Thread: Heads-up on Volquartsen THM 10/22 barrels

A few here will have seen the issues I had with a Grey Birch 10/22 barrel - detailed here: https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-barrel-66079/ Well, in a roundabout way I decided to replace it with one of the Volquartsen 16.5" carbon-fibre sleeved THM barrels that Gun City has in stock. A fair bit more expensive, but hopefully that extra money buys extra quality? Not necessarily.

The first barrel:

Chamber:


Chamber:


Crown (mainly cosmetic):


Breech (cosmetic):


Scratches in the carbon fibre (cosmetic):


Took it back, swapped it for a second barrel.

Chamber offset:


Chamber offset:


The second barrel had the same scratches as the first, though I wouldn't have sent it back for that.

Both barrels had chambers long enough that a loaded round wouldn't touch the rifling. I didn't measure the first, but on the second barrel a SK standard+ bullet would have to jump a full 1.6mm before touching.

The shanks of both barrels were oversize at ~0.927" vs. spec. of 0.920". Enough of a difference that the barrel wouldn't properly seat in the receiver. I know the tenon is oversize by design, but the shank shouldn't be.

I returned the second barrel as well. Gun City gave me a full refund without any drama, so no complaints there. I emailed VQ a couple of times just to let them know but haven't had a response.

I suggested to Gun City that they have someone go through their stock of these barrels with a borescope and cull any bad ones. Hopefully they took my suggestion, but if any more like my 2 are out there then at least you guys know what to look for before committing the cash. Happy to give more details as required.