what are your top/favorite barrels?

[hanshi]

Those H&A Numrich Arms barrels - the older ones at least - are indeed among the best shooting barrels one can get.  My .45 is gain twist and eye opening.  Longhammock, Euroarms and Traditions barrels along with CVAs have shot extremely well for me.  There is also a halfstock .45 of mine with a barrel of unknown provenance and that barrel will really shoot!  It has a flat breech and is only marked ".45 cal".  The builder didn't even know where it came from; just that it was a nice, pristine barrel.

[alacran]

I have or have had  Gm, G.R.R.W. Getz, Douglas, Pedersoli, Rice, H&H,  Neimeier, Rayl and several unknowns.  All have shot very well for me.
 As far as accuracy, The G.R.R.W. barrels I've had outshine them all. But that could have to do with the style of rifle I put them in.  Also I'm not talking by much.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Don Getz once said, right here on this site, that if a barrel IS UNIFORM in the bore from end to end, and has rifling, it will shoot.

I have yet to find an American made barrel from any maker that would not shoot well.

[Daryl]

There are a few I have not shot, but likely have shot against about all of them (standards), in competition. I find the loading combinations are more important
to achieving accuracy, than the make of the barrel. Loaded as I like to, they all seem to shoot very well indeed, with some showing slightly better accuracy or easier loading.

I have preferences, as would most people.  I like the flat bottomed Rice Barrels, I like the flat bottomed GM barrels & Goodoien match barrels also flat bottomed and wide grooves
 GRRW and Bill Large barrels - all flat bottomed.  I have a round bottom deep grooved Getz, bl. with fairly narrow grooves that is giving slight loading difficulty with combinations that
fill, however it does not seem to need the hard compression in the bottom of the grooves that I prefer in shallower, flat bottomed grooves. It needs more "range" work.

I have shot reasonably well with a Toenjes .028" deep .60 cal. barrel with rounded grooves, & a D. Getz .025" deep rounded .75 cal bl., however, I do prefer .010" to .012" deep,
flat bottomed rifling and feel there is nothing gained from deeper grooves, other than they look funky. The deeper the grooves, the more finicky they seem to be for patch/ball thickness.

With standard rifle bls. as noted, 010" to .012" deep & grooves same width or even better if wider than land width, RB twists of 60" to 80"twist, a .005" smaller than bore ball and 10oz (.022")denim patch, I can shoot 1" or tighter 5-shot groups at 50 yards, rest - generally 1/2" with some 'experience' with THAT rifle.  Some barrels, like my old, oft-shot .69 GRRW barrel
 has made 1" to 1 1/2", 5shot groups at 100 meters & 2 1/2" 5shot groups at 200 Yards shot off a table using a normal bench rest.  Taylor's newest Rice .62" bl. on his Hawken has done
the same, at 200yards - open sights and benched. His gun seemed to like 130gr. 2f GOEX and mine likes 140gr. to 165gr. 2F.

Back in the 80's, I made groups at 100 yards that ran 2" using a Lyman Zouave .58, with a .575" ball and .022" denim patch with 120gr. 2f GOEX. At that time, my .58 Large barrel was doing
1 1/2", but needed 140gr. GOEX 2F, same ball and patch combination.

So- I strongly believe that what you feed them, is VERY much more important that who made the barrel.

Here's a shot at a 200yard target using 140gr.  A mild, but forceful push.

[oldarcher]

That's an easy question, whatever is in the rifle that I  am shooting at the time is my most favorite. Even the Thompson Center or CVA will shoot better groups that I am capable of shooting. Once you find the right combination of load, patch, ball that the barrel likes just about any barrel will shoot great groups. I have been shooting for 40 + years and have only had one barrel that I could not get to shoot well and that was a custom J Goodien .40 cal that I built in a Vincent style rifle. It was a great barrel I just could not find the right combination.
My favorite barrels are GRRW, because of the choked bore. Sharon, because they just shoot great.  B. Large, but they are getting hard to find. H & H for small caliber target rifles. and I like Rice just because they are great shooters and easy to find the right load. Every Rice barrel that I have built shoots sweet right away. I am sure that other modern makers are very good but I prefer the older makers. My personal everyday go to is a Vincent with a GRRW barrel. I have also had good luck with Colerain. I Like Green Mountain because of the better steel that they use, however Green Mountain barrels are more difficult to shoot in and require many more shots to really preform. Not a bad thing, it gives you an excellent reason to shoot more. I build about 6 rifles a year and have built over 80 rifles since I retired 15 years ago.

[Gary W.E.]

I have Rice 40 cal Match Grade, lead lapped barrel that I would not trade for anything.

[Turtle]

 I have a gun with an old Green River barrel that I like a lot. It has wide grooves and narrow lands. Shoots good and cleans easy.

[Daryl]

I have a gun with an old Green River barrel that I like a lot. It has wide grooves and narrow lands. Shoots good and cleans easy.

And, as long as you clean it well, that will likely never change.

[smokinbuck]

I have rifles using:
Green Mountain
Ed Rayl
Oregon
H&H
Numrich
Rice
Bill Large
Neil Eddington
Douglas
By far the ones I have had the best luck with are the Rayl and Eddington barrels, however all of them will shoot better than I can.
Mark

[Stan]

Bob Hoyt -John Getz

[Huntschool]

I guess over the years I have used them all save for Rayl and Hoyt.  My bad.  I like em all.

I must say the old Sharon barrels  were a dream to work with and shot lights out. I had one of their .50 straight barrels custom turned by a local machine guy into an octagon to round tapered and flaired (swamped) barrel for my wife that is a great shooter. I wish Hall and company were still around.  I think everyone of todays barrels will shoot way better then the shooter can shoot them.  I am also glad to see all the various shapes, lengths and caliber/gauge that we have available to us.

[Daryl]

Jim McLemore barrel, Dphar uses, unbeaten(I think), mind you for plank shooting - a terrific barrel made of 4150 modern barrel steel with gain twist rifling, might be the "best" available today.

On the other hand,  bp ctg shooters are leaning towards Badger barrels for long range shooting. I do not know if Badger makes round ball barrels.  I do not think Jim, M makes ctg bullet barrels.

http://www.sleepyhillbarrels.com/About.html

It's a $#@* shoot - I don't think you will find a bad shooting, cut rifled barrel - PERIOD.

Much depends on what you want. If I wanted to get into bench rest round ball shooting, I would buy a McLemore - hopefully in .69 cal. for BR shooting out to 300yards. 

If I wanted to shoot trail walks or hunt, anything I already have, is more than good enough. - G.M., GRRW, Getz & Rice. I do not know what my 20 bore is but shoots shot like it was designed to and powders birds.

[oldtravler61]

  Somehow I left out Ken Netting. Shot a few of Jack Dupreys smoothies with them. Just be something wrong with them..!! Kept hitting the bullseye.. Ha Ha...Oldtravler

[Waksupi]

I don't think it's possible to buy a bad barrel nowadays.

[Pukka Bundook]

I tend to think my old Don Getz barrels came the nicest, both inside and out. 

[WKevinD]

My Don Getz barrels are my favorites, Bob Hoyt, Rice and Ed Rayl are my current barrels to use.

Kevin