Is an aftermarket barrel necessary, and at what point?

[peterdobson]

"I will say this again you can have the most accurate rifle in the world if you can't load it right it won't score."

For sure on reloading. With barrels, lower level brands don't group consistently over many rounds.

 

[paperslayer]

Went to the range with my father lin law before a hunting trip. He is using an old 7mm Rem Mag that was build when Christ was a corporal and with his factory ammo he was getting 6" groups at 100 yards. He adjusted for MPI and that was just fine. never hunts more than 250 yards and has not missed an animal in 35 years. That is plenty good enough for him.

This being a "precision rife" forum, I would have thought that the passion was to become the type of shooter with the type of gun that will print the smallest group you possibly can. If the gun has a theoretical zero group size, then the variables are easier to pin down. You will never learn from your mistakes if your degree of tolerance is limited to a factory barrel, or a poorly matched factory load. I tend to roll my eyes at software and internet gurus. There was a guru here for years that was fond of preaching that a 90 grain 223 bullet was better for winning long range FTR matches because the numbers were better. Turns out he was wrong. The guys that actually SHOOT F and FTR rather than writing about it, know that shooting a 223 at 1000 yards when looking to win is silly. Theory and application are often very different things in the real world.

You need three things to be a good precision shooter and you are limited by the weakest of these three things: Good barrel, good load, and good shooter. You will never figure out which one is the problem if all three are bad. Yes, there are good factory barrels, but if you are in the hobby or the sport to get better, then accept you will eventually want to get a good barrel installed by a good machinist gunsmith, and, pick a naturally easy cartridge lo load and shoot like a 6BR or a 6.5x47 Lapua. Barrels wear out too. Picking a barrel burner cartridge to learn proper shooting and reloading is going to lead to frustration and wasted time and money.

 

[Mystic Precision]

...

This being a "precision rife" forum, I would have thought that the passion was to become the type of shooter with the type of gun that will print the smallest group you possibly can. If the gun has a theoretical zero group size, then the variables are easier to pin down. You will never learn from your mistakes if your degree of tolerance is limited to a factory barrel, or a poorly matched factory load. I tend to roll my eyes at software and internet gurus. There was a guru here for years that was fond of preaching that a 90 grain 223 bullet was better for winning long range FTR matches because the numbers were better. Turns out he was wrong. The guys that actually SHOOT F and FTR rather than writing about it, know that shooting a 223 at 1000 yards when looking to win is silly. Theory and application are often very different things in the real world.

....

As I recall, that was a very exciting time where a group of competition shooter in 4 countries collaborated to try and put some real world data against the then new ballistics software and theories. They did get some very good information and proved a variety of things.

I have alot of respect for these type of shooters who go out and test their ideas in real world settings. Results don't always work out BUT that onto itself is an answer.

And those answers move the technical side of precision shooting along....

Jerry

 

[Pesky ab]

Btw small groups at 100 don't mean $hit at 1000 long range loads don't necessarily group at 100.[/QUOTE]

Apples and oranges , sbr stuff runs out of gas long before 1000 and long range stuff Is not even in the hunt with sbr at shorter ranges

 

[coyote]

Btw small groups at 100 don't mean $hit at 1000 long range loads don't necessarily group at 100.

Apples and oranges , sbr stuff runs out of gas long before 1000 and long range stuff Is not even in the hunt with sbr at shorter ranges[/QUOTE]


You are correct apples and oranges I wasn't comparing anything just stating that tuning a long range rifle at 100 yds is moot , I know there is a big difference between the 2 disciplines I have shot both my 6ppc does wonders at 100 my ftr rig for reaching out for scores .