Heavy barrel vs Light weight barrels???

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pyscodog

Active member
How many of you are getting rid of your heavy barrel rifles and replacing with light weight barrels? As much as I like the heavy guns, seems the light weight rifles are much more pleasant to carry and shoot just about as good. Just curious.
 
Me. My most recent build is light contour fluted Shilen barrel. Shoots great! No more varmint or semi-bull barrels for this guy.
 
I have two new builds going on right now, one is a 20-222 that will be wearing a 26in Hart #4 and the other is a 22-243Imp that is getting a 28in Krieger Sendero contour.

Everything else I have wears a varmint size contour, but some of them are pretty short too.

I don't really have anything that is what I'd call a light weight setup. I had the barrel on one of my CZ 527 Varmint model 17 Hornets cut back to 20 inches so I guess that's probably the lightest setup I have. I tend to like the larger profile barrels better. Been considering something with a Proof Research CF barrel but not necessarily because they're light weight, but I like how they look. Not a big fan of how skinny barrel look.
 
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Originally Posted By: pyscodogHow many of you are getting rid of your heavy barrel rifles and replacing with light weight barrels? As much as I like the heavy guns, seems the light weight rifles are much more pleasant to carry and shoot just about as good. Just curious.

You don't have to compromise. Look at a Proof with a Sendero or Bull contour.
 
I looked at the barrels on Proof's site. Barrel blanks were $830. Most folks don't have $830 in a complete rifle. Some of us have that and more in a few rifles but not everyone feel the need for that much money in a rifle to kill coyotes with. I'm not saying everyone, just some of us. For me, I'll just have to find a better way to a lighter rifle. But I appreciate your input.
 
For me it depends on what im doing. For my night time hog hunting i use a 18" bull barrel on my ar-15, it is fluted. I use this because at night with the thermal on sounders of hogs its not uncommon to shoot 40-50 rounds on a big sounder.

But for my daytime coyote gun i use a cz 527 pencil barrel thats had the barrel cut down to 18". I absolutely love that gun. Granted on my coyotes, 99.9% of my shots are within 200 yards and most often one shot is sufficient.

I use a 26" heavy barrel on my 22-250 that i use to shoot crows and ground hogs. Mainly because the heavier longer barrel steadies easier and is a little more forgiving and easier to shoot off of shooting sticks.
 
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Originally Posted By: pyscodogI looked at the barrels on Proof's site. Barrel blanks were $830. Most folks don't have $830 in a complete rifle. Some of us have that and more in a few rifles but not everyone feel the need for that much money in a rifle to kill coyotes with. I'm not saying everyone, just some of us. For me, I'll just have to find a better way to a lighter rifle. But I appreciate your input.

There is a lot of word trickery with regard to CF sleeved barrels and how light they are compared to all steel barrels. You have to read the fine print because when they compare weights, to an all steel barrel, and make their claims to them being so much lighter, it's when they are comparing weights by outside diameter so naturally a all steel Sendero contour barrel is going to weigh more but when you compare them to something like a #4 countour all steel barrel, they weigh about the same.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of CF barrels, I think they not only look cool but I think they look a lot better when you put a brake or can on them compared to how they look with the same, but on a smaller contour barrel. To me, skinny barrels with muzzle brakes or suppressors, just look goofy.
 
I like a varmint weight barrel at least 24" in length. But I shoot off a bench all the time. I have no use for skinny barrels for my kind of shooting. Nothing against them for other folks though.
 
Different situations call for different builds.

A carry rifle need to be lighter and more handy to shoulder. Mine are 7-10 pounds and that is doable for me (10 pound for an all up AR)

Bench and belly guns are built heavier. I like as much barrel, in contour and length, as feasible and heavy optics, rings, etc. My 6 BR weighs 17 pound and has a 4 oz trigger. Watching holes open in paper at 100 is pretty easy.
 
Kevinfarmer I agree on the long heavy helping my not so good shooting .I have a SPS varmint that is 26 in and though it groups not as well as a tight shooting Tikka I do better with the SPS
 
I use most my coyote guns for ground squirrels so the heavy barrel is nice to have. Though I made a 22-250 with a sporter and put a little scope on it and that was the best gun to haul around! Hardly noticed it was there on a mile walk from the truck. You’ve gotta remember though, most hunting is done very close to a road so the weight doesn’t really matter
 
I dont consider that #5 to be a heavy barrel at all. I have carried it all over [beeep] and creation, and think its abut perfect. Light, whippy rifles are nicer to carry, of course, but horrible to shoot. I think this lighter heavyweight seems to strike a good balance.

 
Most of my rifles are either Sendero contour or maybe a light varmint, around .700 at the muzzle and 24 inchs long. I bought a 700 Remington in 223 with the light barrel on it over the week-end and the weight difference is quite substantial. I just was thinking how nice it would be to carry when doing a lot of walking. It has a 24inch barrel and my first though was having it cut and re-crowned to 20inchs and maybe a better stock later down the road.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI bought a 700 Remington in 223 with the light barrel on it over the week-end.

It has a 24inch barrel and my first though was having it cut and re-crowned to 20inchs and maybe a better stock later down the road.

Now you're talking! Especially with a 223 and even more so when running it with a can, I like them with short barrels.

I bought a real nice Kelbly 22-250 with a 24in tube from a member here awhile back and it's getting a few inches lopped off it, then threaded to run it suppressed. Just can't decide if I want to take it back to 20 or 18.
 
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I like them both. Sporters for walking around, and heavy for target and plinking. It really doesn't matter the contour, its more about the overall weight. 7.5 lbs or less is good for walking. My heavy barrel rimfire scoped comes in at
 
I'm used to lugging 10lb setup's, weather it be an AR, shotgun or muzzleloader. This year I decided to go lightweight for deer season and got a Savage lightweight hunter in 308. I checked out all the big name lightweight's including the kimber's, Tikka's and Howa's. Seems most LW rigs had accuracy issues but everyone said the Savage shot great and boy does it. 125g Accubond @ 100 yards it shoots one hole, even after 20 rounds down the tube. Pretty sure it has a #1 or #2 contour. It totals out to 6.5 lbs with the optic which is a trijicon accupoint.

I'm a sucker for repeatable accuracy but for a hunting scenario where your putting on miles a heavy barrel is not needed IMO. I've been impressed by the little pencil barrel.

 


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