TargetTalk

Hey guys. I understand having a selected barrel would be preferable over a run of the mill one. But on what grounds would a barrel be selected on? Closest to perfect tolerances etc? Then when one orders a barreled action with a selected barrel how do you know what you receive is in fact a cut above? Do you get some extra certification from the factory rather than just their word?

I believe the theory is that it performs better with a wider range of the ammunition tested in it, the idea being that it'll be less fussy, rather than necessarily particularly good. I have a selected Anschutz 1913, and it came with the main test group in the instruction manual, but also with several other sheets of test groups, to illustrate the point. In batch-testing ammunition with Lapua, it shot very well, but not necessarily better than other non-selected barrels that got very good lots of ammunition.

The question is who selected and how is it selected.

I remember back in the day that Beeman was selling "Select Group" airguns at a premium price. They selected by test results from three shot groups until they got a tight group. What B.S.! If a gun did not shoot well, they tried more groups or pellets.

I would be very leery of anyone offering this "service".

Rover wrote:I would be very leery of anyone offering this "service".

You mean like Anschutz and Walther? While obviously far from the most important thing, it was nice to have a large number of test groups for it to see how well my rifle shot with a variety of ammunition. I'm not saying you need a selected barrel to perform, but neither are the manufacturers. It is what it is, and there's maybe a little peace of mind in it.

I seem to remember reading (or being told) somewhere that, during testing, Anschutz shoot a number of different batches - 4 comes to mind - through the barrel.
The tightest is used for the test group that is sent with the rifle but if the other 3 are also within their spec (what that is I don't know) then the barrel is classed as "selected".

If only 2 other groups are within spec then it's classed a standard barrel and any less than that is deemed not suitable for target shooting...


I have a friend who recently obtained two Walther "selected" barrels - his were evaluated at Eley (I believe) and the criteria was "the percentage of ten shot groups less than 16mm".
His barrels shot 75% and 72% with Tenex. The third barrel wasn't far behind. A 3% difference would imply that at least 30 groups were shot with a variety of batches.

So, if my understanding is correct, a selected barrel should be less fussy about ammunition selection - but there's no real guarantee that it will perform any better than a standard barrel with batch tested ammunition.

Others may know better though...
K.

Thanks for the info chaps its interesting stuff. I think I have a lot more to improve in myself before being able to justify a selected barrel.

Anschutz certainly put a lot more than four batches through my rifle anyway Kenny! From memory, I think there were about a dozen across the sheets.

This is an interesting thread. I'd never heard of a "selected" rifle or barrel. My ignorance never ceases to amaze me.

Perhaps this is getting a little off track here but if I were in the rifle business, I would sell a case(s) of ammo with the rifle. The lot would be the same lot used to create the typically awesome test target included with the rifle.

I'm surprised they do not do this as it would add to their sales dollars and provide a real service for the shooter. As we all know, testing ammo is time consuming and expensive.

Then too, if you aren't happy with the stock barrel get an American made barrel such as a Lilja, Benchmark, Hart or Shilen to name a few. I replaced my Anschutz barrel with a Lilja and the results were quite noticeable. The Lilja wasn't "selected" as far as I know.

It can happen, or certainly used to. A friend of mine bought two Walther KK200s some years back. When the rifles arrived, Walther had included a few thousand (I think 3k) rounds of Lapua Midas batch tested for his primary gun. Nice feature, eh? And no charge as I recall.