Winning Guns

D

Dave D.

Guest
I talked to a shooter and gunsmith, who will remain nameless at this time, about his winning two 2-gun matches in a row recently. He mentioned using two entirely different guns doing this. He is now testing more barrels to use at the Super Shoot. He believes there are more really good barrels available than ever before. This makes me feel good, since he's just finished a barrel for me.

I guess the chances of getting a super-shooting barrel are getting better. It wasn't too long ago, those odds seemed much bigger.

Anybody notice the same thing with barrels? ...Dave
 
Hard Work!!!!!!!

;)I know the guy your talking about,sure it takes good barrels to shoot the kind of aggs he's shooting but he has done his homework.I can take the same equipment that he's using and I will stumble somewhere through the match and screw it up. He's worked hard to get his equipment right and learned what to do when the load leaves him.He deserves to win!! Good shooting Billy! ooops
 
I don't Know

Of the past 8 or so barrels I have used in the past year, I have had three, a Sporter, a HV, and a Unlimited, that are not competitive.
The Sporter and HV I can live with, but those Unlimited blanks are getting pretty pricey. The one I fell out of love with will shoot five shot groups, but by the time you get to ten, it is going to be wallowed out to a "mid two" or worse.You just can't live with that.
I might add that I have had no less than 4 barrels that are are about as good as it gets, good enough to produce six "teen" aggs last year, and already two this year. If "sub .200" aggs are the standard, then these are certainly up to the task.
My problem with "just average" barrels is they make you waste too many aggs. In our Region, we compete for a Shooter of the Year Trophy. You just cannot afford to throw away too many aggs messing around with barrels that are good, but not good enough. It is getting so competitive that every point counts.
I still think this game comes down to "barrels, bullets, and tuning". Right now, I think the Bruno 00 Boat Tail is about as fine a bullet as can be made. My tuner allows me to optimize what the barrel wants. But, if a barrel just is not up to the task, then no amout of effort will help.......jackie
 
jackie schmidt said:
Of the past 8 or so barrels I have used in the past year, I have had three, a Sporter, a HV, and a Unlimited, that are not competitive.
The Sporter and HV I can live with, but those Unlimited blanks are getting pretty pricey. The one I fell out of love with will shoot five shot groups, but by the time you get to ten, it is going to be wallowed out to a "mid two" or worse.You just can't live with that.
I might add that I have had no less than 4 barrels that are are about as good as it gets, good enough to produce six "teen" aggs last year, and already two this year. If "sub .200" aggs are the standard, then these are certainly up to the task.
My problem with "just average" barrels is they make you waste too many aggs. In our Region, we compete for a Shooter of the Year Trophy. You just cannot afford to throw away too many aggs messing around with barrels that are good, but not good enough. It is getting so competitive that every point counts.
I still think this game comes down to "barrels, bullets, and tuning". Right now, I think the Bruno 00 Boat Tail is about as fine a bullet as can be made. My tuner allows me to optimize what the barrel wants. But, if a barrel just is not up to the task, then no amout of effort will help.......jackie
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Hi Jackie,

Why do you think you were not able to identify the "just average" barrel that you used at the Crawfish, this last tournament?

Was it just a matter of not having fired enough shots/aggs. in practice to expose the barrels true agging capability or was it something else? How many rounds were fired in this barrel before the start of the tournament?

How many rounds/aggs., minimum, do you feel are necessary to declare a barrel to be "just average" or "competitive?

I know the answer is probably not black and white as solely indicated by the number shots/aggs. fired..................but probably more of a grey area thing that is a combination of good groups/aggs., the physical shapes of the groups, and the most important factor of no/few mystery shots that defy the conditions..............at least that is the way it is for me..............Don
 
Don

The barrel I started out with at The Crawfish was a brand new one, I broke it in the week end before, and worked it in with my tuner. Since it was out of the same lot as a couple of good ones, I felt I had no worries.
I shot a couple of decent groups with it, and figured it would be good.
I should have sat down, on the clock, and shot an agg. It would have told me the real story.
As I said in another post, I violated one of my own rules.
The simple rule of how well a barrel is performing is how the bullets act in conditions. When it spits shots against the condition, and you are reasonably sure that it did, then that is not good. Having shots fall out of, or pop up out of a group is a sure sign as well, when you are reasonable sure you did your part.
Notice I said that you have to have confidence that you had the conditions read, and the bullet simply went where it was not supposed too.
After a while, you get a feel for this sort of thing. Or at least, if you shoot enough, under match conditions, you will.
One of the more difficult things that most shooters have trouble with is finally deciding that a barrel is just not going to cut it. These things cost money. It cost money to get them installed. It takes range time breaking them in,then working up loads. It is usually the last thing you want to admitt when things are not just working. You start doubting your abilities, and you fall back on the old, "well, maybe it's just me, not my day'. Then, you scew on another barrel, and suddenly all of your success returns.
Many will say,"why not try some different bullets, or a different combination". Well, others can waste all of the good bullets and powder they want, trying to get a average barrel to shoot at a championship level. I won't. Life, is too short.
As for the amount of rounds it takes, a good barrel should be shooting by 25 rounds, or it probably never will. Sure, there is the exception, but they are just that, the exception........jackie
 
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Many years ago a shooter/gunsmith told me, " If a rifle in a proper BR caliber (this was before the PPC) with a reasonable load using good bullets doesn't shoot pretty damn good right out of the gate, the rifle is no blanking good and you are wasting your time putting good bullets through it."
It sounds like this advice is still valid.
I do think barrels are perhaps more consistent than they were 30 years ago but the big change has been in the number of sources of really good barrels. Regards, Bill
 
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