Are TSE barrels any good?

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Re: Are TSE barrels any good?

Post by straightshooter » 02 Jun 2026, 8:31 am

GQshayne wrote:It is my cousins rifle,and after the trigger job it misfired on a pig, at close range. The gun went click, and the pig attacked my cousing, injuring his knee. After we got home I rang the gunsmith, and politely advised it had misfired and we needed to be fixed. He did not ask about my cousins injury, and did not offer to fix the rifle. He just said "it is a poor design".

I reread this whole thread this morning, just for fun, and your comment "the gun went click" in this particular post caught my eye.
Are you able to elaborate on what actually happened because left to the readers imagination a number of potential explanations exist, assuming it is a common bolt action, such as:
The chamber was empty
A fired round remained in the chamber due to short stroking the bolt
The cocking piece slipped over the sear when closing the bolt (then why the click?)
The firing pin impulse failed to ignite the primer
The reason for my curiosity is that in NSW the dealer, in this case gunsmith, would have committed an offence under the firearms act in selling or returning an unsafe defective firearm to the owner, not to mention liability for damages.
"Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about."
"There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." Sir Joshua Reynolds
straightshooter
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Re: Are TSE barrels any good?

Post by bigrich » 02 Jun 2026, 12:09 pm

straightshooter wrote:
GQshayne wrote:It is my cousins rifle,and after the trigger job it misfired on a pig, at close range. The gun went click, and the pig attacked my cousing, injuring his knee. After we got home I rang the gunsmith, and politely advised it had misfired and we needed to be fixed. He did not ask about my cousins injury, and did not offer to fix the rifle. He just said "it is a poor design".

I reread this whole thread this morning, just for fun, and your comment "the gun went click" in this particular post caught my eye.
Are you able to elaborate on what actually happened because left to the readers imagination a number of potential explanations exist, assuming it is a common bolt action, such as:
The chamber was empty
A fired round remained in the chamber due to short stroking the bolt
The cocking piece slipped over the sear when closing the bolt (then why the click?)
The firing pin impulse failed to ignite the primer
The reason for my curiosity is that in NSW the dealer, in this case gunsmith, would have committed an offence under the firearms act in selling or returning an unsafe defective firearm to the owner, not to mention liability for damages.


You make a good point. My 98 went “click” when aiming at a pig , I’d short stroked the bolt when I was keeping my eye on the pig and failed to chamber a round…lol
bigrich
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Re: Are TSE barrels any good?

Post by CJRBOLTGUN1 » 02 Jun 2026, 6:14 pm

bigrich wrote:
Wapiti wrote:Yes but Rich the bloke is basically saying that the secret squirrel stuff of not naming names means how does he know who NOT to use, or to get more info on?


a little bit of research will reveal the smith i had bad work from . i don't want to name names on here as i'm local , and i think it's forum policy not to bad mouth businesses on here . i've named smiths i've had good work from , or heard good things about . that should point him in the right direction . the only other barrel maker smith i know of west of brissy is madco . i have one of his barrels on my 222 rem . great barrel , was fitted by jim kent :thumbsup:

don't know how i missed it ,thanks
,yeah Dunno what's going on
cause i' ve only ever heard good things about him and the one at the sunshine coast :unknown:
CJRBOLTGUN1
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Queensland

Re: Are TSE barrels any good?

Post by GQshayne » 02 Jun 2026, 7:46 pm

straightshooter wrote:
GQshayne wrote:It is my cousins rifle,and after the trigger job it misfired on a pig, at close range. The gun went click, and the pig attacked my cousing, injuring his knee. After we got home I rang the gunsmith, and politely advised it had misfired and we needed to be fixed. He did not ask about my cousins injury, and did not offer to fix the rifle. He just said "it is a poor design".

I reread this whole thread this morning, just for fun, and your comment "the gun went click" in this particular post caught my eye.
Are you able to elaborate on what actually happened because left to the readers imagination a number of potential explanations exist, assuming it is a common bolt action, such as:
The chamber was empty
A fired round remained in the chamber due to short stroking the bolt
The cocking piece slipped over the sear when closing the bolt (then why the click?)
The firing pin impulse failed to ignite the primer
The reason for my curiosity is that in NSW the dealer, in this case gunsmith, would have committed an offence under the firearms act in selling or returning an unsafe defective firearm to the owner, not to mention liability for damages.


If I had insisted then I think he would have looked at it again. But I did not push it, as he was so uninterested.

As to the actual fault, it misfired on a loaded round. It is a BLR, and it had a hammer extender. Removing that fixed the fault at the time. I have since found out that these rifles (3 I have access to) need handloads sized differently to my old bolt action. So headspace may have been a factor. Next time I see some cases etc for it I will have a closer look.
GQshayne
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Posts: 989
Queensland

Re: Are TSE barrels any good?

Post by bigrich » 03 Jun 2026, 4:23 am

CJRBOLTGUN1 wrote:
bigrich wrote:
Wapiti wrote:Yes but Rich the bloke is basically saying that the secret squirrel stuff of not naming names means how does he know who NOT to use, or to get more info on?


a little bit of research will reveal the smith i had bad work from . i don't want to name names on here as i'm local , and i think it's forum policy not to bad mouth businesses on here . i've named smiths i've had good work from , or heard good things about . that should point him in the right direction . the only other barrel maker smith i know of west of brissy is madco . i have one of his barrels on my 222 rem . great barrel , was fitted by jim kent :thumbsup:

don't know how i missed it ,thanks
,yeah Dunno what's going on
cause i' ve only ever heard good things about him and the one at the sunshine coast :unknown:


yeah , the smith/barrel maker west of brisbane CAN do good work , i've seen some nice jobs . BUT i've spoken to people first hand who've had some shockers , oversized chambers and dangerous or poor head space being the common issue . a stockmaker i know told me about his brno 602 in 404 jeffery and the threats he got from the smith when he rang about the dodgy work . he rang WLB, who referred him to have it inspected by TSE . the result was WLB ordering the smith to give a full refund including for brass , and used ammo components . my own 358 i had built years ago , the bolt would close easily on a no-go headspace gauge and the chamber looked like a corrugated roof from "chattering" from the reamer. i got attitude when i rang to complain , i found another smith and haven't used the dodgy smith since . was talking to another fella at my local range who has to neck size and fireform his cases due to headspace issues . he has more than one rifle from this smith with this issue . it seems to me that if your a "known" person in the gun world, or a well known local you get good work . if your not it's a lucky dip. my local gun shop uses this dodgy smith and swears by him . never had bad work from them . after i waited 8 months for a barrel that was a poorly finished "copper mine" , that's it for me. it was fitted by another smith , and when i had the copper issues i had it bore scoped by the owner of a well known brissy gun shop, who had a shocked look on his face , but said little as people are very cautious to bad mouth others in the firearms business . the sunshine coast guy i only know he's a good old school smith by reputation , i've never heard a bad word about him , except there's a looong wait for his work .
bigrich
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