Ahh, the aforementioned Lilja "Group Buy" barrel. That turned into a salvage job being re-fit to my Remington 597, details here: https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1619757-Remington-597-Lilja-Barrel Worked out well for the Remmy, though.
Received the replacement barrel from Lilja in September (best customer service I could ask for), and had the rig up and running just before October. Admittedly, I haven't done much 50 yard shooting with it since most of my time is spent at 100 yards now. It knocks out the 50 yard 1/2" challenge with ease, and I frequently shoot sub 3/4" groups at 100 yards with it (with it's preferred ammo). Was saving my posting about it for when I had it tuned up to the standards I want to reach, but since you asked here's some tidbits.
This was a fun one from last month's 100 yard challenge on RFC, had to shoot poker hands at the 3/4"x3/4" squares, touch the edge and you get the lower valued card for score (worst edge scoring).
Got my tuner back from being bored out by a gunsmith just after Christmas, haven't had a chance to shoot with it yet. I feel that properly tuning the rifle will be key to it being as accurate as it possibly can be, and lack of a tuner was responsible for some of the inconsistency observed with the naked barrel. Also out of the ammo that was shooting best (no more RWS in Canada, well, R-50 and the "good stuff", anyway), placing an order for more Lapua Polar Biathlon to get me through winter.
