John in PA wrote on Mar 7^th, 2016 at 12:45pm:



Shiloh has there own foundry now. They are truly lock, stock and barrel. They had a nice video on their web site a while back titled "From Foundry to Finish" that showed the whole process. It was very interesting to watch.

pacecars wrote on Mar 11^th, 2016 at 9:58am:

Last I knew Shiloh only makes their own 40cal & 45cal barrels. Order any other caliber and they will put on someone else's barrel (though I do not know which they use). When I win my new Shiloh at one of the match drawings this summer I'm going to ask for a 44cal Kreiger barrel. 

I'll only be shooting BP in my 38-50 & 32-40 rifles at Chris's Schuetzen matches.

SSShooter,
   When I worked for Shiloh (16 years ending in 2000) we were drilling, reaming, and rifling everything from .30 to .50 in-house. The barrel material was brought in as oversized bar stock (I think in 18' lengths) on a flatbed semi trailer. It was all foundry certified gun barrel quality steel. It was then cut to rough length and went through a series of processes (stress relieving, boring, reaming, rifling, profiled, stress relieved again, etc). The investment in tooling and set-up for each caliber was very large.  I would be shocked to learn they were buying someone else's product. When Wolfe would justify the cost and trouble to his wife Eva, he would say "When you out-source any part of your product, you are no longer the person running your business!". At that time we would occasionally install a customer supplied barrel, but it was as a finished profiled product and was at extra cost. When I left in 2000, this was still the way the Bryan family were operating production.
Tom W.

TDW - 2000 was 16yr ago and things may have changed. Also, Shiloh button-rifles their barrels (40 & 45 cal) these days. Your post reads as if Shiloh may have cut-rifled their barrels while you worked there.  My "knowledge" is based on of info on the Shiloh Sharps Forum. If it is incorrect then neither Kirk nor Lucinda have done anything to correct the info on their own forum. When I spoke to Kirk this past October he confirmed that they were happy to install a customer supplied barrel. If anyone has more current, first-hand knowledge, please feel free to correct.

SSShooter,
    Not sure how my post could be construed to say that they were cut rifling barrels. The shop produced barrels had always been button rifled. When I left, they were pulling the buttons through the finish reamed blanks with a special geared/hydraulic 75 ton broaching machine that Wolfe had modified. The buttons were designed to be pulled through the barrels and had a "wiper" portion at the very end of the rod that would put a mirror finish to the top of the lands. As I pointed out in my first post, They have ALWAYS been willing to install a customer supplied barrel (Wolfe was too). Compared to the monthly number of rifles that were produced with factory barrels, these other barrels were relatively uncommon. When I left, the only way they could use a customer supplied barrel, is if it was finish profiled. Admittedly, it has been 16 years, and another career ago since I worked there, and things may have changed. What I said, was that I would be surprised if they were not still producing their own  .30-.50 cal. barrels, due the the huge investment in cash and knowledge having been already made to do so.
   16 years is a very long time ago, but the things I speak of were based on actual, hands on, physical experiences gained over the time I worked there. I was the Final Assembly department supervisor and the Final Inspector, and for those 16 years, every rifle (some 10,000 +) that left the factory was finish assembled, checked for function, inspected for flaws, checked for customers options, tagged as correct, and signed by me. I'm not sure how that may stack up against "knowledge" gained from a forum, you will have to be the judge of that.
   I stand by what I posted as that was the way it was done when I was there. If Kirk comes home for lunch, I will walk next door and ask him if those processes have changed, and post his answers.
Best wishes
Tom Winters
P.S. If anyone is interested....I just caught Kirk at lunch, and he said they still produce their own .30 to.50 cal barrels, and that nothing in the barrel manufacturing process has changed since I was there. 

I once owned a Shiloh #3 in 45-70 with a 34 inch special order barrel (Shiloh production). Never could get the thing to shoot so I finally pushed a ball through the barrel and discovered the ball hit a point about 3 inches from the muzzle and then just fell out. Tried this from both the muzzle and the breech to be certain the problem was at the muzzle. Called the Bryant's asking to have the barrel cut and the sight re-installed. The old man refused, wanted to sell me a new barrel. Ended up sending it to another gunsmith that cut the barrel for me. He also installed the front sight but that is another story of woe.

These days I only buy/shoot C. Sharps.

SS