newbie and took advantage of that fact, and made some statements he shouldn't have. They have had my email and phone # for three days now.
So now there is peace on the planet for me again, I appreciate the support and comments, even the ones I deemed arbitrary, because I'm learning.
And again I apologize if I upset or offended anyone

[Dave K]

I am happy that you got that call. Like all of us, on both sides of any fence. Sometimes what we intended to be said  or what we hear is not taken as it was intended. Once the intent bell has be wrong, you can't unring that bell. I have been on both sides and it seems no matter what you do, it seems as if you can't make it right. I hope for your sake and theirs, all can be satisfied with the results.

[northmn]

Reading Don's comments on buying from a different maker reminds of a standard in marketing when I studied business that stated that one bad experience requires up to 16 contact to over come.  More should think about that.

DP

[Rootsy]

IMO I would be much less concerned with the shoulder and more concerned with cylindricity of the bore with regard to the OD of the barrel.  Need to make sure that the barrel is indexed correctly in the stock if an exaggerated condition exists.  This may or may not require you to further fit the breech plug to index it to another flat, depends on where it is now with respect to where it should be.  If such a condition exists at all

Think of it this way... The shoulder is to theoretically seal the bore to keep fouling and gasses out of the threads.  Even with a 75% fit the channel for gasses over the length of the threads is very small.  Some good high temp never-sieze (I like nuclear grade / stainless) on the threads will keep them from corroding and even if there happens to be gas escape the velocity of such by the time it reaches the outside of the barrel will be but a minute puff with minute pressure.  Plus the entire thread contact area is (supposed to be) resting tightly against the stock, effectively trapping it...

The greatest concern is thread strength and what we use now for the loads imposed by combustion is understated overkill... Engagement length today is just conforming to common engineering standards for thread engagement of a fastener..

[longcruise]

Reading Don's comments on buying from a different maker reminds of a standard in marketing when I studied business that stated that one bad experience requires up to 16 contact to over come.  More should think about that.

DP

Yup, in sales we have an adage that it is wise to heed;  "A happy customer tells one or two people, an unhappy one tells ten"

[hoochiepapa]

longcruise;
Arvada, huh? I'm in Longmont. Maybe we can get together to shoot someday.

[Mtn Meek]

Just an aside.  I have two pistol barrels from Green Mountain.  Both are straight octagon, .54 cal., 15/16" across the flats and factory breeched for 5/8x18 plug.  On one, there is a shoulder on the lands and absolutely no shoulder on the grooves.  The other is slightly non-concentric with shoulders on the lands and minuscule shoulders on about half the grooves and no shoulders on at least three grooves.

I checked the dimensions of the drill size for the tap and the finished thread dimensions on some online references.  According to my math, the groove diameter would be at or greater than the drill size, so there is no reason to expect a complete shoulder in a .54 cal. rifled bore with that thread size.  At first, I was a little concerned, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was a common enough configuration of caliber and plug thread size with hundreds or thousands of guns (rifles and pistols) being built and shot and hadn't heard of any problems.

[Berks Liberty]

Colerain makes an excellent product. What is the gauge of your barrel? What does it measure across the flats? And last, what sized breachplug does it have?

16 ga., 7/16" across the flats at the breech, 3/8" at the wedding band. o.d. of breech plug threads is 3/4.
I have not heard of this "excellent product" from others only rough bores, breech plugs that did not bottom either on the end of the barrel or inside. Most complaints were of the breech plugs. I know there are those here that know a lot more than me, but if you look at the pic I posted, you can see the shoulder on one side and no shoulder on the other. I could not get a better pic. It definitly is not runout on the threads. I will call them again tomorrow. I'm not getting that fowler built for turkey season.

Hooch,

Get ahold of Scott Keller at Colerain.  This who I've dealt with in the past when I had a question about a barrel order.  The three barrels I've got from them were spot on and look like what you've got there.  At first I had a question about the same thing but being they were big bores and  I was told they would be fine.  I've been shooting them for the last three years with out any problems.  But if you have it in the back of your head that something isn't right get a hold of Scott and see whats going.  Maybe the guy you spoke to had a bad day.  I know they've been getting a lot of questions about timeframes and that could be the issue with the conversation you had, don't know.  But I can't really say anything bad about them, because they've always given me a really good product. 

Jason

[Ron Brimer]

I  have made many guns using Colerain barrels, most if not all of them have been one holers from the bench.I have never had a problem.And I have yet to
have a bad bore. I have used Getz, Rice,with good results .  All of them are in business, to make a good product, bad stuff will kill you. Call them ,talk to the owners a lot of bad shooters blame the barrel,not their ability.Call and ask for Scott.    
     RON  BRIMER