I too have not been able to contact them, I had a barrel that was up for a June production but so far I have not received a return call from a VM I left or replies to text messages on status so I am just waiting and hoping  all is well with Gerald.

I have 16 or 17 of their barrels in 22rf and depending on which action, what twist, ammo, conditions, day of lunar cycle, etc. they shoot well.   My best shooter is a Turbo with a RKS barrel, next are probably a couple of Ballards with RKS, followed by a Remington 37 and I can go right on down the list, Winchesters, more Ballards, a couple of rollers, a pair of Hepburns, a Webley, Farrow, a Westley Richards, a Zettler and even a couple of Martini's but running neck and neck my worst shooters with RKS barrels on them is probably a Hepburn and a 1-1/2 roller.  They not terrible, but they're not 1/2 or 1/4 MOA rifles. Don't be surprised if a new barrel doesn't fix your problem, your action screwed on to that barrel is a Hepburn isn't it?  I've shot silhouettes with one of my Hepburns and ended up fairly well but at a 100 or 200 yard Schuetzen targets I can't generate scores much better than a 230 benched, I've been in the mid 240's several times at both distances with a Ballard, Peregrine and a High Wall. 
As for the dollars spent, the last 6 cut rifle RF blanks I've bought this year domestically, run between $450 and $600 depending on the name.  Except for one, the RKS didn't give up any in a performance comparison.
Just a nickle's worth of opinion.
GT

I wouldn’t expect less than 1 MOA groups reliably from any 22 rimfire bench rest from bags outdoors. Some may achieve it at times. 

Machine rest indoors is the test, too many variables otherwise 

Boats

Johnny,
The shortest RKS barrel I have on my 22's goes against what everyone says, 27.5" is my shortest.  The average barrel I cut at 30".  For indoors at 50' my bottle cap gun wears a 30" LH GT 1:16, for my outdoor 50 and 100 yd rifle, a 30" LH GT 1:14, for the 200 - 500 yard it's a 30" LH GT 1:12.  They are all octagon and most are a heavy contour.  I cut my chambers the same, using a Calfee I carbide reamer or a Kevin Nevius reamer and I have made burnishing tools that match the reamers that I finish with.   
I shoot exclusively Lapua CX with one rifle that does a tiny bit better with Polar.  I buy ammo either one or two cases at a time and I've had folks ask what if a lot I buy doesn't work? I work with a barrel until it does or I pick another barrel and make it work.  I have one rifle, a Low Wall that shot most CX well but not like I thought it should.  It shoots very well now with lot that didn't shoot very well in anything.  When I was done with it, the barrel went from 30.5" to 28" due to experiments.  There's a lot of time and energy spent in my shop chasing details, for that I'll never build for anyone else... maybe a grandkid it they learn to truly appreciate it?
Another nickle's worth of deets.
GT

All the Winchester model 52, Remington 37 and so forth had 28 inch barrels and seemed to do quite well, never saw one with a 20 inch tube. I had a very early 52 that would print sub quarter inch groups at 100 yards regularly when the wind was down and I was up. Wish I had kept it as bought from a much older gentleman who held records at that time and told me stories of sharing rides to Camp Perry with John Redfield and Matt Canjar. Also wished I  had recorded some or all of his stories.

Two of my RKS .22 gain twist barrels are 30 inches long. Maybe they can make 1/4 inch groups at 50 yards. I cannot.

I've never shot a good target with Eley. Took a chance and used Eley at Raton. Terrible targets.

1-22? That right there would've raised my eyebrows when accuracy wasn't up to expectations.

I think it was made that way by mistake.  Here is an earlier thread about it:

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I just measured the twist of a RKS .22 gain twist blank as if it were a consistent twist barrel not a gain twist. I checked it twice and it comes out 21 1/2 inches. 
The blank is a 30-16.3 gain twist. 

If JHMs 16.5 gain twist barrel was measured incorrectly, would it measure 22 inches?

26W ? My other RKS blanks are marked in inches  " not W. 

RKS would make a .22 blank with 22 inch twist? Gain twist? And then tell you it's good?

1/4 inch groups from a Hepburn? 

Can't remember exactly but the one thing I am sure of is it was marked RKS  16.5 and .222 because I stamped it underneath the forearm. There was no W or other numbers or anything else. I checked it several times and got 1 in 22 and yes I know how to properly check twist. As I said when I talked with Gerald he said he put it on an action (don't know what kind he didn't say) and shot it. Does it matter what kind of action you use? Is there a difference between a Hepburn or a bolt action? As I said he is sending me another blank and I will fit it up and go from there. Hopefully it will be better. This whole thing has been a debacle from the start.


JMH

JMH,
Yes, the action does matter!  So much of this is about lock time.  There are a lot of other variable that come in to play but the time from when you jerk the trigger until the bullet leaves the barrel is critical to small groups.  Why do you think bolt guns rule?   
A real short, quick drop of the firing pin to ignition.  Besides the ability to get everything precise and square with minimal effort.  Fitment of the action and barrel to chassis or stock all come into play.   I have more than a few high end bolt guns for 22rf.   Given even a marginal barrel, an exceptional means of holding that action (stock or chassis), good glass, good ammo and mechanical means of shooting the assembly the groups from this will run circles around a vintage slow lock time, assembled from a casting stuffed in a piece of wood that applies stresses that only a few take the time to figure out.  There are exceptions to every rule and we see more than a few of them. 
 
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, the Hepburn is one of the actions I'm referring to.  It has a heinous hammer, lots of mass to get going, lots of energy once it gets going.  That energy gets tranferred to the block, to the action, down the barrel, etc.  You don't think this has any effect on accuracy?  Get behind this when you get it back together, shoot a round, then before you eject the fired cartridge, PULL THE HAMMER BACK AGAIN DO THE FOCUS AND SQUEEZE ANOTHER OFF.  Tell me what you see.  It moves around a lot.  The argument is it'll do that same thing everytime all you have to do is manage that... It's a variable that's tough to control.  Try that with a high end bolt gun, a Turbo, Stiller, Vudoo, 40X, Anschutz, even a Martini, not much disturbance, some of these depending on design don't move off the dot.  Given a good bench setup, even with recoil they still don't move off the dot.
GT

marlinguy wrote on Sep 6^th, 2026 at 9:03am:



Exactly. 

I made a fixture and used a degree wheel for setting cam angle.  Measured the change in every inch, plotted points in Excel and it gave me a curve of what the exit twist is.  A lot of hoopla and it's been a while ago.  There's four common types of gain twist configuations and I don't recall exactly what Ron uses but for our game works, a simple linear? 
GT

Thanks Joe.  I understand now.  So before milling mine would have said 28" at the bottom which makes sense because I ordered it to finish at 28". 

Chris.