OzFclass

Hi all, can anyone tell me do Black Mountain barrels have any markings on them?
I bought a target rifle and in the sale came 2 extra barrels. Both for a Omark M44 action. One is a 308, black, standard looking barrel like the one in this photo that from a post on this site. Just wondering what it is because looking at the bore with a bore scope it looks like it's done little to no work at all. She's like brand new.
I can't see any markings on the outside to tell me what it is.
Can anyone help shed some light on this?
Cheers Mick

Hi Mick Most Black Mountain barrels I've seen are marked with made by SAF Lithgow for Black Mountain Rifles. The photo you give seems to show the same outside texture of Black Mountain barrels where they look like a sort of hammer forged finish on the outer surface. Maybe there were some of these that slipped through without being stamped as mentioned. Regards Malcolm.

Quite a lot of these barrels surfaced about 20 or so years ago made by SAF possibly for Black Mountain, but not distributed by Black Mountain. There were a number of in the white blank barrels about as well.
Keith H.

A couple of extra pointers as I can not see the picture clearly, but some of my black mountain barrels had the junction between the barrel taper and the parallel section accommodating the sight block, rounded. The black mountain barrels had a much tighter bore to accommodate the 144 gr projectiles. I agree with Keith.

Thanks guys.
Still unsure what brand this barrel is. I've taken a few more photos.
Do standard Sportco Omark barrels have any markings and how many grooves are they.
This barrel definitely hasn't been shot as the bore is still pristine with no longitudinal marks whatsoever.
Cheers Mick

From these two pics I would say you have a Omark barrel made either by Sportco (early) or MAB (later), it appears to be a 44B contour & will be 14" twist (Sportco) or 12" twist (MAB) & will have 4 grooves & lands. These pics rule out SAF manufacture.
Keith H.

Hi Keith, thanks for the help.
I haven't checked the twist rate yet but this barrel has 6 grooves, does that change things?.
Cheers Mick

Sportco's std rifling form was 4 groove, but I am pretty sure they made some 6 groove barrels when they released the model 44D. An indicator would be the diameter of the front sight bed, I am betting it's .800", this was standard for 44D barrels, as was 14" twist.
Keith H.

Hi Keith, yep the sight bed is spot on 0.800" and it's a 14 twist.
So this barrel is a Omark 44D barrel that looks to be unfired, that's pretty cool. Just gotta work out what to do with it now.
Thank you very much for your help.
Cheer Mick