Thread: Grey Birch 10/22 barrel

Originally Posted by Ultimitsu

Is there a reason you feel uncomfortable post your experience? I mean, this is a forum that is meant for this kind of thing and the public is definitely interested in Grey Birch.

Okay...here goes. I'm reluctant to post publicly as due to COVID restrictions there hasn't been resolution. So I can only report my experience to date. @PaulNZ 's experience prompted me to make a comment as it is new evidence that that there are more than isolated or random issues with this batch of Grey Birch carbon wrapped 10/22 barrels.
-I started by ordering a blemished 12.5" barrel (April/May). Looked almost identical to the one in the report above - crown off centre, chunks of rifling missing from leade area. Thought of getting it recrowned (thread protector was too tight to get off without risking damage) and trying it out but decided that it didn't make sense to use expensive ammo and range time for something that looked so unpromising.
-Returned it and against my better judgement paid the extra for a 16" 'unblemished' barrel, so total spend $529
-Tested the new barrel (it was a surprisingly loose fit in a couple of Ruger receivers). Here's where it gets subjective - I have recently been playing with maybe half a dozen 10/22s,with a combination of factory and aftermarket components eg Green Mountain barrel, Custom Shop Comp. This GB barrel shot worse than any of my plain jane factory sporter 10/22s, tested alongside on the same day. And I totally accept that my shooting results are highly subjective.
-I borescoped it using my Lyman scope. Once again a subjective impression as I didn't take photos. Of the maybe 30 barrels I've borescoped recently this was simply the worst finished internally. Very shallow rifling with transverse and longitudinal tooling marks. Hard to describe, just looked really unusual. I decided it wasn't worth expending more ammo on trying to 'shoot it in' based on the borescope appearance and my initial accuracy test. I didn't go so far as to slug it.
-Sent it back with a covering letter beginning August. Because the issues were subjective and I'm non-confrontational by nature I left it to the retailer to make a decision and suggested that if he thought my criticism was unreasonable he might find a use for the barrel and make a donation to COLFO with the proceeds.
-The new information is that PaulNZ's very thorough report on one of this batch of barrels suggests that my experience is not isolated or random.
-COVID restrictions have contributed to the retailer not having resolved the issue. Without hearing of the experience of the OP in this thread I likely would have just waited for more time to elapse post lockdown eg to have allowed the retailer to range test the barrel. I have every confidence that in time this will be resolved by our local retailer who I believe is also a victim of Grey Birch's very poor quality control, or indeed systemic production problems. To my knowledge they are no longer marketing these barrels and there was very little review or feedback info on the internet when last I searched. Caveat emptor - my very subjective and inexpert personal experience.