Wilson arms barrels, any good?

1

1stmar

New member
I'm looking to rebarrel a Ruger bolt 22-250, I live in CT and was considering a Wilson arms barrel (Branford, ct). I never see them mentioned, would guess they are low to mid grade? Anyone ever use these, what's your experience?
 
RRA uses them, I have one of their 16" SS mid-lenght AR uppers, shoots well under MOA. I have had about 5 RRA uppers all shot under MOA.
I believe WOA also uses Wilson.
I just ordered a 30-06 barrel for my K98 Mauser, hope it shoots as good.
Should have it next Tuesday.
 
"would guess they are low to mid grade?"

Their minimum order is 100 barrels. They'll make them as good as you're willing to pay for. Blanks, finished, coated, chromed bore, etc.

"Founded in 1954, the Company began specializing in large volume gun barrel production in the early 60’s. Today the Company produces a variety of barrels ranging from .17 caliber to .50 caliber and is poised to provide gun barrels in various stages of completion (from blanks to finished barrels) to most of the world’s major gun manufacturers supporting military, law enforcement and sport enthusiast applications. "

Fwiw, Cooper rifles used Wilson barrels. Wilson bought Cooper in 2009.
 
Their match barrels are good. They are used on a number of production NM Ar15's and have won big events at Camp Perry.

I have several Wilson match barrels on several target rifles and they are excellent.
 
I saw the min order qty on their site, looked like they have a var but when I went to the var site they only had ar barrels.
 
I got two of their Garand barrels made from Douglas blanks through Brownells a number of years ago. Should have been good based on the blank quality, but the breech end contour was 0.005" over maximum spec from the shoulder and you could not close a bolt on them. The breech end of the roughed chamber was wider than my pull-through reamer, which portended short brass life. So if you get one, check its dimensions carefully for setup errors.
 
I'm not real well informed,but I get the idea "Wilson" name covers a number of lines.

I bought one of the Brownells contoured Mauser replacement barrels long ago for,IIRC,less than $200,and I think it was less than $150,threaded and short chambered.I got what I paid for.It had some accuracy and metal fouling issues.I looked in the muzzle with magnification and I could see the steel had a smeared cheese look to it.There was some galling as the button went through.I used some cast 30-30 bullets and #9 mold polishing diamond compound to fire lap it.Then the darn thing started shooting less than 3 in at 300 yds.

But,I think I paid $139...threaded and chambered.That just won't buy a top line barrel.I got what I paid for.It worked out.

At about the same time,I talked with a tech rep for Hogdon or Nosler,they said they used Wilson test barrels for accuracy testing.

When I talked with White Oak Armament about an upper for an AR,I asked,and was told,Wilson blanks were used.(at least at the time that I talked with them.I do not intend to speak for WOA,best to contact them for current info)WOA has a very good rep and folks shooting WOA rifles bring home championship trophies.

I have used some Badger barrels and they certainly made a fine barrel.Badger was aquired by Wilson Defense.I do not know how that works out,but it could be some "Wilson" barrels would be made by the old Badger.

I would keep my expectations reasonable on a bargain priced barrel,but at the same time if a very successful outfit like WOA uses Wilson barrels I would let the results speak.
 
Thanks guys, I'm looking for a good upgrade to my stock Ruger barrel (Hv). If you have any recommendations let me know. I just upgraded my 06 with a hart, I'm happy with it but looking for something a little more available (6mo wait for hart) and ideally a little cheaper...have to say hart was great to deal with and did a great job. Shipping really kills me...
 
If you want to be able to run somewhere between low and high end, Douglas has several grades available. You also might look to see if Criterion makes one for the Ruger. Criterion was started by Kreiger as a means of producing target grade replacement barrels that are less costly than custom cut rifling barrels. I replaced the Wilson Garand barrels with Criterion and am quite happy with them.
 
Wilson's primary customers are large rifle manufacturers and those who sell self branded rifle barrels. Many top quality riflemakers use Wilson barrels and they are considered to be high quality. Realize that Wilson fills barrel orders based on specs provided to them by the customer. So while the base blank and material are certainly Wilson's, the design is probably not theirs. The customer can also order those barrels in various steps in the manufacturing process: Short chambered, finished reamed, lapped, polished, contoured or not, threaded or not, etc.

There are only a handful of barrel makers in the US...there are a lot of brands and most of those brands start with a Wilson barrel.

Wilson Combat and Wilson Defense are NOT Wilson Arms.

I sometimes have a personal chuckle when two guys are arguing accuracy potential of two different barrels, knowing that those two barrels were made on the same Wilson machinery and just stamped with different names.
 
Since Douglas offers multiple grades, it wouldn't surprise me if Wilson did, too. So the comparing of two barrels out of the same plant may not always be quite as apples to apples as you might suppose.

Or note that the Wilson Garand barrels were boasted by Brownells to have been made from Douglas premium blanks. So I'm guessing Wilson had the contouring machinery and Douglas didn't or else asked too much for that part of the work. The military configurations are a good application of the Douglas blanks because they are stress-relieved. I've had a number of inexpensive Garand and M1A barrels and military versions of them with half thousandth constrictions under the heavier portions of the contours, which comes from contouring without stress relief.

I would note, too, that some brands have multiple sources. Savage, for example, uses something I don't know the source of in some grades, Criterion barrels in their match grades, and they were running two cut rifling machines in house when I had a tour of the plant, but I don't know which particular guns those go into. So it's a mixed bag.
 
I'm looking for a good upgrade to my stock Ruger barrel (Hv).
Click to expand...

Depending on the age of your rifle, you may already have a Wilson. Ruger bought a lot of barrels from Wilson before they started hammer forging their own.
 
I had heard this before Jim, I'm going to make some calls next week. Looks like it may be tough to get an individual Wilson barrel, but unclenick has made some suggestions as well.
 
I have not used a PacNor barrel,but looking at the website they make Ruger contours and the price is not bad
 
Pac-Nor barrels are very nice. You'll often have to wait awhile for delivery, but their steel machines up very nicely and their bores are much smoother than many other barrel makers' product.
 
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