Barrel shortage?

[Mike Brooks]

I don't expect the price of steel to go down in my lifetime. I'd explain but it would get the thread pulled.

[Bigmon]

Saturday I just ordered a barrel from Ed Rayle.  He told me that he is a year and a half behind.  But that it could be sooner.  He probably tells that to all the guys.
I didn't even ask how much $?$?

[rich pierce]

What we need here is a couple of ALR members to buy a few tons of their favorite steel, some big machinery, and start making barrels.

[Scota4570]

I can not believe that they scrapped Pratt and Whitney rifling machines.  Does anyone even make a rifling machine today? 

[Daryl]

Kiblerlongrifles is now rifling their own barrels now.

[Bob Roller]

Bill Large had 2 of the P&W rifling machines and we made a transmission for one station that that used a rack and pinion system to change the twist.The rack could be moved vertically and the pinion could be any diameter gear we wanted depending on the twist.Big gears gave a slow twist and small ones a faster twist.Both machine could rifle 4 barrels at the same time.Jim McLemore got everything in Bill's sho[ except the cobwebs.
Bob Roller

[G_T]

So we need to convince Jim Kibler that what he needs to produce is a replica of an old rifling machine!

[Bob Roller]

There have been demonstrations of the old ones with a spiral cut into a wooden cylinder.Lots of walking back and forth with that idea.There are a number of barrel shops that won't do anything for the muzzle loading folks because at one time CHEAP was the operational word and that was of no interest to those shops and still isn't.
Then there is always the wrapping a white hot bar around a mandrel and then reheating it and impact welding it.Remington at one time made cast steel barrels and sold them with a small pilot hole to be bored to whatever  needed in bore size.Whitworh in England had what they called "Fluid Compressed Steei"devejoped for the higher breech pressures of the long range rifles they were making.There are ways but they are very labor intensive and today would bankrupt a billionaire.
Bob Roller

[Mule Brain]

I guess if I had to I could get my black smith shop cranking

 

[Scota4570]

Kiblerlongrifles is now rifling their own barrels now.

My recent Kibler barrel, a 32, was made by Rice.  I am not sure  Kibler is fully operational yet.  He monitors this forum, maybe he will chime in. 

[Ky-Flinter]

If you posted a reply in this thread, but now your reply is gone, look here for the reason..... https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=69817.msg699556#msg699556

Ron

[PAFlinter]

My .36 SMR was a green mt blank rifled by Jim

[geb324]

There has been a barrel shortage for several years. Green mountain started making barrels for the Military years ago which created a shortage of ML barrels. Thats a fact

[AZshot]

Keith Lisle, excellent insight into the root cause of the muzzle loader barrel shortage.  Thanks.

[Bob Roller]

Is Jim McLemore still active in barrel making??
Bob Roller


Note: Discussion of barrel steel was removed by moderator.

[Dphariss]

I have not heard from him since the bioweapon was introduced.
Guess I should give him a call. I was trying to talk him into a 14-16 bore rifle barrel a couple of years ago.

Dan

[Birddog6]

I think once this steel price surge in demand slows down, the steel prices of course will
come down as well, and Then more barrels will be made.
The way the Price of the barrel to the consumer will come down will be from
Competition of the barrel manufactures trying to outsell each other

Competition plays a Big roll in price to us.  If you are asking $ 200 for a barrel
& Joe blow has the Exact same barrel as you for $175., it’s gonna e hard for you
to sell your barrel. But if there is no competition, it leaves the market open to
what it will accept.   Being a business owner for over 30 years, I have seen
Companies price  themselves right out of business too, because they assume
they have the market tied up. 
Companies sometimes get it in their heads you Must Have Them,  Unfortunate. There
is always another company out there just looking for a slot to jump in. And they will
& do sometimes cut in & they May control the market if you get the big head & think
you can’t be replaced.

[Bob Roller]

A one man shop even when loaded with machinery like Bill Large had can only do so much if he wants to maintain a high as possible standard.I was a one man operation(mostly) and stopped lock work in 2019.
I did show a friend who lived close to us how to make screws on a small lathe and he did real well and a
number of my locks have screws made by Frank Whitmore who is now deceased over 10 years.
Sudden illness can wreak havoc on a one man shop and in 1975 I was hit by a virus that sent my temperature to 105 and was close to death. Nothing got done by me for about 4 months.Our savings and my wife's baby sitting kept bills paid.Power failures and machines not working right can be a big,unexpected and unwelcome problem and they always occur when least needed.Murpy's law .
Bob Roller