Green Mountain BBls done?

[Osprey]

With the new TOTW catalog and order I just got, there was a flyer that said Green Mountain has stopped production of all black powder barreels and the supply on hand is all there'll be.     Anybody heard anything about this?

[Dphariss]

They were doing Gov't contracts and might still be. If they are they are not allowed to have anything but the mil-spec 4150 in the plant or the contract is voided. The ML barrel market is so tiny they may very well not make any more.
Be a sad state of affairs if they did. These are the best production ML barrels in the U.S.
Good steel and very accurate.

Dan

[chris laubach]

     Anybody heard anything about this?

Yep, Herd it from GM.  No more tapered and flared barrels.


Chris Laubach

[B Shipman]

In other words, they could do both and hire more people but can't because of regulations.

[Eric Smith]

So much for "Green" jobs!

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Given the fraudulent $#@* powder that was sold to the government and provided for us to use in RVN..that fouled an M16 like a ML I personaaly prefer these type of government quality regulations....  Government suppliers have been screwing the military since the days of the continental Army......... Not saying anything about GM in particular ..just suppliers in general.

It does make it tougher for us folks wanting to build ML rifles though....room for somebody else to move into the market???

[okieboy]

 If GM was committed to making muzzle loading barrels, then they would find a way to do it and still maintain any regulatory constraints. Their business model has been to produce ML barrels when they didn't have enough "good" work to keep their employees and machinery busy. They have not been interested in additional equipment or personnel to support the ML business. When other business is slow, they have instead invested in advertising that people should buy their barrels since they decided to make a batch. Irregardless of how good a barrel they have made for the price, their ML business has only been a stepchild sideline to them. Hopefully this will provide an opportunity to the people that are committed to making ML barrels to increase their personnel and equipment to fill any vacuum.

[Dave Faletti]

There are good reasons for GM not to add to their production capacity.  The military orders will drop off drasticly once they have the new rifles and spare parts they want.  None of the suppliers want to be stuck with facilities, equipment, and employees idled when the bubble is over.   If it just came down to the material in the shop they could change what they use.  If a person is that curious they could probably call them up and find out what their future plans are and some of the reasoning behind it.

[Eric Smith]

As a good friend of mine once said " I think it's gona be allright." There will still be enough MLBl's to go around. 

[SPG]

Gentlemen,

Consider that floating the story that production may cease is a great way to sell product if business is slow.

Not necessarily an untruth and it has been used by many in the past.

Demand will always create supply. Green Mountain has too good a reputation for barrels to walk away from their marketshare, even if it is small compared to Government contracts.

It is also a great way to increase pricing without negative customer feedback.

Just an opinion...which may be completely wrong.

Steve

[Eric Smith]

Gentlemen,

Consider that floating the story that production may cease is a great way to sell product if business is slow.

Not necessarily an untruth and it has been used by many in the past.

Demand will always create supply. Green Mountain has too good a reputation for barrels to walk away from their marketshare, even if it is small compared to Government contracts.

It is also a great way to increase pricing without negative customer feedback.

Just an opinion...which may be completely wrong.

Steve

So true, so true!

[kutter]

Can't the ML bbls be made from the steel they're using for the Gv'ment contract? Satisfies the 'only one kind of steel in the building' rule.

What do I know,, anyway,,if they stop making them,,you buy someone elses Bbl.
More business for the rest of the bbl makers.

[Don Tripp]

Can't the ML bbls be made from the steel they're using for the Gv'ment contract? Satisfies the 'only one kind of steel in the building' rule.

That steel is way harder than is necessary for muzzleloaders. I also suspect that they will be back after the government contracts go away, in the mean time we are very fortunate to have alternative sources. I've only used their straight barrels and they were all great. I liked the selection of barrels too, but lately you could no longer get every caliber in every dimension and the prices were getting too high. If I was to spend that much for a barrel, I'd just spend a little more and get a swamped barrel. I never did try one of their swamped barrels. I've only got one Green Mountain barrel on hand, it's a 13/16" X 42" .45 Caliber. I still have a Green River barrel on hand too... that's going back a long time, it's 15/16" X 35" .50 Caliber.

[Bob Roller]

<That steel is way too hard for muzzle loaders>
Not near as hard as a product liability suit for using materials that are not recommended.

Bob Roller

[rich pierce]

We've covered it guys.  If you have more information about the availability of Green Mountain muzzleloading barrels, please tell us.  There have already been dozens and dozens of barrel steel topics discussed at length before here.

[whitebear]

When the government gets through with GM someone will probably buy the ML barrel equipment and start making GM barrels under another name.

[Osprey]

I checked the TOTW site to see if they had any straght 13/16" barrels so I could stock up, but dang few of anything left.  Only showed about 5 barrel profiles left on the website, all odd stuff.  But I did see they started carrying Colerain straight barrels, so there's still good stuff to buy...

[Frizzen]

Ill bet Tip Curtis has tons of them. I will see him next week and I will find out.

[FlintFan]

Ill bet Tip Curtis has tons of them.

He won't have them for long.  Even Tip is going to have to find another source of barrels.  The GM situation is not going to resolve itself anytime soon, if ever. 

[coutios]

    The only issue Tipp may have is finding a maker that wants to work/expand the business.. He's made mention that he buys in lot sizes of 100+. He has alot because he buys alot, he sends BIG checks to his suppliers.. I buy a barrel every 4/5 years so I'm allways good to go.. Only time will tell how this plays out, we may be talking about a non issue....

Regards
Dave