Maybe I'm too Critical, but I really don't see the point on putting the barrel back into the receiver once the bad threads were discovered! That is Without Recutting new threads first!

Terry 

What caliber is your rifle?

JHolland

Well, I was able to get out to the range with this Ballard today.  The wind conditions were less than optimal, the usual variable winds that are common at our range, these were primarily switching left and right.  I did not try to chase the wind, just held off when it was gusting.  My goal was to try and find a sweet spot on the flat forend.  Joe had identified one 8 inches or so from the muzzle. but it was uncomfortable to shoot that way.  I managed to find a likely location and then began testing 20-1, 25-1 and 30-1 Saeco 200gr bullets and then my Paul Jones spitzer.  The chamber has was reamed to easily hand seat the Saeco bullets while the PG took some force with my stirrup style seater.  The 20-1 seemed to shoot best with 14gr 4227, although the 30-1 was not far behind.  I did not have very many of the PJ bullets, and got my best group with about 13.6 gr.  More testing with that bullet.  Here are the 20-1 and 30-1 groups.  (all at 200 yds).  The PJ put 5 shots in 1 3/4".  All in all, this rifle shoots so much better after Joe throated it.  It does not look like the bad threading job is causing any major issues.

Jack

westerner wrote on Oct 11^th, 2013 at 1:57am:


The peen marks at the shoulder of the barrel is what some call rolling the shoulder. It's a sad fix for when someone takes to much off the shoulder and in this case you have extractor cuts and now the timing is off. So by rolling the shoulder they are trying to bring the timing back. 

The proper way to have fixed that is to have cut the breech end off and start over. The problem there (not for the customer) is that unless the blank is long enough/have extra the barrel will end up shorter than what the customer would've wanted. The smith should've called the customer and said hey this is what happen. Can you use a slightly shorter finish length? If the answer was no then the smith should've paid for the barrel blank out of his pocket and got a new one. 

It almost looks like the thread timing didn't get picked up correctly when the barrel was being threaded and they tried to save it. 

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

I am still digging through my paperwork to see if I got a receipt.  Unfortunately I paid cash.  When Joe sent him the photos he denied that he did it.  I need to reopen the email thread that I have where he indicated that he had been having issues which delayed the project.  It will be interesting to see his reply.

Jack

I have seem some shoddy work done by a well known single shot smith lately. The goal with anyones work should be done in a manor that the next gunsmith who works on it to find the best workmanship possible leaving nothing to critique and the customer will always get the full worth of his money.

JLouis

I was able to do some further testing under better wind conditions the other day.  Westerner's throating and thread locker have certainly made a big difference.  The only downside would be if I ever wanted to switch barrels or sell the rifle.  I could not sell without disclosing the poor threading issue and that the barrel is pretty much glued on.  The thread locker says it takes 500 degrees to loosen.  Here is a 6 shot group.  Number 5 was the flyer.  200 yds, Paul Jones spitzer at 20-1 222 gr and 14gr of 4227.  The rest of the days groups with 3 different bullets and two lubes rarely exceeded 2 inches.  The red dot is 1 inch.  When I got the new barrel installed last fall, I was lucky to shoot 6 inch groups.

Jack