Barrel Education 101

[incorrigible]

So what features should I be looking when developing a match grade barrel from a blank.

I don't care about brand, this is about features... steel, shape, crown, rifling etc.

My motivation is that I'm going down the MDT Tac21 in .308 (or perhaps a better calibre that can utilize a .308 magazine) rabbit hole and am looking to build it ground up to be as accurate as this particular modular system can be. I'm leaning to the 5r rifling for ease of cleaning.

So fill your boots and pass the info on... this can be a good opportunity for seasoned shooters to impart some of the wisdom. If it doesn't degrade in a pissing match over brand names the information could be really quite helpful to newer precision shooters in a condensed format.

 

[Obtunded]

There are good and bad in nearly every barrel brand, but perhaps you may want to read this. It is an authoritative article on what features make a barrel good.

This may help too

 

[Mystic Precision]

ALL methods have been tried, retried, coloured different and tried once again.

If there is one perfect way of making hummer barrels, we sure haven't figured that out in 200yrs of really trying.

Rifling style, number, shape have not been shown to offer any accuracy advantage.

Quality lapped barrels don't copper foul to any significant degree. Modern powders almost eliminate that other half of fouling.

What all top quality match barrels have in common is the use of rods with the best alloy for their tasks (don't ask, this is well kept secrets bordering on voodoo) as homogeneous as humanly possible.

All will deep drill that rod as precisely and as straight as possible, centered in the rod.

The rifling will be applied and then the surfaces are lapped to within 0.0003" of the standard diameter with uniformity that doesn't vary more then 0.0001" over the length of the bore.

These tolerances are pretty much standard in the industry for a BR quality barrel.

Stress relieving is applied at various stages and in various ways, again, based on the style and receipe of each barrel maker.

What you end up with is a blank that has the ability to shoot in the 1's and 2's given proper install, ammo and shooter.

Every now and then you get a hummer which can shoot in the 0's at 100yds.

How? Why? What? No one really knows but as a shooter, you cheerish every rd fired with a barrel like that.

The Cdn shooter has never enjoyed a wider range of great brands and product from makers all around the world and domestically.

prices and lead times vary widely so that might be a way to decide what works best for you.

As a Shilen and McGowen dealer, I offer fully warrantied barrels at very competitive pricing.

Enjoy your search to find just what you want and put together a great shooting rig.

Jerry

PS I feel the rate limiting factor in accuracy these days is the bullet.