Barrel Trouble??? Not if you know Gary

I got into serious trouble last fall with Francis 26 Nosler, I had built it over the summer but we did not get any brass until the end of October, so I had only a couple of weeks before deer season to try to work up a decent load for him to hunt with. To make a long story short, it never happenned. The B-7 barrel that I used ended up being a dud and after wasting 3 weeks trying to make it shoot I finally looked at Francis and said: "Fuck this shit, I've rechecked everything twice, tried different scopes and my reloads shoot well in every other rifle so it's got to be the barrel. We need a new one."

I could see the fear in his eyes. He could live with the fact that he wouldn't have his rifle for deer season, but by now, pred season is only a week away and missing that would just be too much. So his first question was: Where are you going to find a barrel for it and how long is it going to take?

We are in Canada and he is aware that good barrels are a rare commodity.

By the purest of coincidence, while I was in the middle of my struggle with that B-7 barrel, I had received an e-mail from Gary Eakin of Bighorn Sales introducing himself and telling me about his business which imports Benchmarks barrels, Stiller and Defiant actions, Graybull and McMillan stocks, Mansons reamers and probably a buch of other stuff I don't know of.

What's really cool about Gary's operation is that he has a LOT of barrels in stock so you're practically assured of finding what you need. I sure did for the 26 Nosler and the Benchmark barrel lived up to their growing reputation for making excellent barrels. In less than 2 weeks I had the new barrel on the gun and found a load that performed great all winter and allowed Francis to make his longest kills to date.

I've had the pleasure of dealing with Gary on a few occasions since then and every time the service has been excellent. So if you're on the market for quality rifle components highly recomend that you get in touch with Gary.