Who makes the best 1911 barrel?

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Or one that you can actually get and not wait 8 months for Thanks, Eric

[midvalleyshooter]

Wow a post started in 2007 getting plenty of action:) I had an old 1911 with a Kart barrel that shot pretty well.

Keith

[jjanglin]

Like is said in a earlier post, I use storm lake machine, they are a quality product and I buy them severalat a time

and I pass thissaving onto my customers.

You cantake a lot of the factory barrels and weld them up and fit them right and they will shootas good as most folks

can.

Its the fit that makes a barrel the best one.

Ive got a Para LDA that I welded up the hood and the feet and fit it up and it will shoot 3 inch groups off hand at 30-40 yards

all day, Lt. Col Roger Sherman owns this gun, he is an Air Force team Shooter.

Jim/Pa

Sailors

[superdude]

some years back, Charles Petty did the best accuracy test (American Handgunner Sept./Oct. 1998) of 1911 45 ACP barrels. he tested the barrels, without the gun! he used a special apparatus that held the barrel itself, thereby eliminating the potentially confounding variable of how well the barrel was fit to a particular gun.

he tested at 50 yards and fired five 10 shot groups. the best average group size was 1.36 inches. the worst average group size was 1.99 inches. thirteen (13) barrels were tested. now, before i tell you how barrels ranked, realize that the extreme spread between the best barrel and worst barrel was a mere .63 inches - at 50 yards!!

the barrels tested were a variety of brands. one barrel was a (unused) GI High Standard barrel from WWII.

ammo was Federal 185 FMJ Match (GM45B), Lot # 38F196V023.

the results?? listed from best to worst (average group size in inches):

Kart (1.36);

Wilson Combat (1.42);

Federal Test barrel (1.48);

Bar-Sto (1.56);

High Standard (1.57);

Colt National Match (1.62);

Ed Brown #1 (1.64);

Briley #2 (1.64);

Ed Brown #2 (1.80);

Kimber (1.82);

Chip McCormick (1.82);

Colt 1991A1 (1.86);

Briley #1 (1.99).

Yes, i know, Briley #2 is listed before Briley #1. I'm just listing them as they are listed in the article.

the concensus is that what matters is how well the barrel is fit to the gun, and this data supports this idea.

on a more personal note, all the Kart 45 barrels i've fit to a gun shoot superbly. but the data in Charles's test suggest little difference between barrels.

Charles did note that the manufacturing method might have an influence on accuracy. Barrels made with a broach cut method tended to be higher in the list than other methods, like ECM.

[JThompson]

As I said....

JT

[benos]

The most accurate centerfire barrel I ever had was a 40 cal. Briley, fitted with their spherical bushing. (I know the spherical bushing is not a good idea, reliability wise, but mine never broke.) I could shoot 10 shot groups at 50 into one and a half inches (off sandbags), all day long.

I also had some tack driving Barsto's, back in the day, in 45.

But like has been pointed out, it's all in the fitting.

be

[BlueOvalBruin]

I could shoot 10 shot groups at 50 into one and a half inches (off sandbags), all day long.

Did you ever have a barrel that only shot well for half a day?

[blaster113]

so much quality barrel makers in the poll. I think a decent quality barrel fitted well will outshoot a sloppily fit top of the line barrel every time. That said I voted for Schuemann; I'm extremely happy with the one in my Open gun. Also had a Bar Sto fitted to a Para P14 that was an absolute tack driver as well too. The factory STI bull barrels in my two Limited guns have been accurate enough, sub 2" groups fired offhand at 25 yards with my contact lens wearing, astigmatism effected and surgically enhanced eyeballs .

Edited July 20, 2011 by blaster113

[Hampi1961]

Thanks guys, very much appreciated.

It seems that everybody made / makes his own experiences with barrels and fitting and looks quite happy.

I also had good results with a Schuemann barrel in my .40. But after 25'000 rounds the barrel had to be replaced.

The inside of the barrel looks like a polygon and out of 5 rounds, only 4 were on the target (shotgun precision !)

My old STI barrel lasted about 95'000 rounds !

As I mentioned no problems with the FMJ's, but even with good quality CP's, the target looks well penetrated (20% are

not even on the target !)......shit happens.........

Thanks again

[benos]

I could shoot 10 shot groups at 50 into one and a half inches (off sandbags), all day long.

Did you ever have a barrel that only shot well for half a day?

Yea, but I sold all those.

[aussieSVlover]

I have a Lissner barrel in my safe. Waiting. Single point cut rifled....Probably the nicest barrel ever. Out of production.

I have Lissner barrels in three guns and "old Nowlin" in another. The Lissners are consistently accurate and shoot pretty well any bullet.

They are excellent with lead and jacketed alike - but have been out of production for about 4 years.

Tony Lissner gave me a photocopy of a Lissner test target about 10 years ago - six shots at 50 metres into a group a little over 0.3" centre to centre. The barrel was locked into a special firing fixture and was not in a gun. Very impressive to say the least.

The Nowlin is accurate and never seems to foul.

Does anyone know who makes STI barrels ??

These barrels are now in production again and are marketed as Holland Precision Barrels.

[BlueOvalBruin]

Are they available stateside?

[Braxton1]

This may have changed in recent years, but I know that Kart made the barrels for Les Baer Custom and Storm Lake made all of Wilson Combat's barrels. Of course, they were branded as Baers and Wilsons, but they were actually made by others.

Given the amount of work required to build a barrel, I would suspect that there's actually a lot of this going on. Let the specialists specialize....

[CSEMARTIN]

Les Baer uses Kart barrels. (I am 99.9% sure that is an accurate statement)

I asked Doug Koenig several years ago who made the most accurate .45 barrel. He's done a lot of testing with a fixture Cominolli made and the Kart barrel is the most accurate .45 ACP barrel.

[2alpha]

Wow a lot of people have inside information on who makes peoples barrels. Given that fit is the most important factor I have noticed that good gunsmiths have their favorites, it would seem to be smart to let them pick what they like.

The only really "bad" barrels I've had were two Briley 38 supers in a row that the bore was so off center you could see it from two feet away. They looked very nice inside though. They made them good but I can't figure out how that could even happen.

[RangerTrace]

I've had excellent results with my Infinity barrels. They've done a lot of testing to get the best accuracy possible with a large variety of bullets.

[JakeMartens]

Like is said in a earlier post, I use storm lake machine, they are a quality product and I buy them severalat a time

and I pass thissaving onto my customers.

You cantake a lot of the factory barrels and weld them up and fit them right and they will shootas good as most folks

can.

Its the fit that makes a barrel the best one.

Ive got a Para LDA that I welded up the hood and the feet and fit it up and it will shoot 3 inch groups off hand at 30-40 yards

all day, Lt. Col Roger Sherman owns this gun, he is an Air Force team Shooter.

Jim/Pa

Sailors

I know that the .40s&w limited you built me with a Storm Lake Barrel is very accurate, and feeds factory or reloads out to 1.22-1.23oal, and I can go from a 165gr fmj to a 185gr moly and the point of impact is pretty much the exact same.

[tavman]

The smith who does most of the work on all my 1911's prefers the Kart for .45.

[Smokecloud]

Kart used to be the standard for the military pistol teams years ago because of their consistancy and accuracy. When I researched this issue out a couple a years ago, I pretty much came to the conclusion that if I wanted a carbon barrel with a blued finish, then Kart was the only way to go, but since I wanted a Stainless barrel, Bar-Sto was my 1st choice after talking to several reputable smiths, and I managed to find one for sale on a reputable builders (Brazos) shelf (40sw bull for 2011), so no 8 month wait. Bruce Gray fit my barrel and fit my slide to frame on my gun and I couldnt be happier. I also came across several opinions about karts shooting lead more accurately than jacketed and the reverse for Bar-Sto because of the depth of the lands and groves, but that was less of a concern for me since I shoot a mixture of everything and both were more than acceptable for accuracy with either.

[kl7883]

based on my own personal experience's,it is between kart and schuemann.i find the kart to be as accurate as the schuemann...however i do find that the schuemann aet barreled guns are easier for me to shoot more accurately.there seems to be considerably less recoil with the schuemann aet barrels.in my ipda guns,i run aet barrels for this very reason.just my .02 worth.

[RangerTrace]

I've had excellent results with my Infinity barrels. They've done a lot of testing to get the best accuracy possible with a large variety of bullets.

I think Akai custom has been having great results with Infinity barrels too......

[BlueOvalBruin]

based on my own personal experience's,it is between kart and schuemann.i find the kart to be as accurate as the schuemann...however i do find that the schuemann aet barreled guns are easier for me to shoot more accurately.there seems to be considerably less recoil with the schuemann aet barrels.in my ipda guns,i run aet barrels for this very reason.just my .02 worth.

Do they chrono the same? The aet barrels run slow, you might just be feeling the PF difference.

[Shay1911]

I've had excellent results with my Infinity barrels. They've done a lot of testing to get the best accuracy possible with a large variety of bullets.

I think Akai custom has been having great results with Infinity barrels too......

Absolutely. Frankly, haven't built a 45 with an SVI barrel in it quite yet, but the guns I have built (9mm, 38SC, 40S&W), have been amazingly accurate.

SVI has beefed up the barrel in all the right places. First, to prevent breakages, and second, they added material so the gunsmith can get a much more accurate fit into the gun. Yes, they take longer to fit, but the end result is a much more accurate gun.

[kl7883]

based on my own personal experience's,it is between kart and schuemann.i find the kart to be as accurate as the schuemann...however i do find that the schuemann aet barreled guns are easier for me to shoot more accurately.there seems to be considerably less recoil with the schuemann aet barrels.in my ipda guns,i run aet barrels for this very reason.just my .02 worth.

Do they chrono the same? The aet barrels run slow, you might just be feeling the PF difference.

no,i unfortunantly havnt chrono'd them yet.that is a good possiblity.i think that is something i will look into....i have 5 or so with the kart and 7 or so with the schuemann aet.i do also have a 2 or 3 with the svi barrels...time to do some chrono work.

[BlueOvalBruin]

based on my own personal experience's,it is between kart and schuemann.i find the kart to be as accurate as the schuemann...however i do find that the schuemann aet barreled guns are easier for me to shoot more accurately.there seems to be considerably less recoil with the schuemann aet barrels.in my ipda guns,i run aet barrels for this very reason.just my .02 worth.

Do they chrono the same? The aet barrels run slow, you might just be feeling the PF difference.

no,i unfortunantly havnt chrono'd them yet.that is a good possiblity.i think that is something i will look into....i have 5 or so with the kart and 7 or so with the schuemann aet.i do also have a 2 or 3 with the svi barrels...time to do some chrono work.

Keep us posted when you get some data. I'm curious to see what the speed difference is between Kart and Schuemann.

Thanks.