Putting aside that I used to live in Utah's Dixie and run around with Fred, hang out at his shop and have been close friends with him for years...
The long and the short of it, is Bullberry and SSK barrels are still the best after market barrels you can buy for your TC's - for the dollar amount spent! While VVCG is Freds old crew (taught the trade by him and I've know them all personally about a dozen years), internal and money problems will always keep them from reaching the level of the other two shops. Van Horn might produce a pretty good product, but ordering a 22 Hornet and getting a 300 Whisper - eventually - and other horror stories I've heard will continue to hold them down. EABCO's barrels used to be made by Bullberry - have no experience with the ones they are turning out now (but it is a good company) so can't say about them. I just got a used Brown Precision carbine barrel to try out, but haven't had time to wring it out yet. Gonic is pretty limited on chamber choices. And anybody that orders a barrel from Grants Pass, OR gets what he deserves. The list goes on.
As for the long delays at Bullberry (VVCG, Van Horn, etc. have them too), I know Fred has upwards of 800-1200 barrels in process all of the time, not for inventory, these are to fill orders. Also realize that he can not inventory thousands of blanks, so he does run out of some calibers at times waiting for his next shipment to come in. I know to keep prices as low as he can, he orders blanks only when he can meet the price break minimums, and at times they are very slow to fill his orders. One of the bad things he does do is if you also order wood with your barrel, the barrel never gets added into the schedule to be built until the wood is nearing completion (only one guy does all the wood while 3+ do the barrels). With Bullberry, its best to split your order - order the barrel and then later order the wood. He also tries to group barrel orders so when set up for chambering he can do several all at once. Fred also is the first to admit that is not a good businessman in the sense of how to run the "business" end of his shop. But he tries hard. If you can't wait the 4+ months for a Bullberry, then spend the few dollars more and order it from JD at SSK. Barrels with common chambers he sells a lot of are almost always in stock, so he can usually ship in 2-3 weeks depending on if he needs to cut down and re crown, etc for what you want. He's always been an ornery old cuss, but he makes some pretty damn good barrels.
Naturally, this is all just in my opinion and I am sure some of you have had better experiences with some of the other shops. I have been shooting Contender's for about 33 years, have known JD and got my first SSK wildcat probably something like 25 years ago... my first Bullberry near 20 years ago. Most of my experience has been with SSK, BBW, VVCG and TC. You couldn't give me a barrel from either of the last two. So what do I own today? A bunch of Bullberry and SSK barrels, and now the one Brown Precision - almost all wildcats. YMMV, but I am very happy with the products I get from these two shops, and they will continue to get all of my business.
Lotsa rambling here I guess... hope some of it is useful to someone looking in,
Ladobe
