Got my bull barrel letter!

[gunlaker]

Just got my bull barrel letter this morning! I think it'll be a long while before I get to another American rifle match, but I'm looking forward to when this thing arrives. It's basically a lighter weight copy of Jimbo Terry's heavy .45-2.6" rifle. Mine is going to be 16lbs instead of 25lbs.

Now I've got to sell a few things to pay for the credit card charge I'm going to get next month

Chris.

[bryany]

Chris, use Canadian money, you'll probably just need to skip lunch twice to pay it off.

Bryan

[gunlaker]

Chris, use Canadian money, you'll probably just need to skip lunch twice to pay it off.

Bryan

I'd be better off paying in toilet paper rolls, but I've used up most of our SHTF supplies . The Canadian dollar is worth around 74 cents right now. It was a little worse a few weeks ago so today's exchange rate is an improvement for me at least.

The sad part is that my local range still has a lot of restrictions. I've driven out to Kamloops to shoot some .40-65 and .45-70 recently, but range is about 3-3.5 hours away.

I did manage to find a bunch of Starline .45-2.6" pretty cheap though. I think it's old stock from when the Canadian dollar was still worth a dollar.

No matter, I'm pretty happy. When I ordered it Lucinda told me it probably wouldn't get built for a very long time but I told her I had lots of Shiloh's to shoot in he mean time. It was a little more than 3 years from order to getting the letter so that's not too bad.

Chris.

[august west]

Three years from order to letter, and now still "a very long time" until it's built? Why? Because of the barrel size?

[gunlaker]

Three years from order to letter, and now still "a very long time" until it's built? Why? Because of the barrel size?

No it was going to be a very long time from when I placed the order. That's just because bull barrels are only run infrequently, and I'm sure that the development of the 1877 pushed things back a bit. Once production starts the rifle likely won't take any longer than any other rifle. The fastest rifle I ever ordered from Shiloh took just over a year. It was a 14lb bull barrel and I happened to place the order when the run was announced.

Chris.

[august west]

Gotcha. Ordered my Hunter's Rifle 3 mos ago and was told about 17 months. I was a little worried. It would be cool if they gave a little heads up like "we're running bull barrels now" or "we're doing round barrels - if you change your order to a round barrel we can start it now instead of (whenever)." Might not work logistically though.

[gunlaker]

They used to post here just before doing a run, but probably because we were always bugging them about it. I knew it'd be soon because a while back Kirk posted about the round barrel guns and mentioned that the bull barrel guns would be next.

The bull barreled rifles are really a pleasure to shoot, particularly when chambered for the longer .45 cases. My 14lb #3 in .45-2-7/8" is just as pleasant to shoot as my Long Range Express, .45-70 with a 34" heavy barrel.

I'm actually surprised that there never was a standard barrel option aimed at those of us who want full weight BPTR rifles. My 14lb #3 would just make the NRA 15lb limit but the stock design isn't ideal for long range. This new one will likely never be used in an NRA match. If I ever get it south of the border it'll be for one of Robert's BPTRA Creedmoor or Money matches. I like the Money match more than any other.

Chris.

[august west]

I agree - I wish there was a standard "Camp Gun" offering - a 30" 14 lb rifle with barrel sights and a standard shotgun butt without pistol grip. 45-70, 90, or 44-77. The standard plains hunting rifle. Bring it out at $1999 and drink the Italians' milk shake.

[MSalyards]

Sporter #3 $1949.00

[gunlaker]

I suspect that there are very few Shiloh owners that would consider an Italian copy even at 1/2 the price

I shoot Shiloh rifles for the same reason that many others do, they are the best. I am happy that they don't try to cut corners to compete purely on price.

Chris.