Ultra Accurate Barrels

Well I think I have been teasing you guys long enough about this New Barrel Business and the test/eval. of the T/C Contender Bbl. in 17HMR. So without any further ado We'll start with the...

INTRODUCTIONS...

First, if you don't already know him, let me introduce you to Mike Sirois of On Target Tech (MBMCO).
Mike has been in the machine works business for 20 plus Years and was bitten by the T/C bug back in 1998.
Tired of banging His barrels around and constantly having them laying around in the way, Mike developed the Crib and Cradles Storage System to store Bbls and Frames Safely out of the way.

A few years into the T/C game, trying out diffrent factory Bbls. and cringing at the Custom Prices, Mike realized the need for affordable Barrels that could be built to user specifications and delivered in a timely matter. It has been said if one doesn't like the high prices of custom Bbls. that they should get a lathe and learn to make thier own. Well, Mike put his money where his mouth is and did just that. After a bit of study and inquiry he developed a means to produce bbls at an affordable rate and began turning out the first prototypes of what I believe to be one fine product.

The 1st barrel(s) were 45 Colt followed by a 30-40 Krag and then the 17HMR. When everything is ready and rolling any cartridge/configuration will be available to order as long as it is safe.

K.T.S. Shooting Supply and Accessories provided a case of Hornady 17HMR ammo, J. Dewey nylon coated cleaning rods, patches,brushes and MPro-7 Gun Cleaner/Oil for the evaluations.

THE BARREL...

I recieved one of the first prototype bbls in the new 17HMR. on 1/6/03. Now getting a new bbl. on any day is great but this one was extra special for two reasons.
1. It was built by a gentleman whom I have never met face to face but highly respect and consider a friend.
2. It was one of the 1st ones made by a company I think we will all be hearing alot of from now on.

The 1st thing I noticed was the finish, Mike had warned me it wasn't perfect but definitly 'diffrent', and it was!! The Douglas Barrel is black oxide, basicly it is a gloss finish but, what really catches the eye is the diffrence in coloring from the muzzle about 2 1/8"-back and again from the breech end- forward, which is a dull matte. I like the two-tone effect and Mike has informed me that solid matte and gloss will be available for those who want it.

The crown is cut at 11 degrees, it is crisp, clean and burr free. The little 17 cal. hole looks to be perfectly centered tho Mike said "If you look down the chamber with your borescope, you'll see it's a bit off centered but, not bad." The weld on the bbl. lug is smooth and professional. Another 'diffrence' Mike pointed out to me is the Locking lugs and ejector are not pinned in like we're used to seeing on these type bbls. Mike seen some room for improvement and if you wish to remove the extractor or locking bolts they are held in place with a 4-48 x 3/8" set screw. Use a small allen wrench. The set screw is bottomed out and is used just like the roll pin but easier to install and remove, just depress the locking bolt and hold with your thumb then use the allen wrench with your free hand to unscrew it. Same with the extractor. And you don't have to worry about over tightening them because they bottom out just below flush on the right hand side of the lug.
NOTE: I did not have an allen wrench that tiny for this test, I will update as soon as one is available.

The barrels are sent to an outside company where they are heat treated to relieve the stress.
Stress relieving is done to normalize the weld area and also the inherent machine stresses, a diamond lapping compound is used on the thrust cone or lead angle up to the bore and the barrel is drilled and tapped for use of scope or open sights. All in all a very impressive package.

AT THE RANGE...

Due to the day job I had to wait a couple days before I could actually shoot this Bbl. I scrubbed it out with the MPro-7 and nylon brush, it patched out clean the 1st time but, I gave it two good scrubs anyway.

I opted to use a scope as my eyes and open sites are only good to 25 yds or so. The B-Square mount and rings provided a solid base for the Weaver 2x-8x scope. The barrel mounted into the frame perfectly and a wide B.R. forend completed the package.

Range day started with crystal clear skies, tho cold at 32 degrees the air was perfectly still. By the end of the session it was still cold with a very slight breeze blowing across the range but, we had lots of hot coffee, good company and one accurate 17HMR Bbl. to make it a perfect morning. Groups were 5 shots each and measured from the farthest points less one caliber (.177) Barrel was cleaned after every 5 rnd group. I had to shoot off the sandbags because I forgot my Caldwell Rest. The second session we shot off the rest at 50, 100 and 200 yds. The first session showed our 1st shot printing in a little high so 1 fouling shot was allowed after each cleaning during our second session.

The 1st 3 groups were shot at 25 yds. I had no idea how much scope adjustment was going to be needed to zero or if I would even hit the paper!!

I didn't need to worry. The 1st shot was a bit high but centered in line with the target, the next 4 shots went into a tight little cluster for a 1st 5 shot group of ..618 The 2nd group also printed the first shot a bit high with 4 little holes making the group .418 and the 3rd group went to .330 with all shots making one lg. hole.

At 50 yards the groups printed about 3" high but still grouped well, I forgot my Caldwell Rest so I had to shoot off sandbags. Three 5 shot groups off the bags yielded, 1st grp. .676, 2nd grp. .716 and the 3rd grp. .637

At 100 yards the groups started spreading out a little bit off the sand bags We still managed to get some good groups with the 1st coming in at .690, but a flyer brought that out to over 2 inches. The second group came in at 1.713 with 4 going into .582 and the third group gave us the best overall at 1.367 With a good solid rest this will tighten up a bit I'm sure.

AT THE RANGE TWO...

During the second session 1 fouling shot was allowed and bbl. was cleaned after each group. The weather and conditions were about as close to the 1st session as one could get.
Using Our Caldwell Rest the Best Group at 50 yds. was .528

At 100 yds. we did a bit better with our best coming in at .523

And at 200 yards? Well our 1st group was low and well dispersed across the paper and I was wondering if it was going to be a waste of ammo to continue, the sun was in a bad position at the time so I allowed that as an excuse. We cleaned the bbl. gave the scope 15 clicks UP, goofed around for awhile and then tried again. Our 1st group came in at 1.703 with 4 shots measuring 1.34 and our second group had 4 in 1.430 with a called flyer stretching it WAY out there to around 2 1/2"

ON THE SIDE...

During our evaluation we cleaned the bbl. after each group, a total of 100 rnds were fired and tho we patched out the black powder residue, absolutely no copper fouling was detected on the patches at any time during this period.
I figured this bbl was probabably broke in as good as any and wondered, "How many shots could be put down this tube before it fouled out and we lost accuracy?" After the last group was fired I ran 1 dry patch down the bbl. wiped it down and put it away.

Returning to the range with 100 rnds. of ammo, I set up 2 sight-in targets at 100 yds and then proceeded to shoot 10 rnd groups as fast as I could load and aquire the target in the scope. I realized soon enough that I didn't have enough ammo with me. Out of ten 10 shot groups the best was .963 the worst was 1.363 average was 1.173 group 5 went in at .963 and group 9 went in .998
Alot of the bullets clustered in tiny little groups but a flyer or two brought the average out. Had I not been shooting as fast as I could this would have been much better. Note: This bbl. never did get hot to the touch, warm yes but not hot.

Once I got back home I was eager to see what we had as far as copper fouling. I pumped the bbl. full of Mpro-7, scrubbed with a nylon brush, waited and waited and....the first patch thru came out black, expected after 100 rnds, the next several patches thru the bore were the same as they were after the first 5 rnds. No copper fouling, Period.
I went ahead and scrubbed the bore again with the same results, then I filled it with MPro-7 and set aside to soak over night to see what might be 'pulled' out. Next morning? Nothing, a little gray-black from the carbon but otherwise this bbl. is clean and this evaluation is complete.

PAGE 2

CONCLUSIONS, CLEANING, CONTACTS....

BACK TO REVIEWS