Montana barrel

[P.Bigham]

Picked up a barrel unmarked in shipping tube from Montana Barrel Co. 35" long .50 cal. 7 grooves nice looking rifling rough estimate 1 turn in 48. No crown but threaded for breech plug.  Anyone have experience with these shooting or worth ?  Thanks. PB

[Hungry Horse]

A 1 in 48” .50 cal. Barrel from Montana is pretty unlikely. They were known for deep rifling, and slow twists. It might be a barrel from The Gun Works. They only make 35” barrels for rifles, and might be making them in ! In 48” twist. They are using the machinery from Orion barrels, that got it from Montana Barrels. That might be where the Montana marked tube came from.

  Hungry Horse

[jerrywh]

Oregon Barrel co. will make about any twist you want and the yhave excellent finish inside and out.  It is a great company. Their barrels are not cheap but worth the money.

[Gordy]

I have a 13/16, 45 caliber , 35 inch Montana Barrel. I am curious if they have any run out in there barrels If so there isn't any marks on the barrel flats at all. It doesn't even state the maker or caliber on the barrel. Was wondering which barrel flat needed to on the top Perhaps they have no run-out in the bore
Gordy

[sqrldog]

I cannot say for sure that none have run out. I've used several in years past and none I used had any run out. I think the flats are planed using the bore as a guide.

[rich pierce]

Run out doesn’t exist anymore so far as I know. It only occurred on barrel (at least Douglas) blanks that were already octagonal and deep hole drilled, and the hole came out where it came out. I don’t know current makers who start with finish sized octagonal stock. All drill oversized stock then plane to profile, keeping the holes on both ends on center.

[gusd]

I have used many Montana bbls. back in the 80's, they shot great.
Gus

[Ky-Flinter]

Did Montana make barrels longer than 35”?  I bought an unmarked 49” tapered octagon barrel at the CLA show last year.  The seller said it was a Montana barrel.

-Ron

[Stoner creek]

If it was tapered, someone other than Montana tapered it.

[rick/pa]

I have used many Montana bbls. back in the 80's, they shot great.
Gus

I bought one of Jerry Cunningham's Montana barrels back in '78. Finally put it on a rifle I built last year.  No markings on it but it's an 8 groove .50  35" long.  Haven't shot it very much but it was accurate from the get go and I'm looking forward to putting more rounds through it this year after I get some health issues taken care of.




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[Levy]

I bought a .62 cal. smoothbore that was 42" in length from Jerry Cunningham years ago and had him taper it from 1 3/8" at the breech to the smallest he would take it to at the muzzle.  It was for a matchlock musket build.  I was copying an original found on a 1622 Spanish Plate Fleet wreck.  James Levy   

[Eterry]

I have a 42" Montana BBL, 40 cal, prb barrel, deep rifling,1-48",  1" cut for a false muzzle on a Billinghurst underhammer target rifle.  It belonged to Bill Mowrey, he used a lot of them as I understand.  You can see the faint felt tip markings on the bottom flat.  They are highly regarded around here.
I plan on putting Lyman Receiver and globe front sights and snipe squirrels at a golf course.
The false muzzle didn't come with it..."sigh"

[P.W.Berkuta]

Jerry Cunningham's Orion Barrel Co. were made in Kalispell Montana. I have purchased quite a few of his barrels and have a few left. He would make tapered barrels (I ordered 6) but the wait time was about a year. He made barrels in the 36" and 42" length range but no swamped barrels. They shot very well but needed a bit of draw filing on the outside but the inside was very nicely finished. Dixons use to sell them when other barrel manufacture brands were hard to come by - they were very good barrels. He stopped making barrels some time ago .

[Waksupi]

There could be some confusion here. Jerry and the boys stopped making barrels as Montana Rifle Barrel Co. at least thirty years ago.
There is another Montana Rifle Barrel Co. here now, in a different location and owner. They made thousands of barrels for Remington, and other companies.
I was barrel inspector for several companies, and the new made Montana barrels had the best interior finish of any I inspected with a borescope. Better than Lilja or Douglas, along with several other makers.