Re-Purposing Match Barrels into Sporters.

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Dogleg

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Is there any merit to trying to get a second life out of a tired target barrel? I'm not talking a simple set-back; more like seeing if there was a 24-26" sporter hiding in an old 32" straight taper truck axle. Some of those things have such long shanks that lopping off 4 or 5 inches is a real possibility.

The other part is whether it would in any way be cost effective. Pros and hobby lathe owners would be at a definite advantage.

Its sort of an academic question at the moment; I don't have the barrel, lathe or know-how to run it anyway. Just the curiousity.
 
Your objective is not clear to me. Match barrels are typically considered "worn out" (no longer 0.5 MOA), long before a "hunting" barrel would be (i.e. 1 MOA), so a straight swap onto another action is feasible. Of course the barrel could also be easily shortened from the muzzle end (easy and cheap) or re-profiled (not easy, nor cheap), but accuracy should not be expected to improve much if at all. The most wear is usually on the throat area, and that's why many match barrels are "set back" to get more life from it and then retired. Setting it back a second time would not likely improve accuracy much.
 
It depends on the barrel and chamber. I shoot 6 creedmoor. I have set the barrel back 3x now. That's on an MTU contour. Accuracy will depend on how well the chamber is done and if the barrel has been cooked. By math one could set the barrel back a few more times before the chamber became unsafe. I found if I rechamber i also recut the crown, why just because. On the third set back i say no real decline in accuracy.
 
Andy said:
Your objective is not clear to me. Match barrels are typically considered "worn out" (no longer 0.5 MOA), long before a "hunting" barrel would be (i.e. 1 MOA), so a straight swap onto another action is feasible. Of course the barrel could also be easily shortened from the muzzle end (easy and cheap) or re-profiled (not easy, nor cheap), but accuracy should not be expected to improve much if at all. The most wear is usually on the throat area, and that's why many match barrels are "set back" to get more life from it and then retired. Setting it back a second time would not likely improve accuracy much.
Click to expand...

The objective would be to take 7 1/2 pound Heavy Varmint barrel and machine away everything that doesn't look like 3 1/2 pound Remington Magnum contour.;)
 
I've repurposed several match grade take off barrels from Match rifles. The last one was a 32 inch heavy profile, fluted Hart in 6.5mm with a 1/7.5 twist rate.

Here's what to look for when you purchase such a barrel.

How far has the throat/leade been pushed forward???? I've seen some of these barrels with throats pushed as far as 12cm. Not worn down other than the first cm or so but the sharp edges of the lands worn away. Some of these barrels are OK depending on how long they are and whether they can have the effected areas cut off and still leave enough barrel to work with.

Barrel profile. Profiling a barrel properly takes time, at $150 per hour for a gunsmith's lathe time, it quickly makes a cheap build into a very expensive build. There is a lot to be said for purchasing pre profiled barrels.

Then something most newbies to this sort of work seldom consider is the rate of twist. Depending on the purpose the barrel was utilized/ordered for, the twist rate may be to slow or fast for hunting bullets of the weight and length you prefer to use.

An example of this is a Hunter Bench Rest rifle with a 30 cal bore. Usually these rifles will have a 1/15 twist rate because the bullets they shoot best are flat based 125-135 Spire Points. They seldom shoot heavier/longer bullets well.

There is more but unless you can do the work yourself on one of these barrels the value disappears pretty quickly.


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Repurposed a "worn out" 260AI match barrel some time ago into a standard 260 hunter with a heavy sporter profile Still shoots very well indeed.

As bearhunter said, it can be costly. But it saves you a $500 dollar bill in the barrel blank so you need to factor that in. Contouring takes a lot more time than fluting. If I were to do this again I think I would find fluting the barrel the best way to reduce weight for a sporter application. However, it limits you in your rifle stock options. Chambering, threading would cost the same for any application.

So would I do it again. Yes, for the right application.

Also, I think setting back and trying to get another season out of a match barrel is not a bad idea. I think you just need to do it before erosion gets too far along. Perhaps say at 1500 rounds in some popular rounds, More in a 223, less in a 284 for example. But most folks I know would purchase a new blank for competition purposes. My 2c.
 
I recently repurposed a 30 inch Palma target rifle barrel in .308.
Barrel cut to 22 inches, and set back an inch or so from the chamber end. Possible the best shooting .308 Cooey around.
Some of the target rifle crowd will let go of their ussed barrels fairly cheaply, and re contouring not really necessary.
I'll try to post a pic later.
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When a match barrel is pushed away, it usualy still shoot better than any low priced hunting rifle. But I have reprofiled 2 barrels yet ( my lathe has a 14 " taper attachment) and it took so much time which I dont really have any more that I just buy another blank and build a top notch hunting rifle. I really like benchmark.
 
Some of the most accurate rifles I have had featured re-purposed barrels. I consider re-contouring to be a minor issue and , usually, not that much work. Given the prices of new barrels, utilization of take-offs makes more sense than ever.
 
I have done it a number of times.

I cut as much shank off the barrel as possible, leaving just enough to make a shoulder for the receiver.

Barrels are cut back to 20". This makes for a decent weight and handy rifle, without the loss of any accuracy.

Using 308 barrels I have made a 7.62x39, a 308Win and a 308Brit (308 barrel with a 303 chamber).

Used an old 223 barrel to make a 22-250.

No profiling. The DCRA Palma contour is not too heavy.
 
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