Heavy barrel vs Light weight barrels???

Depends on use... I'm not carrying an 18# range gun a couple miles through a hunt. I'm not taking my 7# mountain rifle to a PRS match.

I will say, when it's time for a shot; in field (like) conditions with a makeshift support. A 15 pound gun is MUCH easier to shoot than a 7 pound gun. Unless it's really rough terrain, somewhere in the middle is a good compromise but one size does not fit all... if you want to be the best that can be at the specific task.
 


My rifles started to weight more and I fixed that I joined a gym.
I go twice a week and I swim twice a week. Walk every day, 30 minutes or more.
If I set in my office to long. I do over head push ups with a rifle, 8 pounds.
Just over your head and behind your head, Get back as far as I can. T
Then out in front and do some curls. I do about 10 sets.
 
I'm pretty old and have no plans of giving up the heavy barrels, I use them mostly for varmint hunting. I do have a Featherweight if I'm walking long distances.

My style of hunting is a walk to a site where I conceal myself and wait for game. I'm not a hunter who wants to walk 20 miles a day.
 
Bill, custom barrels in a sporter or heavy sporter shoot tiny groups. For me this is a #4 or heavy sporter #5 shilen contour(3b).

Many custom gunsmiths will not offer an accuracy guarantee with a contour less than a #5, and 4 is border line if you are looking for guaranteed bug hole accuracy.

Lot of the accuracy is in the machining skills of the gunsmith, with the time and thought he takes in analyzing the barrel prior to chambering along with the set up.
 
Lots of factors can affect accuracy, not merely barrels.

Theory can smack into the wall of reality. Carrying a 10 pound Sako 7MM Rem Mag over high ridges of the Rockies, where a slice of cheese on a ham sandwich is heavy, ain't fun. I have no clue of how dudes buying 20 pound .338 LAPUA Mag rifles are hunting timberlines. I couldn't carry a rifle that heavy out of a gun shop.

A tale of two .270 Win rifles: 1. 45 year-old Remington 700 with slimmer barrel than #2 will shoot .25" groups at a hundred; 2. 25 year old Sako AV with heavier barrel will shoot .25" groups at a hundred. I'm carrying the lighter of the two.

Quality -not necessarily price- is a good indicator of accuracy.

The best steel in the world comes from Solingen, Germany. It's known as the City of Steel or the City of Blades: https://www.germanysolingen.com/ It assuredly has helped German gunsmiths build incredibly accurate rifles. But would a $7500 Sauer or Mauser or Anschutz rifle be more accurate than a 2k Sako? If German rifles are in fact more accurate than Sako, it'd be microscopic. Would microscopic accuracy be worth a 5k premium? That'd be subjective.

I'm not sold on heavier barrels being more accurate than sporter barrels, and I'm referring to hunting rifles.

Were I to buy a new big game rifle, it'd almost certainly be a .308 Win carbine manufactured by a company with a legacy of accuracy. I could put a 6 pound .308 Win carbine to a lot of serious big game hunting.
 
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Originally Posted By: ackleymanLot of the accuracy is in the machining skills of the gunsmith, with the time and thought he takes in analyzing the barrel prior to chambering along with the set up.

^^^that right there is the essence of refined wisdom^^^
 
Originally Posted By: RePeteSporter weight at 22" for me these days.

We think alike.

Dead is dead,and I'm long past done being plumb dead exhausted from hauling heavy rifles all over God's beautiful creation when a lighter rifle will kill big game just as dead as a heavier rifle. I'm assuming this is true for small game & predators.

An elk ain't gonna know whether a bullet fired from .338 LAPUA Mag or a .308 Win destroyed its oxygenated blood pumping apparatus. All its gonna know is it's dead.
 
Originally Posted By: EMP3

Were I to buy a new big game rifle, it'd almost certainly be a .308 Win carbine manufactured by a company with a legacy of accuracy.

We do indeed think alike

I wouldn't trade a pickup truck full of "Creedmoore's" and super douper ultra mags for one good 308 carbine.

 
There is weight and balance. A very long tube that is also heavy moves the balance point very far forward and complicates getting it comfortable on a set of sticks (say as in a calling rifle).

I assembled a 204 varmint weight on a Savage SA a while back and really did a number as to the trigger. I used a target accutrigger and target sear in the build. It made for a sub .3” shooter @100 even with factory fodder. It also made my arms a lot longer. I had a chance to swap this varmint barrel out and install a long sporter tube. I think I lost .100” in group but my arms quit growing in length. As a truck gun it was still not handy to retrieve quickly. It still did not ride in the farm truck very well. Worse, I would get out of a tractor and lean over the front tire for a rest and though a sporter the long length shifted the balance too far to the muzzle. I recall one coyote which got a reprieve because the combination of the still heavy muzzle and an 8 oz red blade accutrigger caused me to touch off the chambered round into non leathal territory!

Like they say, “First your money and then your clothes”!

Right now my day to day ranch rifle is about the easiest to get around with one could ask for. It is a Ruger American Compact. It happens to be a 223. It is not a fly shooter. But then, coyotes are not straying into an adjoining county before I bring it out to bear either.

Three44s
 
Before I had a supressor bar none a 26" varmint contour was my favorite I packed one all over the place. I never minded the weight because I tend to carry very few other items if I can help it and I carry my rifles with backpack style slings. Now that I have an 8" 23oz suppressor in all about short barrels that are just heavy enough to be threaded.


I posted a while back about a neat little rifle I put together for my self. It started out as a Rem 700 compact youth rifle I originally bought for my wife but she never really got along with it. Its got a 20" sporter barrel that was to light to thread the 5/8×24 required but my suppressor dealer thought it was borderline but I could get along alright threading it 1/2×28 amd using an adapter. I put it in a full size hogue stock and It has quickly become my favorite rifle and I wouldnt hesitate to do another rifle similar to this one. Its not the most accurate rifle I own and the barrel heats quick but as a purely hunting rifle I love it. It also makes a decent truck/farm rifle the 8" suppressor still makes for 28" of barrel but far handier than a 26" barrel plus 8" suppressor.

Ive also got Remington Varmint 22-250 I've had cut and threaded at 22" I'm considering cutting it back again to 16" to see what kind of performace I can squeeze out of it at that length. That supressor is big and clumsy but I just couldnt hack the extra cash needed to go with a lighter one and it is bar none the absolute best firearm purchase I have ever made so for me barrel weight and length is all about doing what I can to better accommodate the suppressor.
 
Originally Posted By: FairChase93
Ive also got Remington Varmint 22-250 I've had cut and threaded at 22" I'm considering cutting it back again to 16" to see what kind of performace I can squeeze out of it at that length. That supressor is big and clumsy but I just couldnt hack the extra cash needed to go with a lighter one and it is bar none the absolute best firearm purchase I have ever made so for me barrel weight and length is all about doing what I can to better accommodate the suppressor.

I still can't decide between 18 or 20 on my 22-250 but 16 sure would make for a sweet compact setup, especially, running it suppressed. My can for 22-250 is only 6.2 long so I'm leaning toward cutting it to 20, but 16 with a can on it sure would look cool!
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I have an SPS/223 with a 24" skinney barrel that I'm thinking about shortening. Just don't know how much. There won't be a suppressor on it though. Opinions?
 
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Originally Posted By: B23Originally Posted By: FairChase93
Ive also got Remington Varmint 22-250 I've had cut and threaded at 22" I'm considering cutting it back again to 16" to see what kind of performace I can squeeze out of it at that length. That supressor is big and clumsy but I just couldnt hack the extra cash needed to go with a lighter one and it is bar none the absolute best firearm purchase I have ever made so for me barrel weight and length is all about doing what I can to better accommodate the suppressor.

I still can't decide between 18 or 20 on my 22-250 but 16 sure would make for a sweet compact setup, especially, running it suppressed. My can for 22-250 is only 6.2 long so I'm leaning toward cutting it to 20, but 16 with a can on it sure would look cool!
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I figured its a factory barrel, better to try it with that and if I'm not happy with the results I can always go back to the 22" with a better tube.Plus I'm really curious just what kind of velocity I could milk out of it at 16". I lost 110fps going from 26 to 22". It would be interesting to play around with different powders and bullet weights at that length most of the velocity tests done haven't covered multiple bullets and powders.

Everyone said I should get a more expensive lighter shorter can but the reality was I really didnt have the money I was spending anyways and it would have been a lot longer wait until I was able to get it going. I Geuss because I don't know anything else really ive been happy with it. I almost cant even go hunting with someone who doesnt have a suppressor anymore if I do I make them sit a long ways away......
 
Originally Posted By: FairChase93Originally Posted By: B23Originally Posted By: FairChase93
Ive also got Remington Varmint 22-250 I've had cut and threaded at 22" I'm considering cutting it back again to 16" to see what kind of performace I can squeeze out of it at that length. That supressor is big and clumsy but I just couldnt hack the extra cash needed to go with a lighter one and it is bar none the absolute best firearm purchase I have ever made so for me barrel weight and length is all about doing what I can to better accommodate the suppressor.

I still can't decide between 18 or 20 on my 22-250 but 16 sure would make for a sweet compact setup, especially, running it suppressed. My can for 22-250 is only 6.2 long so I'm leaning toward cutting it to 20, but 16 with a can on it sure would look cool!
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I figured its a factory barrel, better to try it with that and if I'm not happy with the results I can always go back to the 22" with a better tube.Plus I'm really curious just what kind of velocity I could milk out of it at 16". I lost 110fps going from 26 to 22". It would be interesting to play around with different powders and bullet weights at that length most of the velocity tests done haven't covered multiple bullets and powders.

Everyone said I should get a more expensive lighter shorter can but the reality was I really didnt have the money I was spending anyways and it would have been a lot longer wait until I was able to get it going. I Geuss because I don't know anything else really ive been happy with it. I almost cant even go hunting with someone who doesnt have a suppressor anymore if I do I make them sit a long ways away......

Well, if for some reason it doesn't work out for you and you want to play with another barrel, I have a brand new Rem 22-250 Varmint contour take of barrel I'll make you a good deal on.
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Originally Posted By: pyscodogI have an SPS/223 with a 24" skinney barrel that I'm thinking about shortening. Just don't know how much. There won't be a suppressor on it though. Opinions?

I have a 22in tube on my 223ai but I don't think I'd spend the money to only lop 2 inches off so I'd have it chopped back to a 20, and run with it.

I'm seriously considering doing a LW 20in 6.5 Creedmoor build and with all things, using a Proof Research barrel.
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Originally Posted By: pyscodogI have an SPS/223 with a 24" skinney barrel that I'm thinking about shortening. Just don't know how much. There won't be a suppressor on it though. Opinions?

I think 20”. If you want it shorter then you will be out some more money to cut it again unless you do it your self but it is easier to be conservative with chopping block than to find a gunsmith with a barrel stretcher.

If you are really wanting short then 16+ to 18”

The 223 is not fazed with shorter barrels IMO like the 204’s and 22-250’s are. That might also be perception because of all the M4 carbines that are popular?

My Ruger Am compact is something on the order of 16 to 18” and it really suits me on the ranch getting into and out of trucks or tractor cabs etc. There were a pair of those Compacts at a local gun shop for a long time in 22-250. They kept talking to me but every time I thought about how loud they would be I decided to leave them for someone else. A 16-18” on that cartridge just did not do it for me then.

There are times I kick myself for passing up getting one though.

Three44s
 
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Years ago when Stevens 200's were the rage. I had one in 223 and had it cut to 20"and it actually shot better. May do this Remington and see what happens.
 
I had my sps rem 700 tac in the hogue stock in 223 cut from 20” to 18” and threaded. One of the most accurate guns I own. My hand loads went from 3125fps to 3075 FPS.
 
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