Switch barrel

MarkSobo

MarkSobo

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Gents, I'm interested in getting some advice on a switch barrel setup, and whether or not it's worth the hype. Specifically my questions/concerns:

1. Do you lose accuracy with the prefit barrels?
2. Does anyone actually benefit from being able to quickly switch out a barrel, because I assume no one actually does this in the field. Is the conventional barrel vise and torque wrench method that much more difficult?

im wanting to spend some money on a top tier action (defiance, terminus, ARC...haven't decided) and due to the cost I'm wanting to get the most usage out of it. That's why being able switch barrels and calibers seems interesting.

Any real world experiences and thoughts would be appreciated. I'm a nube and have zero experience with switching out barrels.

Mark
 
1. No
2. You still need those tools regardless.

Every rifle is a switch barrel rifle and most popular cartridges will be supported by a standard bolt face. Years ago I used to think it would be cool to swap barrels in the field, but for what? For what purpose would you need to quickly swap from a 6br to a 308 in the field? When you swap barrels, are you also swapping scopes? If not, you're zero will also be different. Even if you swapped scopes, it won't necessarily be zeroed where you think. You also aren't saving anything by buying a prefit barrel vs getting one chambered by your gunsmith.

Pick the cartridge you would like to shoot, screw on a barrel on and go shoot. If you are trying to be cost effective, you also have to think about all the accompanying things for different cartridges/calibers. Dies, brass, bullets, primers, powders, comparators, mandrels, bushings etc etc. If you want to get the most value, pick one, shoot the hell out of it and have some fun.
 
You won't need a vice with the Terminus Zeus if you buy the model with the qc option. I was going to go that way but it proved difficult to buy a Zeus action in a timely manner.
 
Some folks love them and others, not so much.

I've had a couple of switch barrel rifles over the years, nothing spectacular or overly expensive, but still decent rifles for my purposes.

In my case, I found I wasn't utilizing the option of switching out the barrels to different cartridge types.

I was even avoiding the option, as long as the cartridge I was shooting would suffice.

There are a lot of good reasons for having a switch-barrel firearm.

They make a lot of sense if you're limited for space or you have a limit on the number of firearms you can have.

I didn't notice accuracy deterioration, but I wasn't lucky enough to have a rifle that could swap one barrel for another and still maintain zero.

This doesn't seem to be the issue with some of the systems offered today, but it doesn't come cheap.

I've had break actions with barrel sets, but they were "double or side by side" actions. The sights and scope were on the barrels, so when they were "switched," they were already sighted in. None of them were tack drivers but acceptable for their intended purpose.
 
I have a Pristine 6mm Creed with a IBI prefit, shoots excellent. For this action I have the ARC/Grendel bolt and have a IBI prefit that just needs chambering by gunsmith to 22 ARC, it will be a switch barrel setup
 
I have a few rifles I have multiple barrels for. Besides shooting them 3 4 times initially, I never switch calibers.
What I suggest is, get an action you like, get a barrel in a widely available caliber, don't try and chase the extra 100fps velocity from soms exotic wild cat and enjoy. Unless you enjoy reloading/ pushing the limits of cartridges for disciplines like Fclass etc.
I have gone the full circle of wildcats, switch barrels etc and the gun i currently enjoy most now is a simple 300wsm. I enjoy it so much my 7mm barrel for it is still at the gunsmith and 99% sure I ll never get it chambered. Prints one hole groups, recoil is mild and I can shoot factory ammo.
 
I have two IBI prefits in 6Br and a 300wsm Benchmark. Two of them have two stocks. The only difference in accuracy comes from the extra recoil and getting comfortable with the stock. The second prefit I green locktited the nut to the barrel. Nut wrench, action wrench and go gauge is all I use. I'll be ordering my first of three switch barrels in the spring. 338 Edge, 280AI and a .308. Always wanted a 300 Weatherby, 25-06 and .243 too. Don't need more than my old .308.
IBI's are really good.
R700, IBI med. 6BR, B&C M40 clamped in the BOG DG standing at 1/2 mile. Just after sunrise and snowing so I couldn't see the first hit, cranked one minute left to track cold bore. Moved #1 8.4 inches.
image_cropper_5AAC17EA-CBE9-4AC7-8431-3D19355DE790-7689-000005CA1A785358.jpeg
 
MarkSobo said:
Gents, I'm interested in getting some advice on a switch barrel setup, and whether or not it's worth the hype. Specifically my questions/concerns:

1. Do you lose accuracy with the prefit barrels?
2. Does anyone actually benefit from being able to quickly switch out a barrel, because I assume no one actually does this in the field. Is the conventional barrel vise and torque wrench method that much more difficult?

im wanting to spend some money on a top tier action (defiance, terminus, ARC...haven't decided) and due to the cost I'm wanting to get the most usage out of it. That's why being able switch barrels and calibers seems interesting.

Any real world experiences and thoughts would be appreciated. I'm a nube and have zero experience with switching out barrels.

Mark
Click to expand...


1. No
2. No/Yes but really no.

I just ordered another ibi barrel with the black friday sale. Making a 6GT for the daughter. My original I ordered was 6.5 CM in 26" stainless with every intention to make it a switch barrel, short 6.5 CM in carbon for hunting for my son as a second barrel. But could never get him interested, so just shot the bench rifle. That old barrel is now shot out and I have the 6Gt coming to replace it.

I did remove the 6.5 barrel for deep cleaning when I was getting some over pressure with the carbon ring, and copper build up, and didn't really lose zero. Maybe a quick 1/2" off.

That said, for different calibers you will want to have either a new scope with quick detach rings that you use, or write down the offsets to the different calibers, and then adjust the scope roughly, before a range verification visit. I think the scope settings will give you more problems, if you can even say that than anything else really. That is why some of the dedicated switch barrel set ups mount scopes to the barrel. Think Blaser, and there are others as well.

Shooting out one barrel and swapping to another caliber when you are done with that one is no problem and quicker with the prefits (barrel nut option) with no vise required. I did mark the bottom of my barrel with a mark, and on the action, and nut so when I removed them I could line them up again the same without needing any tools really besides a spanner wrench for the barrel nut. No torque wrench required.

You could do that with multiple caliber barrels, but the scope adjusting would be the longer, harder issue. Possibly taken care of with several scopes in quick detach rings, but that could get even more expensive than a new rifle depending on the scope used. Take for instance the march scope I installed on the bench rifle. Paid $4G for it. You can buy a new action and new barrel and stock for that price. I went the march for the smallish footprint so I could shoot out to our range max of 1400m and still use a smallerish scope for hunting by just swapping barrels. It is a great quality scope to be able to shoot distance, and still have all the features I wanted, and still be a smaller foot print compared to others out there. You pay dearly for those features.

Is it different hunting scenarios you are needing, or a different bench rifle/hunting rifle type thing?

Different dedicated rifles let you set them all up a little differently for the different aspects you might be using them for and sometimes that is the best way. Some things to ponder anyways.
 
You don't need a "switch barrel" setup to switch barrels, just a couple of tools.

The downside to many switch barrel systems is that any hard blows to the barrel/rifle can potentially result in a POI shift/loss of zero. A shouldered barrel that's torqued on at 100 ft-lbs will be more durable.

Also, not all QC systems are created equal. Some hold zero better than others.
 
Firstly, some of the responses here with regards to prefits are referring to prefits that use barrel nuts a la Savage barrels and Remage barrels. Since you are planning on buying a high end custom actions, I presumer when you say prefits, you mean shouldered barrels that are cut and chambered to the tenon specs of your action and not barrel nut setups.

So as to question #1, the answer is no. The precision of your rifle will be determined by the quality of the barrel blank and how good a chambering job was done. A prefit barrel from a high end smith like Insite Arms will shoot as well as a barrel that they chamber for you (when using the same blank)

For question #2, the answer is not really and no. Being able to quickly change a barrel with very minimal tools, as with an AI or Barrett, etc might save you a few minutes but you'll still need to dial on the offset needed to your scope (provided you log these things, which you should) and verify zero. Changing the barrel with a barrel vise and action wrench takes about 5-10 minutes and although it's easier to do at home than in the field, I've definitely lag-bolted a barrel vise to a stump before to do a barrel swap in the field and have swapped barrels at the range innumerable times. The tools required are minimal: barrel vise, action wrench (for your specific action) and a torque wrench.

I run every one of my short action bolt guns like a "switch barrel". I have Rem 700s, Defiance, ARC actions and multiple barrels, bolts/bolt heads for each action. That combined with the fact that all those actions share the same footprint (and can therefore be swapped into and out of all the stocks/chassis I have) gives me the ability to tailor how I want to setup a particular rifle for a particular task/use case. I've been doing it this way for almost 10 years and most of my actions have seen 20k+ rounds. If you intend on doing high volume practice for something like PRS, being able to run .223 for low cost practice and a match suitable cartridge (6mm, 6.5) on the same action can save you quite a bit of money. Feel free to pm any questions you have.
 
Question 1 - NO
Question 2 - some do swap at the range and even at matches but for the average shooter, being able to change at home is plenty good.

If you want to use cartridges with different head diameters, then look for an action that has interchangeable bolt heads (quite common now).. or available bolts to suit (not so easy)

Barrel nut or shouldered barrels is entirely up to you. If trying to save on cost and possibly time, barrel nuts prefits might be your choice.

If feeding from a mag, consider what is available and how all the bits work together so you have a system that functions.

If you stay in the hobby, odds are, you will end up with more rifles and swapping barrels will be used to account for barrel wear vs shooting something different tomorrow.

Jerry
 
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