If your friend wants to compete in the John Garand matches, the Wilson is the only widely available new barrel with a precision bore (0.0002" uniformity tolerance) in the required standard contour. Kreiger has heavy barrels in stainless, but I don't know if he makes a standard contour? Brownells has heavy barrels contoured from Douglas blanks in chrome moly steel by Barnett.
Note that the barrels from Midway are in the white (no finish) while those from Brownells are matte blue. They are retailing for about $195 and $220, respectively. If you know someone who can buy wholesale from Brownells, then you can get theirs for about $177.
None of the above barrels are drop-in. All are short chambered and require finish reaming to the correct headspace. You can get used barrels from various dealers in surplus parts, but some will not be satisfactory from the standpoint of headspace or will have shoulders already set too far back to tighten without taking the sights past 12:00. This can be corrected by a gunsmith with a lathe tool that rolls the shoulder edge back to take up slack, but if you are going to pay a gunsmith anyway, get a new barrel he can give you tight headspace with.
Nick
