I ordered a new barrel

[Fjold]

I was out yesterday shooting my Model 11 (Large Shank, Lefty), and I started to see the occasional flyer opening up the groups to 3/4" or so. This gun has a Pac-Nor, Super Match, 3 groove, 1-10" twist barrel chambered in 22-250 Ackley Improved, that has close to 2,000, 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades at 4300+ fps along with about 600, 69 grain SMKs at 3,300 fps so I figured it's about time to order a new barrel.

Here's the gun:

I would have like to have ordered a Shilen from Northridge but they only have 4 groove barrels and I like an odd number of grooves just to reduce the stress on the bullets. An odd number of grooves means that each land is directly opposite a groove so you don't have as much compression across the bullet.

Tonight, I ordered a 26", SS, Pac-Nor Supermatch, 5 groove, 1 - 8" twist, No. 5 contour barrel chambered in 22-250 AI.

 

[ONE-TEN]

Nice! Haven’t used a PacNor barrel. I’ve been a Shilen & Criterion shooter.

 

[Txhillbilly]

Pac-Nor makes a pretty good barrel, I've had a couple over the years. I've had really good luck with X-Caliber barrels. I have a couple 1-7 twist 5R barrels in 22 Creedmoor that are lasers, and also one in 25 Creedmoor that shoots outstanding.

 

[Fjold]

In my match guns, I shoot Krieger and Broughton barrels. The nice thing about Pac-Nor is that you get a quality prefit and chambered barrel in a much more reasonable time. The last two Kriegers that I bought were a 7 month wait just for the blanks.

 

[mattri]

Yeah I ordered a barrel from Northland the other day and was told it would be about 6 months.

Out of curiosity did you look at setting the original barrel back and rechambering? Wonder what the cba on that would be.

 

[SevenFan]

My most recent Shilen via Northland was ~4mos but was also custom thoated.

 

[Fjold]

Yeah I ordered a barrel from Northland the other day and was told it would be about 6 months.

Out of curiosity did you look at setting the original barrel back and rechambering? Wonder what the cba on that would be.

I tried that years ago on a shot out Krieger barrel. I had it set back 0.75" then had the blank re-threaded and chambered with my reamer. It did tighten the groups up, not as well as the barrel shot originally but better than it was.

It only lasted about 400 rounds before it started throwing flyers again. I was limited as to how far I could set it back because of the length of the chamber section of the barrel. If I had a full bull (un-tapered) barrel I could have set it back a couple of inches and maybe that would have worked better. I just don't want to haul a full bull barrel around long enough to wear it out.

 

[CFJunkie]

My full bull Shilens, 26 and 28 inches long, are a load to carry and all the gun cases tip to the barrel end.
In my two Savages model 12 actions mounted in MDT chassis, the two weigh 14.8 and 15.2 lbs.
They shoot great, but they are a load to carry and barely fit in my SUV trunk area.

 

[ONE-TEN]

Yeah, that full Bull is some serious weight. My Criterion from NSS is a 28” in MTU profile. Still heavy, but a not quite bull.

 

[K9TXS]

Let us know how it shoots after you get it up and going!

 

[Fjold]

Well apparently it will be awhile. Pac-Nor just told me that they have a 6 month lead time.

 

[K80skeet]

Well apparently it will be awhile. Pac-Nor just told me that they have a 6 month lead time.

That's the usually the wait time from all the top barrel makers. That's the reason Brono's and Bullet Central order large amounts so they have them in stock for people that want one quicker than 6 months.

 

[kelbro]

I had a Pac-Nor in .260AI that was a great shooting barrel.

 

[Fjold]

I just got word yesterday that my PacNor barrel is expected to be delivered on July 7th, exactly 4 months from my order date.

 

[mattri]

Sweet!

 

[ONE-TEN]

Man o man… these wait times, eh?
Anywhos.. better than the 6mo you thought in post #11.

 

[SevenFan]

I just got word yesterday that my PacNor barrel is expected to be delivered on July 7th, exactly 4 months from my order date.

About the same from Shilen and my X-Caliber IIRC.

 

[Fjold]

Well my barrel didn't make it yet. I thought that you guys might find the UPS tracking from Oregon to Kentucky, interesting. The timeline starts from the bottom.

They don't list when it left Hodgkins IL for Minnesota or when it left Minneapolis to go back to Hodgkins, IL.

UPS - Package History​

07/07/2026 4:03 P.M. Departed from Facility - Hodgkins, IL, United States
07/07/2026 2:58 A.M. Arrived at Facility - Hodgkins, IL, United States
07/06/2026 7:26 P.M. Departed from Facility - Minneapolis, MN, United States

07/03/2026 6:16 P.M. Arrived at Facility - Hodgkins, IL, United States
07/02/2026 1:53 A.M. Departed from Facility - Portland, OR, United States
07/02/2026 1:33 A.M. Arrived at Facility - Portland, OR, United States
07/02/2026 1:04 A.M. Departed from Facility - Portland, OR, United States
07/01/2026 1:04 P.M. Arrived at Facility - Portland, OR, United States
07/01/2026 9:24 A.M. Departed from Facility - Roseburg, OR, United States
06/30/2026 11:39 P.M. Arrived at Facility - Roseburg, OR, United States
06/30/2026 8:24 P.M. Departed from Facility - Crescent City, CA, United States
06/30/2026 8:11 P.M. Arrived at Facility - Crescent City, CA, United States
06/30/2026 7:38 P.M. Departed from Facility - Harbor, OR, United States
06/30/2026 5:10 P.M. Arrived at Facility - Harbor, OR, United States
06/30/2026 12:49 P.M. Shipper created a label, UPS has not received the package yet.

 

[CFJunkie]

You would think that they shipped it with Mickey Mouse Freight, not UPS.
I can't believe UPS doesn't have a truck that goes from the source in Harbor, OR to Portland, OR and then from Portland, OR to Illinois.
I get stuff via FedEX in Iowa to a distribution point in Maryland or Northern VA in two or three days, and then delivered to my home the next day.

NSS shipped my first Shilen barrel to my house on Friday, and it arrived early Tuesday afternoon. But it was in stock.
The second one took just about the same amount of time, also from in stock.
I'm spoiled.

 

[ONE-TEN]

That’s weird. Why does it have all that traveling history, then get shipped BACK to destination? Somethin’ screwy going on there.

 

[CFJunkie]

All I can think of is they damaged the label and had to fix the label at a major hub so it could again be forward to the eventual destination.
But the circular path just to get out of Oregon is fascinating and incredibly wasteful.
Really weird.
But I have had issues with UPS recently. They seem to have really messed up their process. They used to be very efficient.

 

[SevenFan]

I've seen all kinds of weird shipping routes over the past 3 or 4yrs.

One order of brass from Diamond K left AZ, went to HI, then on to Barrigada Guam before returning to HI and the back to this side of the pond where it bounced around in the western US before landing at my door. The really bizarre thing, I spent 6 months on Guam late '79 to early '80 with the team installing the solid state ILS at Anderson, AFB. No on base billeting available so the Comm Squadron put us up at the Barrigada TX site, it was infinitely than billeting!

I've seen ridiculous routing with USPS, UPS, & FedEx just the luck of the draw.

 

[ONE-TEN]

Exactly! Everyone has become SO LAZY in the service industry, ever since the COVI-WOVY HOAX.

 

[Fjold]

Update, I may get it after all.

07/08/2026 4:50 A.M. Processing at UPS Facility Lexington, KY, United States

07/08/2026 1:11 A.M Arrived at Facility Lexington, KY, United States

 

[Casper308]

UPS is also notorious for showing something delivered yet it shows up the next day or never.

 

[Fjold]

Just got delivered to the delivery box at the top of the driveway. I got it home and unwrapped it, it looks correct.

 

[ONE-TEN]

Good deal

 

[DeadEyeDeadly]

US Postal Service also has shipping issues ...

 

[DeadEyeDeadly]

Here's a couple more I Dug-Up ...

 

[kelbro]

Just had a barrel shipped USPS from CA to NC. Somehow the tracking barcode got scraped off and the barrel never showed moving through the system. 3 week later when it had not arrived, the seller refunded my money. Two hours later it showed up!