I have a used Weatherby .270 Mag and have the chance to purchase two used bbls for a little over a hundred each. This gun is hard on bbls. Should I purchase one or both of these bbls.? I really don't shoot the gun much, to be honest. My gun is a Mark V deluxe left hand bolt. A decent gun not great, I got it used.
Question Weatherby .270 Mag
- Thread starter rustynut1
- Start date
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
I wouldn't buy a used barrel to replace a shot out one, especially in 270 Wby. If you do need a replacement, just buy a new aftermarket one. It would be a waste of money to find out after paying a gunsmith to remove/install that the one you bought used is NFG as well. Just let your barrel cool well between shots and it should last a few thousand rounds. That's a lot of shooting.
Good advice here.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The first step is to have the life of those barrels determined by a gunsmith with a bore scope; why were those barrels swapped out by their former owner(s)? If you have concerns about their bore life, it doesn't seem reasonable to waste money on barrels that might not be as good as the one you already have. Each barrel would have to be installed on your receiver, and adjusted for headspace by a gunsmith, which accounts for perhaps 30% of the price of a new barrel, but you'd have to pay for it twice if there isn't much life left in those barrels. IMHO, a better bet is to get a custom barrel from one of the good Canadian makers, Ted Gaillard, Ron Smith, or Bob Jury, order it with a slightly heavier contour so its not as whippy as the factory barrel, and you'd come out ahead in terms of cost and quality.
Take off barrels can be a great deal, I have bought some that I doubt were ever fired..........and they can be a great disappointment and total waste of money. If you are going to buy the take offs, do it with the understanding that they come with zero throat wear or you have the right to return for your money back. I actually love take offs because they come contoured and blued and 99% of the time they headspace without changing anything. The only downside is the lettering seldom indexes correctly but I never cared much about that when just wanting to play with a new cartridge.
Since you say you don't shoot that much, don't bother buying the take-offs. If you do shoot out the factory barrel you deserve to yourself to a custom barrel. Besides, add it up. To shoot out the barrel with the cheapest factory loads would run you 5 grand or so. Move into the boutique bullets and you might double that. Lots of new barrels are around for not much over 400. If you handload you could cut the cost in half but it still is a high enough price that a barrels cost shouldn't be on your radar, never mind the difference between a used and a new one. Shoot what you have, and if you do need a barrel down the road, cross that bridge when you get to it.
mossyhorns
CGN Regular
- Location
- The city that rhymes with fun
I have a 270 weatherby mag in a Ruger #1 and between my father and I we have hunted with it for nearly 30 years. It still shoots just fine. You said yourself that you don't shoot the gun much so in my opinion follow the advice offered here and just shoot the rifle. If you ever do wear it out ( and I doubt you will) then buy a new one.
Allowing the barrel to cool is good advice.
Allowing the barrel to cool is good advice.
This. If you don't shoot it much, how will you or how have you shot yours out? Cartridges that are hard on barrels still give you a few thousand rounds if you don't shoot them hot, as someone above mentioned. Yours is probably good for a lifetime.
