Criterion barrels

[Tomme boy]

Anyone had a chance at using one of these? Last Savage barrel I had was a Shilen select match. Krieger owns Criterion. It is their button rifled barrel division.

Thinking of getting a 223 in 8 tw for my Axis. It shots ok now but it can be finicky with what it likes. It shoots pretty much everything around 1.25" But really likes the 60gr vmax at under a 1/2".

 

[MW65]

Have several friends using criterion barrels for service rifle/cmp matches... very good reputation.

 

[Dimner]

My garand with criterion barrel is  excellent I'm shocked how well i can keep everything in the 9/10 ring on the bench. I'd not hesitate to try another one.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Always herd a d read good things.

 

[Snakeoil]

Yup, a few guys at Wilton are shooting 03's out to 500 yds with Criterion barrels. They are a fine choice from what I've seen.

As for button rifling, I talked to Jim Hart about button versus cut. He said he will find inclusions in barrel when he button rifles them, but a cut rifled barrel will not. They also require less finishing when done since a lot of the tool marks from the drilling and reaming process get ironed out. I also like to think that the grain structure is more dense due to the swaging process. That has to translate into less attraction to fouling. But that's just me thinkin' out loud here.

 

[L Ross]

I'll ask Charlie about Criterion barrels, he and Krieger are friends. It'll be an hour forty five minute phone call for sure.

 

[L Ross]

I was wrong, the consult about Criterion barrels resulted in phone call #1 which lasted about 45 minutes, then a call back from Charlie for another half hour which he cut short because I was driving. Fascinating stuff.

Without belaboring the history, the connections between Krieger and Dahlke and scraping and leveling of WWI and WWII Pratt and Whitney rifling machines, I can say that Charlie thinks very highly of Criterion barrels and believes they are among the very best button rifled extant. Reamed then lapped, rifled and lapped again if I understood correctly. Stress relieved at appropriate intervals and typically shoot nearly as well as the cut rifled and lapped barrels at a lower price point.

Charlie told me that Criterion does not offer blanks for custom fitting and chambering. He also told me that the hard chroming process for barrels such as for AR's has been perfected to match grade status. There is no break in procedure for the chrome lined barrels and he said you'd go broke with ammo costs long before you'd ever see appreciable wear in one of the chrome lined barrels.

Whew, I shoulda took notes.

 

[johnnyjr]

Anyone had a chance at using one of these? Last Savage barrel I had was a Shilen select match. Krieger owns Criterion. It is their button rifled barrel division.

Thinking of getting a 223 in 8 tw for my Axis. It shots ok now but it can be finicky with what it likes. It shoots pretty much everything around 1.25" But really likes the 60gr vmax at under a 1/2".

I had one of those in 223, Only I got the 7 twist for 69 gr,sierra match kings. It shot great at 300.

 

[JustJim]

I shot a Krag with Criterion barrel for a while. It did very well with cast bullets. It had a definite preference for heavy (>160gr) bullets, but with the right bullet it was more accurate than any issue barrel I've ever tried.

 

[Bret4207]

I think Bruce Drake bought one, maybe he'll chime in.