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custom barrel identification

stevecrea
Is there any reasonable way to confirm the manufacturer of a custom barrel either before or after installation?

I see many rifles listed on this and other sites that have been rebarreled, with the seller claiming a "Shilen", "Douglas", "Krieger", or other top quality barrel was installed. Is there any good way to confirm the manufacturer?

I am not aware that the manufacturers identify their products, or if the identification is in an area of the barrel such as the face of the chamber where it cannot be seen after installation.
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Comments

4 comments

Date Votes
  • nononsense
    stevecrea,

    This is what a barrel blank looks like before any machining takes place:

    barreltenonstamps.jpg

    Before machining, it can be relatively easy to tell the identity of a barrel. Usually we remove these stamps as a part of the process of truing up the blank to cut the chamber so the marks are removed. Sometimes a gunsmith will mark a barrel with the makers name but it is getting very rare to see this. Some gunsmiths actually tell you on there website whose barrels they use but the barrels will not be marked after installation.

    With these marks removed it is impossible to tell whose barrel was used.

    Best.
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  • stevecrea
    Nononsense:

    Thank you for the information!

    Apparently, it would be quite difficult to validate and confirm a seller's representations as to the manufacturer of a custom barrel that has been installed. Perhaps the examination of a receipt from the gunsmith or other installer is about the best one could do.
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  • ern98
    Many barrel manufacturers mark their barrels when they install them on the action in question. If they just sell the barrel to a smith then it is usually unmarked other then maybe the caliber on the chamber end. My personal way to attempt to prove a barrel custom is to get the standard dimensions for the make and contour of the supposed custom barrel. The chamber end specs of a Shilen as compared to a Dougles are very different as to just where the taper starts and can be used to id the barrel. Other then that it gets very tough........
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  • Ambrose
    Many gunsmiths marked the barrels they installed with their own names. I have a heavy barreled .220 Swift that I bought, used, in the late 50's (my first center fire rifle!) that is marked "barreled by I. O. Stone". I supposed he may have produced the barrel but, more likely, it came to him as a blank. I didn't get the rifle from him but from a gunsmith near where I lived.

    By the way, has any one heard of I. O. Stone? This rifle is set up on a 1939 German Mauser action with double set triggers, a heavy wide fore-end walnut stock, and came with scope mount blocks for the externally adjusted target scopes (Lyman target-spot, etc) of that day (scope didn't come with it). I think it may have been meant to be used as a bench-rest rifle. A rifle like that would not be competitive now, but in the 50's, most of the bench-rest rifles were of this type. I often wondered who I. O. Stone was and whether he was connected to the bench-rest game.
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