When is using a Prefit barrel the right option

[wyosam]

If you cannot find your stick, I think I know where it is

Let’s stay on topic- is that a prefit stick, or made to fit by the local smith? (Or maybe a machinist? I’ve lost track)


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[sndmn11]

Let’s stay on topic- is that a prefit stick, or made to fit by the local smith? (Or maybe a machinist? I’ve lost track)


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I took it as prefit arrows vs "custom builds".

 

[Reburn]

If you cannot find your stick, I think I know where it is

Nope still not rhetorical.
I hope your shooting is better then your grammar.

 

[Dirty30]

It was under spec, I was just irritated with the way it was dealt with by the first gunsmith. The second one (Kinport Peak Rifles) was much more helpful, and immediately diagnosed, and fixed it.

View attachment 690589View attachment 690588

Who did the fist chamber job? Someone in ID too?

 

[TaperPin]

Sorry, for clarification I’m referring to the quality of a prefit barrel. I’m not talking about dropping your riffle off at your local machine shop who specializes in on-site line boring to have work done to it.
Prefits are a part built to a spec. A machinist in a facility setup to build prefit barrels is 100% able to replicate the same part as a gunsmith in the same facility. Skills and tooling being equal, professional title has no bearing on the quality of the part you receive. There are plenty of hacks in my trade, they can call themselves whatever they want, they are still pretty lousy at their job.

Machine shops without firearm knowledge are famous for getting contracts for gun parts and failing because they don’t understand what’s not on blueprints.

Some dude cranking out prefits has some choices of how it’s done, that won’t ever be on the blueprint. How does he handle quality checks - how does the customer? How is a completed chamber measured? Headspace gages only measure headspace - getting meaningful measurements off a tapered hole, with tapered shoulder, and throats measured to tenths and a bore with rifling that may or may not be consistent even in the best barrels isn’t something average machinists are very good at. Good chambering technique is more valuable than trying to measure after the fact. There are many examples of OEM barrel suppliers having problems with firearms companies rejecting barrels, and they are in the business knowing the customer will be looking closely at them.

I’ve heard a guy who makes prefits tell a group of machinists most customers have pretty low accuracy requirements and for a decade he has simply run reamers in using a floating holder and doesn’t “waste” time dialing in the bores. If a bad barrel is sent out he’s quick to replace it and doesn’t lose sleep over using a very basic technique - this has put his kids through college. Inexpensive prefits use inexpensive barrel blanks and simple/quick techniques - that’s why many of them aren’t very accurate, just like many OEM barrels aren’t very accurate.

Barrels aren’t perfect - how many pages of information is the general machinist expected to read to understand how to evaluate a barrel before it’s chambered? Experienced machinists have a lot of bore scope pics showing all sorts of manufacturing defects. Aren’t barrels made to a spec on the blueprint - yet vary greatly?

CNC machines are making barrels, another is contouring, another is cutting threads and even automatically chambering. It seems anyone with the money for a barrel machine is now in the barrel business, for better or worse. $20/hr kids are pushing the button - the machinist is coding, fixing problems, trying to keep work flow moving, training, cussing a lot, threatening to quit, drinking too much. Lol

 

[rsipes3]

my experience with prefits has been good so far, i was on the fence about it initially but it worked out great, i had a guy at work that runs the okuma make me the barrel vice and i purchased the action wrench, bushings, and gauges. everything screwed on and lined just like it was supposed to, including the caliber etching on the left side, headspace was perfect. first box of factory ammo i ran through it was shooting .5 moa... i have not started load development on it yet just because im working on finishing some other loads for other rifles but it looks promising so far... i had a few reasons why i decided to go that route. the first one was being able to change barrels and calibers without the need of a smith, plus the wait time. and the next reason being the problem of having only a couple decent gunsmiths local to me that can actually get the job done in a decent time frame, i have one local guy thats built me a rifle before and he does a great job. but its always 3-6 months to get anything done. i just prefer to get things done myself and if anything goes wrong, its on me. i also enjoy the learning process along the way.