Has anyone tried one of these yet?

[jlottmc]

My brother used one in a 10/22. It was ok, he built the rifle for his now ex-wife, but ended up keeping it. Made the rifle as light as his Beretta, but he shot the barrel out pretty quickly. I never noticed much more accuracy from it compared to my stock barrel. I shot both my 10/22, and his side by side, and while it was certainly light, not my cup of tea. I prefer a less fragile set-up.

[WMD]

Hey jlottmc,

When you say he "shot the barrel out", Do you mean the carbon separated from the sleeve? That would be a problem!

If you are saying he lost his rifling, it may still be there, just needs to remove the lead. I have seen that condition before where the barrel looks like a shotgun bore. After deleading, it came back with nice crisp rifling. Excess lead will definitely effect accuracy. It is pretty hard for lead to wear out steel.

I have also wondered about those barrels and have considered sending my Rem 700 in 7 mag to them for a rebarrel. I saw a you tube a while ago that had a guy with a 700 in 338 lapua that was absolutely drilling a 800 yard target. He was getting phenomonal accuracy. He attributed this to the barrel. I'm told, the carbon fiber stiffens the barrel more then a bull barrel of steel thus reducing the vibrations that much more resulting in better accuracy. Of course, if you add the barrel you must restock the gun. The expense just keeps going up! Maybe better to just buy a tactical rifle?

[Pyranha]

My brother used one in a 10/22. It was ok, he built the rifle for his now ex-wife, but ended up keeping it. Made the rifle as light as his Beretta, but he shot the barrel out pretty quickly.

Do you know who the manufacturer was that he used? There's a vast quality difference out there between some of the graphite barrels, I've heard very good things about the one Magnum Research is sourcing from (can't recall the name), while others are known to be pretty problematic.