Swan barrels

[HighCountry]

Does anybody here have any experience with Swan barrels and their work? Allan sounds like a genuine old school 'smith. I'm looking at rebarreling and refinishing a rough Sako L579 that I am eyeing off from 22-250 to 6.5 Creed'. Going to go for a fluted 22" mid weight profile to make a neat all rounder so I'm mixing a bit of old school with a modern barrel design. It'll be replacing a sporterised '96.

[AZZA'S HJ47]

Myself personally i do not have any experience with Swan Barrels however i do have a friend of mine that has one and talks very highly if his work and barrel. I have had two dealings with Allen and would recomend him without hesitation.

[Mitch]

He did a weatherby from 223 to 6x45 for me.
Stainless 20" fluted tube. Custom profile cost no extra. Rifle consistently shoots 1/2 MOA. Load development was 10 steps at .3gr each step, worst group was 0.96MOA.

Definitely reccomend!

[bigrich]

have heard nothing but good things about allan, i'm going to see him about getting some work done very soon

[Mitch]

I'm quite possibly going to get my 260 rebarrelled by them shortly.

[Tripod]

I have probably 20 rifles done by Allan from .17's to 50cal and he has 4 of mine atm getting done and I am dropping 2 more off this week when I am up there which makes 6 and I will bring at least 3 home with me the following week. Yes you could say I am happy with his work.
I try to make his job easier and avoid possible problems by taking my stock and any other accessories off and leaving them at home.

[marksman]

what are his prices like
and how much are his barrels?

[Tripod]

what are his prices like
and how much are his barrels?

I can't say what his retail prices are as I get trade price but allowing for normal markups he would be the second cheapest in Aus just in front of Sprinter barrels but his barrels are far superior to Sprinter and are all lapped. And there is a member on here who lives close to Sprinter in SA and yet sends his rifles to Allan in QLD.

[Mitch]

They are about to increase the price. Blyed is about 640, staino is about 765. Going up by $30 i believe

[Tripod]

They are about to increase the price. Blyed is about 640, staino is about 765. Going up by $30 i believe

Pretty sure those prices would include chambering and fitting, I will get prices when I see him on Tuesday and put them up here.

[Mitch]

Sorry yea those prices are profiled, chambered and fitted.

Straight fluting is around $165 extra.

[marksman]

they are very good prices even with adding some postage

[gunnnie]

Alan did the metalwork on my Lee Speed 375 Nitro Express flanged. Will be getting him to build a 20-222Rimmed on a Cadet action.

[bigrich]

anybody had any recent experience with alan swan and what sort of wait time did you have for him ?

[bigrich]

i realize the guy is in demand, i have two rifles in his shop, and time seems to be dragging out. just wondering what a normal turn around time is for a gunsmith these days. anyone got any experience or opinions ?

[AZZA'S HJ47]

Couple of weeks ive heard

[bigrich]

it's bin three and a half month wait on a warranty job.Three and a half moths ago i bought a rifle done by alan from a gun shop, it wouldn't feed. two months later, after pushing, it's discovered it was put back together with no feed ramp. i was told 2-3 weeks. it's now bin 6 weeks. GETTING FRUSTRATED........

[Mitch@Ripley]

pretty sure it's a swan barrel on the custom .22 I'm buying off a mate, great work but the barrel was dodgy'd up by another smith when it was shortened!!!

[bigrich]

allan swan barrels are hand lapped MR, and of very good qaulity so i'm told. maybe it can be recrowned by a better qaulified smith ? been asking around, and there is a wait for good smiths who are in demand. have heard enough stories to say be careful , there are a few dodgie ones out there

[Mitch]

Bigrich,
If you have issues have you contacted them? I would expect a 4 weekish turn around before contacting. Bringing it up on forums rarely achieves much, better handled in private IMO

[bigrich]

yeh, your right Mitch. was more looking for other peoples experiences with wait times on the forum. i am a patient person, the guy does good work, but the wait is killing me.i have contacted him previously, politely, but it has dragged out. as per my earlier post, all the good smith's are very busy. did contact him the other day, was appologised to for the delay and my rifles will be ready real soon. crisis over....

[Gwion]

i realize the guy is in demand, i have two rifles in his shop, and time seems to be dragging out. just wondering what a normal turn around time is for a gunsmith these days. anyone got any experience or opinions ?

My smuth always gets my stuff back with in a week or two. The rifles he's done shoot very well.

[bigrich]

good to hear you get quick turn around and good qaulity Gwion. around brisbane there don't seem to be too many smiths . especially ones that are old school craftsman that can handle everything. before i settled on swan barrels to do my work i rang around. one guy told me up front he had that much work to ring him back in six months

[Mitch]

yeh, your right Mitch. was more looking for other peoples experiences with wait times on the forum. i am a patient person, the guy does good work, but the wait is killing me.i have contacted him previously, politely, but it has dragged out. as per my earlier post, all the good smith's are very busy. did contact him the other day, was appologised to for the delay and my rifles will be ready real soon. crisis over....

Sounds like a good outcome mate

[bigrich]

when i get my rifles back i'll run in the barrel's and post some groups. i already know my heavy barreled 22 hornet is a tack driver.

[bigrich]

krico 22-250

SAM_0592.JPG (841.86 KiB) Viewed 17190 times

well fellas, i picked up my allan swan barrel equiped Krico's during the week and ran them in this arvo at ripley. 22-250 krico 600 did well. was shooting tikka 55 gr sp's . the following groups are after about 30 rounds at 100. the wind was gusting a bit, not olympic match winning , but i'm happy

[bigrich]

didn't do so well with my 22 hornet krico. i put it down to a fresh barrel,wind and crap remington ammo. good excuse to start handloading methinks. will get this sorted so it is at it's best and post some better groups. big thumbs up for swan barrels but

[Stix]

The results from that hornet are a disappointment to say the least...
No point persuing that rubbish mate...may as well bag her up n ship her over here cobber...you know im happy to help ya out that way bud.

And i like the look of the 22-250 chambered krico--thats pretty...!!
Feel free to chuck her in the bubble wrap with the hornet too...!!

Whats the trigger feel like on those & how heavy...?

[bigrich]

hey stix, yeh the hornet groups were a bit eratic, marginally better than my weihrauch 22 mag on the same day with similar wind speeds. was sighting in with PPU, from previous shoots this was more accurate, but really fouls the bore up quicker. very good brass i'm told but. will go back to PPU and try some hornady and see how she goes. something that is a little confusing, is the rem ammo is supposed to be quicker than PPU but impact point dropped by 6" at 100. any ideas ? dunno about pull weights but the krico 600 22-250 has a fully adjustable "match" trigger and it's awsome. gunsmiths remarked on trigger qaulity so you know it's not ordinary. my old hornet rifle is a 400E , these were drilled for scope mounts as well as grooved as they were intended as a comp rifle in europe, so the triggers good. my old mate stoney has shot it, and " trigger like a glass rod breaking" was his discription. both barrels are very fresh and should group tighter with some more rounds as they wear in. i have heard hornets need to be handloaded to give their best anyway.

[bigrich]

here's a shot of the 600's trigger from underneath. three adjustment screws can be seen. on what research i have done online, i've only seen these on krico olympic grade rifles ,military sniper rifles and 22-250's in this model in australia. from what i've seen online, lot's of american sold krico's over a lot of different models came with a twin set trigger like a zkm 465 brno. havent seen any in australia yet. there are five different grades of krico triggers that are easily interchangable between models so i've read. german ingenuity ay ?