Why the heavy barrel?

C

csam

New member
OK, we are starting to see lots of factory rigs for predator hunting, and most of the dedicated "coyote" rifles i see pictured sport a heavy barrel. My question is why?

A little of my background: I was fooling around with rifles long before I ever went hunting, and for a while there I was under the mistaken impression that you had to have a heavy barrel to be accurate. Until I went hunting for the first time and used someone else's rifle. After carrying that and subsequently carrying my own 13.5 lb rifle, I learned that a 7.5 to 8.5 lb rifles was easier on the arms.

Correct me if I am wrong, but in regards to accuracy potential of a rifle has little to do with the weight/profile of the barrel is far down on the list after such items as the quality of the barrel, ammo, tolerances, rifle's bedding, & barrel crown. What the heavy barrel does give you is better accuracy during higher volume shooting due to not warping due to heating.

Am I just not a very good hunter? Am I not seeing as many yotes to shoot at and heat up my barrel where I need more heft. Is the heavier barrel a Western thing (I am in Georgia)?

Seems like when I see folks post some pics of their bag, the show one, or two, or a pile of em after a whole days worth of hunting.

I am using a 22-250 with a standard sporter contour, and have never heated it up enough hunting yotes that I needed more heft in the barrel.

Anyway, I am up late with the new baby, and I ponder these things.
 
I just think they look cool. I also have never heated up a barrel while coyote hunting. But a prairie dog town is a different story. That's why I have have barrels on my rifles. I shoot a T/C Encore all with 26" heavy barrels. Even with the heavy barrel the rifle only weighs about 7.5 pounds. Best of both worlds I think. Just my .02 cents.

coyoteman23
 
The heavy barrel is just in case you miss and need to take a swing at the coyote /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The heavier the barrel the more energy transfered to it's noggin. That and they look cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Heavier barrels, on average are more accurate because they are stiffer. Not a big difference but certainly a measurable one.

In the field, hunting, you will never see the difference.

Jack
 
Quote:

Correct me if I am wrong, but in regards to accuracy potential of a rifle has little to do with the weight/profile of the barrel is far down on the list after such items as the quality of the barrel, ammo, tolerances, rifle's bedding, & barrel crown. What the heavy barrel does give you is better accuracy during higher volume shooting due to not warping due to heating.




That about sums it up.......... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I have two CZ 452 .17HM2s that I hunt gray squirrels with. The American model has the lighter barrel and is easier to carry all day; the Varmint barrel is heavier and wears down the shoulder on an all-day hunt - but I can shoot it better offhand due to the weight up front. Off the bench or off the sticks, they both shoot about the same, so it isn't that the Varmint shoots better than the American and thus why I do better with it offhand.

I guess what I am trying to say is that for the few shots presented in my type of shooting, it just depends on how I hunt as to what I choose - if I'll be walking a bunch and have my sticks with me, the ligher American is just perfect; if I am staying around one area and don't want to carry my sticks, I'll take the Varmint.

Of course, being in GA like you, I am not afforded a target-rich environment requiring that a barrel that can withstand 100 rounds being shot an hour - so I don't have any real heavy barrels in my safe.
 
I like the heavy barrel because I can hold it more steady. I also get less muzzle flip and seem to be able to track better on moving targets. The weight has never been an issue for me.

JEV
 
Csam,

I've often wondered the same thing. I believe it mostly stems from people getting "VARMIT shooting" and "PREDATOR" hunting" mixed up like they are one and the same. Just as a test to show this is so.....next time you walk into a gun store asked the guy if he has any predator rifles...almost immediatetly he will say without hesitation sure we have several VARMIT rifles to choose from and begin to hand you rifles designed for colony "VARMITS" and not "PREDATORS" hunting. It's almost like these words ryme or something, heck they are even spelled almost the same /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. In case you haven't noticed this is one of my pet peeves /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif. VARMITS to me are small rodents weighing a pound or two, maybe five. PREDATORS are animals weighing from about 20 pounds up to a potential 50 or more. VARMITS are generally shot from stationary rest and at a higher rate of fire. PREDATORS are shot from impromptu rest with generally less than 5 rounds fired. I have nothing against VARMIT shooting but despise having to use a rifle designed for VARMIT shooting to shoot PREDATORS. I also don't like using ammunition designed for two pound rodents on 40 pound coyotes either. People say it is fur friendly though.... my foot. I don't like nor use hyper velocity, thin skinned, light for caliber bullets (again desinged for explosive results on VARMITS).

In this same vein, I don't care for super light rifles either. The ultra lights rifles are tough for me to shoot well. They just don't steady well in sticks or off my knees.

In my head a rifle designed for PREDATOR hunting should weigh about 8 pounds fully rigged out and should shoot a bullet designed to effectively dispatch a 20-50 pound animal with any reasonable shot presentation (.22-.25 caliber). Scopes should not look like telescopes either. 2-7, 2-8, 3-9, 3-10 and even 4-14's aren't bad choices. It should also be designed and rigged up for fast target aquisition for those that pop up at 20 yards but should also be capable of taking those occational 300 yard coyotes. These are tough things for a heavy 26" gun with a 8-24X VARMIT scoped rifle to do.

Now before you guys in the wide open counrty get fired up and start knee jerking just asked yourself how many called coyotes do you really shoot past 300. I would also like you to understand I really don't care if you carry a 14 pound 17 caliber laser blaster. Just as long as you have fun doing it. These are just my opinions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Good Hunting, and God Bless,

Byron
 
I personally don't like carrying any barrel larger than the Remington Varmint Contour. I like the Shilen Number 4 or 5 contour the best . I like the weight up front on my hunting rifles, because it is much easier to hold steady with the heavier barrel with the weight forward on the rifle. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
My hunting rifles are the same rifles I shoot and practice with year round. They are heavy barrels due to the number of rounds I shoot during my practice (target) sessions (less heat). I really enjoy shooting steel at longer ranges and the confidence I have gained in these guns goes with me to the field.
 
What Jack said on both counts. Benchrest shooters love short fat stiff barrels because that gives them that last attainable bit of consistency of accuracy. The rest of us don't really need that last bit unless we're shooting prairie dogs past 500 yards. There both the stiffness and heat absorption of heavy barrels become desirable, as well as the increased steadiness of hold.

My soda-straw 18.5" barrel on my Rem. Model 7 occasionally shoots a .5" 5-shot group with a load it likes - but not every time (pillar bedding and free-floating may help). For called yotes or deer inside 200 and for carrying around on foot in the straight-up-and-down country it's perfect. For smaller targets at longer ranges I'd prefer more weight up front to steady things down a bit. And that can be had by adding some lead in the stock fore-end.
 
I have a Remmy 7 that will shoot under 1.5" at 200yds for sixty shots, fired in succession, no cool down. Will print 1/2" groups at that range taking your time, letting it cool. Will stack holes at 100yds.

Anyone who carries around a HB rig on a calling rifle makes me wonder. Just not needed, nor wanted IMO........
 
The heavier barrel reduces heating, and reduces recoil. This allows longer life for a barrel. And with the recoil reduction, allows the shooter to stay on target easier than with a standard barrel. If someone is shooting a standard barrel, and they stay on target well but "white knuckle" their grip, they are shooting wrong. As a proper grip should be relaxed, the heavy barrel compensates and reduces recoil. That is all ... cooler barrel, longer life and reduced recoil.
 
Quote:
Anyone who carries around a HB rig on a calling rifle makes me wonder. Just not needed, nor wanted IMO........


That's a pretty broad statement. I don't think I'm crazy. I bought the heavy barrel because I like the look, I love that it doesn't come up and off target at the range (I'll let you all know tomorrow how it does in the field), and because I don't mind the extra weight (heaven knows I carry enough extra weight around anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif). As I stated above, I think the gun looks good, and it feels good to ME.
 
The original question was why do people carry a heavy barrel while predator hunting.

I've yet to have action so good that my lighter barrel has overheated, or that I just felt pounded from the heavier recoil afterward. Barrel life is the same, unless you overheat it. Last I checked, chamber erosion occurs at the same pace regardless of barrel weight.

I'll gladly absorb the "brutal pounding" those big 223's and 243's dish out and not carry a log around.
 
Well I just look at as exercise. Seriously I have a savage 12 bvss that weighs about 12 pounds full rigged. It is big and bulky and it shoots exceptionally. I now I use my cz varmint which is their heavier barrel but it is a handy rifle and the barrel is not problem. For me I try to cut down all the other stuff I used to bring with me. A pound here a pound there I suppose.
 


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