Tracks no name barrels

[Tim Ault]

Track of the Wolf has listed straight oct barrels in some limited calibers  but don't say who makes them or much any other info except made in USA , twist and 6 land/ groove . Anyone have any experience or can tell me more? There cheaper than Rice but slightly more than colerain or GM . Here's one as an example.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/1340/1/BBL-45-A-42

[n stephenson]

Tim, I don`t know who makes them for Track , but if they are USA made they are probably good. There are only so many people set up to make barrels. They probably get them made by a known barrel maker and , leave them unstamped. I`ve had quite a few unmarked barrels over the years and, as long as they were straight , they all shot better than I could hold them. Barrel are like beer , some people will only use a certain brand . As long as it is a good barrel I don`t worry about what is stamped on the outside. Word to the wise , Don`t open up the Pandora`s box of "barrel material"       Nate

[PPatch]

hummm... what's in this here box... ah, "barrel material!"

I'ma gonna open it, stand back Nate...     

(idle threat)

 dp

[EC121]

Since 1977 I have seen matches won with just about any kind of barrel.  T/Cs included.  If you are looking for a straight barrel, as long as the bore is smooth(and some  rough ones) any of them will outshoot you.  Working up a load for the barrel is more important than brand.  Years ago I saw a fellow at the Columbus, Ga. turkey shoot hit 8 of their 80yd. clay pigeons in a row with a T/C Hawken.  They had a clay pigeon on a motor that rolled up over a log at 80yds., and you had to shoot it as it came into sight over the log.  Dollar a shot.  He won at least eight turkeys.   

[Tim Ault]

I've read those thread on barrel steels and nope ain't gonna get into that !  don't rightly care either .  I was mainly wondering on the depth of grooves and internal finish that kinda stuff or if anyone has used one and what there impressions were .

[n stephenson]

The ad says cut rifling , so it is probably , at least a little deeper than button rifled. I have had button rifled barrels that shoot very well also.  You could call Track and ask them about the depth , finish etc.  Nate

[Ted Kramer]

I have one here that's going into an early style SMR. It's a 7/8" .50 cal. 42" long. Rifling has six narrow grooves, square cut,  with wide lands, and no reamer that marks I could see. Before breeching I always put an aperture in the muzzle of every barrel and sight through looking for concentric rings of light indicating a straight bore. This one looked to be  perfectly straight. The outside needs draw filing as do most others. Milling the dovetail slots seemed quite the same as cutting them in a Green Mountain. It'll be interesting to see how it shoots and loads with the narrow groove/wide land rifling when I test fire it before it leaves for it's new home. All in all, it looks like a good barrel.
Ted

[P.W.Berkuta]

When a product is being offered for less than a competitor's brand there is often a reason for it. It may be a "second" - it may be an "over run" of a certain type / caliber or other factors such as "needs more draw filing to look nice". This does not make the barrel's interior inferior just extra work on the buyer part to finish the outside. My two cents .

[Daryl]

I have one here that's going into an early style SMR. It's a 7/8" .50 cal. 42" long. Rifling has six narrow grooves, square cut,  with wide lands, and no reamer that marks I could see. Before breeching I always put an aperture in the muzzle of every barrel and sight through looking for concentric rings of light indicating a straight bore. This one looked to be  perfectly straight. The outside needs draw filing as do most others. Milling the dovetail slots seemed quite the same as cutting them in a Green Mountain. It'll be interesting to see how it shoots and loads with the narrow groove/wide land rifling when I test fire it before it leaves for it's new home. All in all, it looks like a good barrel.
Ted

The .32 cal. 13/16" barrel on the rifle I bought at Dixon's Gun Maker's fair had narrow grooves, wide lands. I swore never to get another like that.  That design is certainly PC, but we hates it.  Due to being a small calibre, it was still quite easy to load tightly, but did not give the accuracy I wanted. The new .36 Rice barrel with wide grooves, narrow lands, does & is nicely accurate, so far.

[Eric Smith]

You might call them and ask. Give it a shot.

[Ted Kramer]

Daryl-
I'd rather see wider grooves, even equal land/groove width.  Before I breeched it, a .490"/.018" combo slid down the bore nicely but with fouling in the grooves it may be a different story, we'll see.

However, I have a .52 barrel from Charles Burton that has wide lands and narrow grooves but the grooves are round bottomed. It shoots great.

Ted

[longcruise]

The price is the same as the GM and Colerain offerings on TOW.  Twist rate is different.

[Turtle]

 I agree on not liking wide lands. I never had a barrel like that I liked. I have an old(Green River?) barrel with real narrow lands and It is great.

[Eric Krewson]

The best shooting barrel I have, Bill Large, narrow lands, wide grooves.

[smylee grouch]

Master barrel maker now retired Jim Goodeion told me 70% of the circumference of the bore should be the cuts or groves, 30% should be the lands. His barrels were/are among the very best so I think he was right.

[Daryl]

Master barrel maker now retired Jim Goodeion told me 70% of the circumference of the bore should be the cuts or groves, 30% should be the lands. His barrels were/are among the very best so I think he was right.

My .40 Goodeion had nicely wide grooves .010" deep and narrow lands, as noted. It was an easy loading rifle, even with .400" balls and the .235" railroad ticking patches I used with the .398" balls (which were bore sized - tight bore).