AusVarmint

Guys

I talked to Maddco a while back.. maybe a coule of years, and was told they were looking at doing a 20cal in the future.

Has this happened yet?

Cheers
AI

Good question AI. I think I would put my hand up for one.

Yeh they are. Give Tim or Nev a ring for availability. They have cought up with thier military orders so getting a barrel will be easier now.

Mulga wrote:Yeh they are. Give Tim or Nev a ring for availability. They have cought up with thier military orders so getting a barrel will be easier now.

Maddco is not making 20cal barrels. I rang them.

They have a lot of the tooling to be able too, not all of it. They do not have the demand for them so no time soon!

Cheers
AI

Oh shite!

There you go . Twelve months must be a long time in the barrel industry. When I spoke to Tim about rebarreling my .223 to .204 there wasn't a problem. Thanks for that.

At some time or another i have looked very closely at manufacturing actions and barrels. From my perspective and time within the shooting sports, i have come to the conclusion that anyone that is thinking of doing the above mentioned activity and thinks that it is profitable, i can tell you straight now, that there are two or three areas of engineering that are way more profitable that do not have all the legal hassles. It would have to be just a pure love thing.
Just down the road from me there is a CNC that given the right tooling and program, could replicate ANY action, and do it in just a few minutes per unit. I even calculated that i could sell a Python replication for around $1000 but would have to sell all 50, a minimum production run, to make it worthwhile. But where are you going to sell 50 Pythons or Pandas or Bats in Aus? Twenty would see it out.
I think this is what Neville is weighing up in regards to the 20 cal. Who is going to buy enough of these barrels locally to justify the cost of carbide buttons, deep hole drills, reamers and oil feeder tubes etc. From my research into it, i'm sure that if any of the barrel makers were asked to start from scratch right now, to get into barrel manufacture, they would all say the same thing. No way.
Ten years ago Neville was asked to do slow twist 30 cal barrels, and as far as i know, he still doesn't do one. Just simply no demand to justify the cost and all that was required was the right button. He has all the 30 cal gear already.

With the 20, 10 twist seems to be the average twist rate. Somewhere down the line some one like Berger will make a VLD that requires an 8 twist, and some one will ask if there is an 8 twist available. So it gets to the stage of having more and more for less and less, until finally you have everything for nothing in particular. Actually i'm suprised the barrel makers have what they have, cause it sure as shit can't all be profitable. And with Neville, from what i have been told, the love thingy has long gone.

Jethro Bodine.

Hi Tony I know what you say is right, but mate you just depressed me.I hope these blokes keep doing it or we might all be shooting smooth bores in a few years
Have a good one,
Macca

Why not try a stainless match Krieger .20 barrel? They make a very good .20 cal and one can be imported by Rifle SA in about 10-12 weeks from placing the order. Ring Paul Gale on 08 8244 5533 and tell him I sent you.
Cheers
Brendan Atkinson

Jimbo (aka Brendan), I may just go for that! Might grab a 6mm barrel while I am at it!

Cheers
AI

I looked down a walther 6.5mm barrel the other day. Man it makes my lilja look like its sandpaper inside. Its the smoothest barrel i have ever seen, almost mirror finish. But with the way the 22BRX barrel is performing, I think I will be glad to stay with lilja.