A: There have been many praises of this surface hardening treatment applied to rifle barrels in relation to extended barrel life, easier cleaning, non existent copper fouling. However there are some concerns that must be understood if you move forward with this. The temperature that the steel is brought up to during this process is within the range that can remove the temper from the steel if not properly finished potentially causing the steel to become dangerous and not contain the pressures your cartridge will produce. Any heat treating process done after the rifling process can lead to bore and groove dimensions and uniformity being changed. Also, the salt bath nitriding process produces a very hard surface finish. If the barrel IS NOT broken in prior to this process being done, it will never properly break in. If the barrel IS broken in there could be traces of copper left in the bore (even in the pores of the steel) and will react with the nitriding process in the form of pits or corrosion in the barrel where it reacted to the copper. The person or company you choose to do this operation must be aware of these items and would assume responsibility for what happens to your barrel as all of these operations and procedures are out of the control of Krieger Barrels, Inc.

For the reasons stated above, the answer to this question is no.

Q: My semi-auto rifle is denting/scratching my brass. What is wrong with my barrel?

 A: In a few words, Nothing, it is an autoloader and it will mark your brass & bullets. We have had several calls from people asking this question with M14/M1-A, M1 Garand, AR-15 and AR-10/DPMS platform rifles. Every single semi-auto that we personally own marks the brass and bullets to some degree, and no two are exactly the same. To quote a respected shooter and author...

"The M14, like many military semiautomatic rifles, is very hard on brass. Let us examine what happens to a cartridge during function of the rifle. As the bolt comes forward, the cartridge is stripped from the steel magazine lips, occasionally scoring the length of the brass. It is driven into the (steel) chamber, which can dent or bend the brass. Upon firing, the brass expands against the chamber wall and against the closed bolt. The case is then pulled out of the chamber, while still quite hot. The extractor and bolt try to twist the head off of the cartridge case while the body is still adhering to the chamber wall. It is dented while thrown against the moving operating rod hump at great speed. Finally the spent brass lands in the weeds, or the only mud puddle on the firing line. And you want to reload this piece of abused brass?"

The M14 Owners Guide, P.106, Author, Scott A. Duff

In addition to the above description, the loaded cartridge also is forced across and up feed ramps cut into the barrel, changing direction only once the bullet tip is forced into the top of the chamber. Once it is fired, the case mouth can also take a beating when it hit's the front receiver ring, barrel extension and/or a scope base if installed, further denting your brass.

Although the sequence of operations may be different on an AR based rifle, the result is the same. Brass gets beat up in a semi-auto rifle. It is often stated by many sources, that brass fired through a semi-auto should only be reloaded 3 times, then toss it. The abusive forces that the rifle applies to the brass, then re-sizing and re-shaping the brass, then re-fire forming concave dents out of the brass when fired again rapidly work hardens the brass and shortens it's life dramatically. If long brass life and pristine condition brass is what your goal is, you shouldn't choose this type of rifle to do your shooting.

Q: When will my barrel ship? (this is a long one, please read it through)

A: Delivery times vary throughout the year and can be dependant on what you are looking for. The "Estimated Delivery" date on your order confirmation is just that, an Estimate of when we expect the barrel to get to our shipping department. If the barrel is not paid for in advance, or your credit card does not go through at the time of shipping, this will increase this date by the amount of time it takes to resolve payment. Furthermore, the Estimated Delivery date is NOT an exact date, or a "promise of shipment" on this date. This date is generally selected the week you order your barrel based on current production times and current backlog. If we get a surge of orders during the time that your barrel is being manufactured, or job batches within the shop are rescheduled, this time frame will increase. We have a finite number of employees and hours in the day and we will not rush production or sacrifice quality on our barrels to meet a date. Because of the volume of work that we have, we cannot promise an exact shipping date for your order, nor will we be responsible for the additional cost of next day, second day, or other expedited shipping costs. If your barrel is ready to ship on a tuesday and you 'need' it before the weekend, you would be responsible for any additional expedited shipping costs that we would be happy to quote for you.

PLEASE plan your projects with enough lead time to allow the component manufacturers and gunsmith plenty of time to complete your project and leave YOU enough time to break the rifle in, work up loads, and be confident with your rifle before it's first match or a planned hunt. Nothing done in a rush turns out well or as planned.

Semi Auto rifle barrels: We try to keep rifled (but unchambered) gas gun barrels (AR-15, M14, M1 Garand, M110) in inventory in standard twist rates. Sometimes that is hard to acomplish as we can under-anticipate what the public will order and we do not make enough for inventory. If we have in stock what you need, it takes about 4 weeks to get one through chambering and crowning and to the shipping department.

Bolt gun blanks: These are a bit tougher to stock. Due to the vast combinations of caliber, twist, contour, material, etc. we simply cannot make for inventory what everyone wants for bolt gun blanks. These are made when a customer orders them on a custom basis, as well as barrels for AR-10/DPMS-LR series of rifles.

If you are in a rush for a barrel, you can check our online inventory (updated weekly) or simply check with one of our distributors listed on our links page. They may have just the barrel you are looking for and you could get it in days instead of months.

A: Depending on the nature of the problem we ask that the customer take some steps before calling. First, if this is an accuracy issue try changing to a known good scope, tighten mounts, rings, insure stock bedding is proper, action screws are properly torqued, try different bullets/loads/seating depth etc. If all of this is checked and tried, then have the gunsmith that performed the work on the rifle, or another gunsmith check that work. Many times an accuracy issue is the result of a poor crown or a chamber that is not straight, or simply an ammunition issue (see the "Proper Reloading Practices" page of our website). If all of this has been checked and found to be proper then you are more than welcome to send the barrels to us for inspection. We do require that if you send a barrel back to us that you supply the original serial number that was on the barrel when it shipped. If you did not directly order th barrel, your gunsmith should have recorded this serial number. We cannot perform any work or warranty/return service on a barrel that we do not know is ours. The unique serial number that we mark every barrel that leaves this facility is the only way to know for sure that it is our barrel.

If your barrel is a Criterion Barrel, it should be marked CBI. Krieger Barrels, Inc. does not perform any warranty or service work on Criterion Barrels. You will have to call them directly.

Q: What are the advantages of 5-R style rifling?

A: This is a tough one. There have been many reports and opinions on an "improvement" by using 5-R style rifling vs. conventional rifling. Many of these reports are of increased bullet speed, better gas seal on the bullet, less copper fouling/easier cleaning, etc. These are issues that are not prevelant with our traditional rifling style, so we really expect no improvement with our 5-R barrels. Our 5-R barrels are made with the same bore and groove dimensional tolerances and uniformity as our conventional record setting rifled barrels, so there certainly should not be a disadvantage. We offer the true Obermeyer style 5-R rifling in select calibers for shooters that feel there is an advantage to this style of rifling, you can be the judge.

Q: What type of rifling process does Krieger Barrels use?

A: We use the single-point cut-rifling method only. Please note that some barrel makers advertise that they do cut rifling but are actually doing broach cutting. Broach cutting is a form of cut rifling, but the two methods are completely different. Please see page two of our catalog or the "Barrel Making & Steel" section of our website for a better description of the single-point cut-rifling method. Krieger barrels does not make button rifled barrels, nor do we chrome line our barrels.

Q: Why is there some confusion that we might do button rifling?

A: In 1999, another barrel company was started under our roof, Criterion Barrels, that manufactures button rifled barrels for the O.E.M. market. These barrels are not directly for sale by Krieger Barrels. Depending on what you are looking for, are available through distributors that can be found on www.criterionbarrels.com. Recently there have been some magazine articles written regarding this company which has caused some confusion. Be assured that when you order a Krieger Barrel, you are getting a precision single-point cut-rifled Krieger Barrel.

If you are a distributor looking to purchase Criterion barrels in quantity, please call them at 262-628-8749 and you will be in touch with them directly. Krieger Barrels cannot answer any questions about Criterion Barrels products, procedures, tolerances, or quality of work.

Q: Should our Barrels be Fire Lapped?

A: No. Due to our process of Manufacturing we Pre-Lap them before Rifling and finish lap them after rifling. This gives a very smooth and uniform finish. Fire lapping it will not make the Barrel any Smoother.

Note: If you fire lap one of our Barrels, All warranties will be void.

Q: Is there any advantage to a single-point cut-rifled barrel vs. other manufacturing methods?

A:We feel there are several: