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green mtn vs colerain barrels, is one better

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kemart17

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looking for information as to if one of those makers barrels in better then the other.

Thanks
 
Though I have no experience with Colerain. I do own a Green mountain barrel and I'm extremely happy with it. Also I've yet to hear a bad word about Green MTN.
 
I have both, the Colerain and the GM. The differences, that I see.....are..the Colerain has deeper round bottom rifling. This is good for my flintlock, because I only shoot real black powder out of it and it doesn't fowl up as much. On the other hand, my GM barrels, are on cap lock rifles. I shoot Black MZ powder out of these rifles. The reason I use the Black MZ powder, in these rifles, is due to them being small caliber, and there is less fowling.
Both barrels are accurate. I didn't choose them. They were on the rifles, when I bought them.
 
Haven't built a MLer w/ a Green Mountain bbl, but hopefully the exterior is better than the Colerain bbls I've used. The final product is probably the same.....but from a builder's viewpoint, I'll use Rice bbls every time if possible.....Fred
 
The custom guns I have, have Green Mountain, Colerain, Getz, Rice and one Ed Rayl barrel.

They are all very high quality barrels and each one will shoot better than most shooters can.

It's difficult to rate the makers based on the bore or rifling as they are all good but I do like the round bottom rifling a bit better than the square cut rifling.

For builders who want to save a bit of time and energy, the Rice barrels lead the parade.
Their external surfaces are all smoothly finished while the other brands, excluding the "drop in" barrels, are usually are rather rough.
 
I have had them all, super nice barrels, GM, rice, Colerain, but the tops is a ol boy up in the hills of Kentucky, ol Charles has out-shot any that I have cobbled together, custom barrels in a one man shop...you'll wait on it too~ back logged by about a year........but if you look for tha 'one holer' barrels, the custom fellas lapp and choke and make em slick.....

marc n tomtom
 
Rice, Colerain and Green Mountain comprise the variety of barrels on my flinters. I have a percussion with an unknown, but fine, barrel. Another percussion has a Numrich Arms H&A barrel that's spooky accurate. Got one Italian barrel and it's as good as any of the rest.
 
I am a Green Mountain barrel fan and have used a good number of them for .22Rf, Black powder cartridge and muzzle loading.
They are the only ones I know of that use proper barrel steel (1134 or 4140)depending on application, for their barrel production.
Most of the other use 12L14 which in my view is wonderfully machinable but marginally safe for impact stressing from Black powder and would be completely unsafe for cross over smokeless/black powder cartridge loads.
One of my most accurate barrels is a .54 Douglas which I'm sure is 12L14 and have had no issues with it but do keep the ball loads at 90 grains which is the most accurate I have found in the gun.
 
Thanks for posting the information about barrel steels. I learned that a while back, and I'm sure there are a lot of our forum friends who aren't aware of the differences.
In my 40+ yrs of enjoying muzzleloaders with BLACK POWDER ONLY, I've always been led to believe something like: "you can't overload a rifle with Black powder 'cause it will just blow the excess out the end of the barrel in a big flash"...or something like that. I suspect that if it's true..it was based on modern reproduction rifles built with 1134 or 4140 barrel steel.
Fast forward to my recently acquired interest in more historically correct, handmade rifles and low and behold I find folks discussing maximum "safe loads" of BP. Didn't think there was a safe upper limit.That was my ignorance, and I'm pleased to have learned better.
I'm OK with it...and have ZERO interest in screwing around with "Crossover/smokeless" loadings, so the differences aren't an issue.
As an aside:
I used to know a fellow who experimented with mixed loadings of smokeless pistol powder and black powder in muzzleloading BP handguns. He was known as "Spotted Tom" due to the specks of "stuff" he carried in his face from the explosive destruction of a handgun one day.
 
Im with Kaintuck on this issue. Its Burton for me an I aint knocking any of the other makers. I have 3 Rice 1 Colerain an had one Green Mt an hands down no questions asked I will take a Burton every time :thumbsup:
 
For match shooting, I go with a Green Mt barrel and Black MZ. Use round grooves for flintlock BP hunting purposes. Just a matter of taste, but Black MZ is a terrific propellant for match shooting--very consistent, accurate and so clean burning, I don't clean the barrel during a 50 round match.
 
I have rifles with both as well. The one that's better than the other is the one that's "in stock" available for purchase. :wink:

I have a tendency to want a barrel or lock and it takes time to save up the money and then when the money is ready voila the item is out of stock or on back order or discontinued. If it's still available chances are that some sort of household emergency creeps up and the money goes, THEN the item is replenished at the distributors and so on and so on....

So if you find a barrel that will work for your project and its from either you shouldn't "go wrong" by buying it when you can.

LD
 
You will have to define what you mean by "better". All are more accurate than you are likely to be. In other words, unless you are a bench rest shooter or a chunk gun shooter who are looking for one hole groups, you will never be able to tell the difrerence in the accuracy of one barrel over the other. However, if by better, you mean which one has the better rifling or outside finish, you will be hard pressed to find a barrel that is better in those respects than a Colerain or Rice barrel. But, if Green Mountain is one of the choices and you happen to prefer it or can get a better price on it, you won't go wrong in buying it. Today's barrels are all better than most shooters. I have several different barrels and all will shoot better than I can. Pick the one that has the more desired features that you like such as the type of rifling that you want, the twist rate that you want or the best price and you will be happy with your choice. :thumbsup: Having said that, if I were in the market for a new barrel, I'd be buying a Rice barrel because I like the rifling and the finish of the bore (polished) is better than you will find elsewhere. Just my opinion.
 
Nice to find someone, who thinks exactly like I do. Round bottom, in flintlocks, with real black and Black MZ in shallow rifled barrels.

Pack the Black MZ tight and shots accurate, all day. Cleans up easy.

GM and Douglas barrels, are both accurate. I don't have a Rice, but always hearing great things about them.
 
A Ford Chevy Dodge thing. Neither are Caddys or Rolls Royces. I recently saw a NOS H & H barrel sell for $475.00 The bidders did not care whet caliber it was. They wanted Hoppy's style of rifling. Lands about 1/4 th the width of the grooves and round bottom grooves that were shallower in the middle than along the lands. Along with a choke rifle bore. I just did not have the $ at the time. I would have gone higher for another target barrel. I don't think anyone has cut a large radius groove since Hoppy, and before him maybe only Harry Pope. Colerain cuts a small radius groove and the lands are too wide.

The difference on the bench between a Grn Mtn, Colerain and H&H, all other things considered. The H&H would shoot a slightly smaller group. Whether shooting a group that is perhaps only a few millimeters smaller over hundreds of shots is worth the extra effort and money depends on your shooting. For offhand, most will go a lifetime and swear there is no difference. For some serious light bench shooting, there will be a small difference that may be noticed after tracking and comparing 200 shots. With all the other variables that affect black powder shooting, the difference is so minimal that less than 1 in five hundred shooters will know the difference.

For simple ease of cleaning, my preference would be the round bottom rifling.
 
Green Mountain steel in much harder than Colerain. You will find that out when you start to cut dovetails. Also GM in no longer in the business of producing swamped barrels.
 
Don,in my first post I was referring to cartridge guns that can be safely loaded with either smokeless or black if the proper steel is used.
In the next post, that got pulled, I spoke of duplex loading (which should never be tried in any muzzle loading arm).
 
kemart17 said:
looking for information as to if one of those makers barrels in better then the other.

Thanks

More NMLRA records were set with GM barrels.

Reason is simple, lots of shooters all shot T/C rifles with GM barrels. They could afford the rifles and GM barrels, they let a working man to compete on a level playing field.

r
 
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