Douglas barrel quality in the 1970's

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404tbang

Member
Howdy,
I have a project rifle. It is a Winchester model 70 that someone started to build into a target rifle, and never finished. The gentleman passed away and the rifle apparently passed to a family member who never finished it.

The barrel was installed in 1979. It is a Douglas premium. It is 25 inches long, 1.2 inches straight taper, and chambered in 30-06. It has apparently been test fired, and that is it. It looks like someone tried to take a Model 70 that didn't have bottom metal and make it into a target rifle. It has a Marksman stock, and homemade floor metal that I am going to replace. The receiver shows no evidence of having had scope mounts installed. Looks new.

My question is about the barrel. I know that at one point, Douglas barrels were supposed to have won lots of matches in different disciplines. Is there a certain time period when Douglas barrels were considered to be at the height of their quality? That is not to imply that they would not be now. I am just curious if a barrel from 1979 that is essentially new, literally, would be considered as a pretty good barrel.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Greg
 
Yup I agree, good barrel.

No "better" nor worse, no "height" issues, just a good barrel........Rock ON!

al
 
I had a XX in 1972 installed by Douglas It shot dots"" Clyde Hart looked at it in his bore scope said he couldn't do better .
 
Just for the "what it's worth department", G.R. Douglas was making good rifle barrels quite a while before Hart or for that matter any of todays barrel makers.
 
Things are a little slow here this evening so I thought I might add a little more history in relation to Douglas barrels. I believe he was cut rifling barrels prior to the war. He and Hart started button rifling around 1956. I asked Mike Walker if there had been any connection at the time between Hart or Douglas he said no. He also told me he had never met Douglas. So it remains a mystery as to there starting to button barrels at about the same time. Several years before Douglas died he was producing what he called "bore honed" barrels. He claimed these barrels were the equal of hand lapped barrels at that time. I don't know if Tim Gardner's dad continued this process after he took things over. During that time period Douglas was trying to find a machinable stainless steel and was not having much luck. Up untill then all of his barrels were chrome moly. Hart's claim to fame I believe were the first 416 SS barrels. I don't believe they ever made any barrels out of chrome moly. I believe M. Walker gets the credit for setting Hart up in the barrel business and the use of 416 SS. At the time I think his position with Remington gave him some deep pockets for experimenting. How he and the Hart's got togather I never heard. There may have been a connection between Hart's and Douglas thru Homer Culver, I don't know.
 
Martin
I do know something about how Hart started the button rifleing process.
Remington had Ross Sherman makeing their buttons. Clyde had a desire to make a really high quality barrel.
He contacted Mike Walker at Remington asking if it would be all right if Ross Sherman made some buttons for him.
Ross Sherman was the one putting Clyde Hart in touch with Mike Walker at Remington. Ross would not make buttons for Clyde unless he had permission from Remington. What Clyde improved on was stress relieveing and hand lapping of the rifle barrels. Clyde always said it cost him plenty. good tooling isn't cheap.
The metalergy on the 416 r was another thing that Clyde paid for . It was made exclusively for Hart barrels at one time. Hart barrels paid dearly for the metalergy on that steel.
 
GerryM,

Stress relief and the practice of NOT straightening barrels was also one of Douglas's break thru's in the early 50's. Don't know who got there first. Guess it dosen't much matter. Thanks for helping me fill in the blanks.
 
Thanks!

Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for the info! I also appreciate the history that got posted. Some I knew, but not all. Any more comments are welcome.

Wilbur, dirt dauber check has been (cautiously!) completed. Pesky things sneak up on you!

Take care,

Greg
 
Douglas Barrrels

I first met Homer Culver in the late '60's. I rember sitting in his basement an listening to the story of him giving Douglas some carbide to make some buttons out of , and that Douglas had made some and when they pushed it thru to rifle a barrel they had put a bunch of rags to catch the button . They proceeded to punch a hole in the cinderblock wall. You heard the same story Don (Jones). O.W.L.
 
owlshop,
For that to happen they must have been experimenting with a different lubricant or something else. A few years back I stopped in for a visit an had a chance to watch them rifle a barrel. I was told that they are still using the same machine that Douglas had originally built. The button was not connected to the push rod. The contact point on the button for the push rod was concave and the push rod end was convex so they mated with both surfaces scored to reduce slippage. The barrel turned, not the push rod. When the button finished its trip it simply dropped in to a screen in a bucket so it could be retreived for the next barrel while the push rod was retracted. The button was hot!
 
I gather from Homer's story that this was one of or the first time they had tried to push a button thru and I assume they used too much pressure. OWLSHOP
 
I watched 'em push a button through and it flew out into a catcher's mitt - rather strongly.
 
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