The best barrel makers all make good barrels. I recall asking the Marine Rifle Team Armorers what barrels they were using, and they had virtually name I had ever heard of on one of their rifles on the firing line. Barrel makers gave them barrels, they assembled rifles, and at the time, their accuracy criteria was 10 shots at 300 yards, I think, a three inch group. A bit fuzzy on the group size.
I talked to Wilson barrels when Wilson match barrel blanks were cheap at $80.00. The rep I talked to said all the magic words about tolerances and barrel finish, I bought a bunch of 30 caliber blanks and they are outstanding barrels. Wilson barrel also come on NM grade Armalite, Rock River, Bushmaster rifles. They are button rifled barrels. Wilson barrels told me they used to furnish cheap barrels to Ruger, at about $7.00 apiece, and I am going to say, the $7.00 Wilson barrel on my vintage 257 Roberts Ruger is horrible. Wont' group worth a hoot. You get what you pay for.
A barrel maker told me that the barrel maker's understanding and control of his processes are more important than anything else. Button rifled barrels and cut rifled barrels, the manufacturing process is different, and they all have different, but critical process than can go wrong. And all producers can and do produce accurate barrels. Buy by reputation and price.
Most of my match rifles have Kreiger barrels, they are outstanding barrels. They are also very tight so be prepared to cut your loads by about 1.5 grains or more, as you will be popping primers on loads developed in button rifle barrels.
Barrel steels are relatively soft, so they can be deep drilled. The metal can vary a lot and erosion is highly variable,. Lee Land the President's 100 winner told me of a barrel he had that the throat erosion increased by one every 88 shots. That barrel eroded out in an abnormal amount of time. I am of the opinion that there is little difference in barrel life between stainless and chrome moly, and that is primarily due to the variability of barrel materials. A steel billet varies considerably in composition. So do the barrels made from steel blanks.
I like stainless barrels. The cost difference between a chrome moly and stainless is a wash when you add in the $70 to blue the chrome moly.
A good quality barrel is very important but so is a good chambering job. If the gunsmith ovals the chamber with his reamer, he has just ruined the barrel.
