JimInVA
01-16-2002, 12:56 PM
I think I’ve finally figured out the whole barrel thing. The best barrel is the one that you’ve plunked down your own $$$ for. It immediately has no equal because few will readily admit that they’ve made a mistake in it’s purchase?! Often the stated measure is found to be… “my friend has one of those and he says…” rather than “in tests with MY marker, using these 5 specified barrels, I noted the following characteristics…”.
This is what I’ve come to “believe”… There is no PERFECT barrel! There is only the perception and “hope” that MY barrel is better than THEIRS. I have seen the differences between the inside of my stock barrel and those that are “micro-honed, smooth-bored, etc.”… consequently, I believe the typical stock barrel can be improved upon. I have read a multitude of “technical discourses” and have come to believe that the first 6 – 8” in length and the proper bore/paint match will have the greatest influence on distance and accuracy. Lengths beyond that, up to about 14”, only influence how much barrel one has to “sight down” or how “tight” they can be in a front-play situation. Regarding porting vs. non-ported, I believe it to be more of an issue of air efficiency and sound level. The era of “paint/bore matching inserts” should have given us a new cost efficiency in matching that day’s paint. Instead, we were encouraged to pay a premium for the sizzle and inherited problems of “insert deformity”, “flaked coatings” and “paint piercing edges”.
And so, I have made my decision. For my birthday on Friday, I’ll purchase the barrel configuration that’s right for me. And once I do, it WILL be the best barrel on the field. For I will have spent MY money on MY choice and will no longer be the unbiased researcher. It WILL be more accurate, farther shooting and uniquely quieter than anyone else’s.
See ya on the field!
Jim
This is what I’ve come to “believe”… There is no PERFECT barrel! There is only the perception and “hope” that MY barrel is better than THEIRS. I have seen the differences between the inside of my stock barrel and those that are “micro-honed, smooth-bored, etc.”… consequently, I believe the typical stock barrel can be improved upon. I have read a multitude of “technical discourses” and have come to believe that the first 6 – 8” in length and the proper bore/paint match will have the greatest influence on distance and accuracy. Lengths beyond that, up to about 14”, only influence how much barrel one has to “sight down” or how “tight” they can be in a front-play situation. Regarding porting vs. non-ported, I believe it to be more of an issue of air efficiency and sound level. The era of “paint/bore matching inserts” should have given us a new cost efficiency in matching that day’s paint. Instead, we were encouraged to pay a premium for the sizzle and inherited problems of “insert deformity”, “flaked coatings” and “paint piercing edges”.
And so, I have made my decision. For my birthday on Friday, I’ll purchase the barrel configuration that’s right for me. And once I do, it WILL be the best barrel on the field. For I will have spent MY money on MY choice and will no longer be the unbiased researcher. It WILL be more accurate, farther shooting and uniquely quieter than anyone else’s.
See ya on the field!
Jim