Orion Barrel question

[mountainman70]

What do es anyone know about Orion barrels? I have no experience with them,like to get some input. Thanks a bunch, Dave 

[Eric Kettenburg]

I used a couple of them a long, long time ago when they were still in business.  Guy named Jerry Cunningham was the owner.  They were REALLY good shooting barrels.  Have no idea what happened to the company.

[BOB HILL]

My experience is the same as Eric's. I used quite a few of them no complaints.
Bob

[tpr-tru]

Eric, was Orion before or after Montana Rifle Barrel Company.  Jerry Cunningham to my knowledge owned Montana R B Company.

[Eric Kettenburg]

You may have to ask guys older than me - I don't remember Montana but I did buy direct from Orion in the last few years they were in business so I suspect Montana came first.

[flinchrocket]

I bought a Montana barrel from Jerry at Friendship I think it was 1984.A couple years later he was selling the Orion brand.

[Hungry Horse]

Montana barrels folded, and the equipment went to Orion. Then Orion folded and I think the equipment went to Joe Williams at “The gun works” and is now Oregon barrel works. I have three Montana’s, and have two Orion’s, they are all good barrels. I would own an Oregon barrel as well, but they don’t make 42” barrels. They do make some BIG calibers, and special profiles.

  Hungry Horse

[sqrldog]

Same here back in the 80's used several Montana barrels. They all shot really well. Still have a couple to go on grandson rifles. Use it.

[oldtravler61]

  Bought a few at an estate sale. Posted on here. They turned out to be very accurate barrels.  Oldtravler

[little joe]

I think the tooling for all of the above came from Hall Sharon of Sharon BBL. Co. Barrels were 35 dollars if I remember correctly. Also good shooters.

[Ky-Flinter]

Montana barrels folded, and the equipment went to Orion. Then Orion folded and I think the equipment went to Joe Williams at “The gun works” and is now Oregon barrel works. I have three Montana’s, and have two Orion’s, they are all good barrels. I would own an Oregon barrel as well, but they don’t make 42” barrels. They do make some BIG calibers, and special profiles.

  Hungry Horse

Thanks for the history HH.  I remember seeing ads for Orion barrels in the back of MuzzleBlasts years ago.  Seems like I remember their maximum length for rifled barrels was 35 inches.  And Oregon rifled barrels are max. 35 inches.  I assume this a limitation of the rifling equipment since Oregon offers longer smoothbores.  Since the barrel making equipment was passed down from Montana Barrel, were their rifled barrels also limited to 35 inches? 

And a followup question, did the Montana, Orion, and now Oregon Barrel companies stamp their name on their barrels?

Thanks,

-Ron

[Hungry Horse]

Montana made barrels in 42” length as well. I have three in that length. Orion, and Oregon, May not have gotten the equipment to make the longer barrels. Some Montana, and Orion, barrels got out of the shop unmarked, often if they were on back order. Orion sold seconds toward the end of their production. I have a .62 cal. Orion second that is unmarked.

  Hungry Horse

[Eric Kettenburg]

I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure one of the Orion barrels I used was a full 42" barrel.

[BOB HILL]

All of the Orion barrels that I ever ordered were 42”. They also offered shorter but I never ordered any. They use to offer 20 0/0 off if you ordered five barrels at the time.
Bob

[rick/pa]

I have a Montana barrel bought back in 78 I think. 35" long and unmarked. Shoots very well.

[n stephenson]

The first rifle I ever built , had a Montana  .40 cal. 13 \16  42 inch barrel.  It was a very nice performing barrel . Shot deer , groundhogs , rabbits , squirrels with that rifle . My sister , who had little experience with rifles other than a .22 , was able to shoot a couple of groundhogs with it at ranges up to 60 yards . We had so many groundhogs during the 80s , that we almost got tired of shooting them. We still are pretty flush with them now! Wished I still had that Montana barreled rifle , it was a shooter!. Nate

[mountainman70]

Good info guys. been an interesting thread. I bought the barrel and am planning to use it on a c/m flint smr .Thanks for the input. Dave

[EC121]

Joe Williams of Oregon Barrels told me that he can only make 35" barrels because that is the length of the stroke on his hydraulic cylinder.
     I used Montana barrels.  They were less expensive and as accurate as any around.  No bore runout like the Douglas barrels.

[flinchrocket]

If I remember correctly Montana barrels were button rifled and cleaned really easy.

[little joe]

Jerry The 40 and smaller were button rifled and 45 and up were cut rifled. Used several of them.

[P.W.Berkuta]

What do es anyone know about Orion barrels? I have no experience with them,like to get some input. Thanks a bunch, Dave 

Jerry Cunningham was the owner of Orion Barrel Co. Back in the day when you could not buy ANY barrels from the big name barrel companies the only barrels you could get were from Orion Barrel Co. I bought my first Orion Barrel from Dixons back in the 80’s. I then bought directly from Jerry and ordered about 15 to 18 in different calibers, lengths, sizes and also straight taper barrels. I still have a few and they ALL performed VERY well. The outside were a bit rough and needed a fair amount of draw filing but the steel used was comparable to most of the barrel makers at the time except the Green Mountain barrels.

[Levy]

My recollection is that after you bought 5 of his barrels, you'd get 20% off of all the rest that you purchased.  You would even get 20% off of the specials that he ran every month.  I bought a lot of his barrels and still have a few.
James Levy

[P.W.Berkuta]

My recollection is that after you bought 5 of his barrels, you'd get 20% off of all the rest that you purchased.  You would even get 20% off of the specials that he ran every month.  I bought a lot of his barrels and still have a few.
James Levy

You are correct on the 20% off. I found his barrels to be high quality and the bore was rifled to a high finish - outside needed a lot of draw filing - but I liked them a lot.

[Mikeh]

Fellows, i bought the last two barrels that Jerry Cunningham had that he made. He had sold the business to a fellow there in Kalispell Montana. He just happened to have two 15/16" barrels in 50 cal.  I bought both of them for $130.00 He was getting up in the years and had some health issues and that was when he decided to sell the business. Over the years, a friend of mine and myself bought several of his barrels and i would still be buying them if they were available and i was still building. They were excellent barrels and they would shoot as good as any barrels that i knowed of and priced reasonable. In fact, my son and i both deer hunt with them to this day. Both 50 cal. Regards, Mikeh