Douglas Barrels

[nashlaw]

I just took a 700 Remington in .308 for its first range trip. UPS dropped it off a few days ago and I finally got it bedded and scoped. It has a #7 Douglas XX air gauged tube on it.

Murphy rode shotgun to the range and in my rush to get out of the house, I put the bolt stop in, but used a Shilen trigger that I had not installed the release on. Needless to say, I could not boresite my rifle and took a few rounds to get it on target at 100yds. The first group for my load of 44.0g R15 and 168g AMaxes hit was about .60" with 4 shots making one big hole. I got the one-hole-jitters and opened it up with the fourth shot.

The next two groups went downhill. I had about 20 rounds down the tube by the time I went to the second group and the copper fouling was putting me out of the target shooting business. Since I could not remove the bolt, not only could I not boresite my rifle, but I could not do a clean-and-shoot breakin.

Just thought I would put that out and see what your experiences were with Douglas barrels and fouling. As a note, I have a CM barrel of theirs that shoots like a house afire(.5moa with proper feeding), but I had a heck of a time breaking it in.

Be well,

David

 

[ball3006]

You don't need to bore sight your rifle when installing a new scope. Just put the target at 15 yards and shoot it to see where the bullet goes, then adjust accordingly. Azmuth is the most important adjustment at this range. Then adjust the elevation. Move the target to 50 yards and repeat. Elevation should be your only adjustment this time. Then move to 100 yards and repeat. I see alot of guys blasting away with a new rifle at 100 yards and never printing on paper because they have no clue where the rifle is shooting.

In your case, I doubt if copper fouling is an issue with so few rounds being shot. Did you buy this rifle used? Maybe that is why the former owner sold it.....chris3

 

[Slamfire]

I have shot out a number of Douglas barrels and they were all good. Never had excessive bore fouling. It is either the bullets or the chambering job. Maybe the throat is rough.

 

[StrawHat]

Or maybe the rifle needs to settle in a bit. From what I read, you have fired maybe 50 or 60 shots. Seems a bit quick to go condemming a barrel or any other piece of equipment.

I have used Douglas barrels on a variety of rifles, both muzzleloding and cartridge. They have all performed well and many have been used in competition.

 

[451 Detonics]

I know many say the Tubbs final Finish System is bs and putting abrasives down your barrel is folly but I do this with every new barrel and even used it in my older barrels and have noted both better accuracy and way less copper fouling. Read the articles and decide for yourself but bear in mind the records the developer of the system holds.

http://www.davidtubb.com/final-finish-tms

http://www.davidtubb.com/davidtubb/content/templates/common/pdfs/break_in_article_new.pdf

 

[Gordon]

I used to use JB bore lap to clean my Douglas air guaged new barrels after every few shots. By 100 shots they fouled very little. Only super premium makers lap the bore after manufacture and even those need some lapping during break in.

 

[sage5907]

I've had three of the Douglas premium air guaged barrels and all have shot great. Less than 1/2 minute of angle. The last one I had installed was by Champlin Firearms in Enid, Oklahoma. The gunsmith told me to shoot 5 rounds then clean the barrel and during the cleaning process pull a brass brush through the barrel from front to rear 5 times. Repeat this process 5 times (a total of 25 rounds) before going to my standard method of cleaning which is cleaning after each shooting session. I did what he said and it has performed as expected. BW

 

[30Cal]

The one on my M1A would run a for at least a good 200rds--I always ended up cleaning it before it went sour.

 

[browningguy]

The Douglas air gauged barrels are generally pretty decent for a mass produced barrel, but you should not expect the finish to be like a lapped Lothar Walther/Shilen etc. I've got a Douglas on my custom .275 Rigby and it shoots fine for a hunting rifle, but it doesn't shoot as clean as the LW on my .243.

 

[jaysouth]

Do a search for breaking in new barrels. You fired too many rounds without cleaning.

 

[helotaxi]

Do a search for breaking in new barrels. You fired too many rounds without cleaning.

What's "needed" for break-in varies greatly between barrels. Without seeing what it's doing, it's impossible to know what the issue is.

Depending on who you ask, some very knowledgeable people (both experienced and incredible competitive shooters and barrel makers) will tell you that barrel break-in isn't needed at all and that you're more likely to damage the barrel cleaning excessively during the whole shoot one and clean routine than you are to actually realize any benefit.