KRIEGER vs SHILEN for long range rifle build

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Mizar

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Hello. A friend of mine, which doesn't speak the language, asks for advise - he is in the process of building a long range bolt rifle in 6.5x55SE and hesitates between the two barrel manufacturers, Krieger and Shilen. Could you please give your opinion on what is the better option to choose and why?

P.S. He does not live in the US, so delivery will be quite hard and complicated in both cases...
 
Shilen has a great reputation in this country, so maybe it would have greater resale value, if that's a possiblity. Krieger has worldwide reputation, perhaps greater outside the US than Shilen. BTW: I only have one Shilen barrel, on a .22 LR rifle and it's a really fantastic shooter!!!
 
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I only have a Krieger and it is so good I don't need to consider other brands.
But my Long Range Friend has moved on to Bartlein. I don't know if they export.

Do you have anything on Lothar Walther? Likely easier to get in Europe but I don't know how they compare with US makes.
 
I used Shilen barrels for most of my bolt gun barrels (and Lilja) for a long time. I have had a few of their AR barrels and Savage pre-threaded barrels as well (finish chambered a few short chambered barrels from them also). I used several Krieger barrels for my service rifle barrels years ago, and have had three bolt gun barrels from them.

It’s hard to pick between the two - so I would defer to buy whichever is the more popular in the specific competition your buddy wants to shoot, OR to which is easiest to procure, considering the international influences he’ll have to overcome. If he’s not competing, default to the second.
 
I have and run the shilen because of their ease of instilation on a savage. If your running a configuration that allows self installation flip a coin. If your doing specialty stuff like 6ppc then there are a few less talked about like Douglas and like varmitor mentioned lija. All 4 are match winners .
 
Theres probably not a wrong choice here. But I have and have had a few rifles with Krieger barrels that shoot very good. A few friends have Shilen barrels that also shoot well. Krieger had a 6 month wait on the last barrel that I bought. Places like Midway have some Shilen barrels in stock. My last Krieger was a custom order, just to be fair.
 
Theres probably not a wrong choice here. But I have and have had a few rifles with Krieger barrels that shoot very good. A few friends have Shilen barrels that also shoot well. Krieger had a 6 month wait on the last barrel that I bought. Places like Midway have some Shilen barrels in stock. My last Krieger was a custom order, just to be fair.
Northland is also a great place to get them....
 
Krieger barrels are top quality cut rifling, lead times are now 14 months unless they have something in the Krieger Direct section you’ll need to plan way ahead.
 
When the USMC Armorer's were still building match M14's, I asked them what barrels they had on the line. Well, they had everything. Barrel makers would give them barrels, and as long as the barrel made a three inch ten shot group at 300 yards, it was good to go.

In my experience, all the match barrel makers produce good barrels. Sometimes I have heard about funnies, such as the newly chambered barrel that shot so far to one side, that it ate up all the windage in the shooters scope. The gunsmith who barreled that rifle then purchased another barrel and installed that for the customer. The humorous thing was, the barrel that shot way off, the gunsmith had marked it before removing it. And a walk in customer, upon hearing about the problem, got the gunsmith to install the barrel on his rifle, but rotated so that the barrel now shot low, very low. And it made an outstanding 1000 yard rifle. The shooter probably did not have to make more than a few clicks up to be in the center.

I have around three Kreiger barrels, they all shoot well, but they are all tight. Except a lot of load cutting till the primer popping goes away. Few of the shooters I know use Shilen, but the ones that do, are happy with their rifles.

The chambering job is just as important as the barrel. If the chamber is not perfectly straight and centered in the tube, than the barrel will not perform to its fullest potential. My gunsmith said he used a "floating reamer technique" at the very end of reaming, to counter issues with curvature of the drilled hole. The drill wanders when gun drilling, inbetween the ends, the hole can vary a surprising amount, and the gunsmith who reams the chamber needs to take that into account.
 
I have both Krieger and Shilen barrels. Both are fantastic. I have a J Lederer and a Bartlein. Also fantastic. I have a Brux I haven’t shot yet but I’m pretty confident it will also be fantastic.

If there’s a difference in quality or performance between any of them I’m not able to quantify it.
 
I agree that most custom barrels perform well.

The Krieger barrels that I have shoot great. One of them is on a 223AI rifle that the gunsmith guaranteed 1/4 MOA accuracy, and it performs. I also have Shilen on an untrued Remington and it will shot under 1/2 minute consistently.
 
A barrel maker I talked to said cut, button, broach rifling (he did not do hammer forge), all of these techniques have their own unique foibles and learning curves. But once the barrel maker learns how to make a good barrel, regardless of technique, its a good barrel. What counts is the group on paper.

I will be looking for barrels with a taper towards the end. I have a 1937 M70 Winchester that shoots exceptionally well, and pushing a patch down the tube, there is a taper at the muzzle. And my Benchmark barrel on a match Anschutz, it has a taper, and is an exceptionally good barrel.

I was told that removing material from the exterior of a button or broach barrel will cause the barrel to expand, making the hole in the middle larger. This may be why Anschutz has these long muzzle shanks, to keep the muzzle end tight. You can just see the line where the shank has a larger diameter out to the muzzle.

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I was in the same boat looking at the two (plus some others). Shilen got the nod on the advice of my gunsmith, but he said the two were both very good and either is a great choice. My Shilen is very accurate and I couldn't be happier.
 
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