Remington Rifle Barrel Thickness and Effects on Accuracy

[Anthony]

Hello Everyone,

I've been browsing through Remington's catalog looking at the various types of Model 700 rifles in .300 Winchester Magnum. The mission of the rifle is a general purpose one with no specific use in mind. Kind of along the lines of Jeff Cooper's general purpose rifle roughly described in his book "The Art of the Rifle." My aim is to put some backup iron sights on the piece with a quick detatchable mount from Leupold with a short range scope and a longer range one.

Before going any further, please respect the fact that I am certain of the brand, action, and caliber of this rifle and please focus your help in expanding my knowledge of these differing barrel thicknesses.

There is the slim "Mountain Contour" barrel to save weight on the Mountain Rifle LSS.

Then there is the standard barrel on the ADL Synthetic and BDL models.

Then there is the heavier Sendero for long range accuracy.

At the moment, the Mountain Rifle LSS is front runner due to its light weight, but full length barrel and stock since as Cooper points out if the rifle isn't hand you won't have it with you when you need it.

How much does barrel thickness affect accuracy when multiple shots (read 3 or 4) fired in quick succession?

With the thinner "Mountain Contour" barrel how much could I expect accuracy to degrade when firing a string? Does the standard contour barrel have the same problem?

How much time is required for the thinner barrel contours to cool before its full accuracy potential returns?

Lastly, what is the different between the ADL and BDL models of the Model 700 series?

Thanks for all the help.

- Anthony

 

[Art Eatman]

In general, the faster heating of a thinner barrel means that the group size degrades after the third to fifth shot; commonly, after the third. For hunting, this is of no importance. IMO

Longer barrels give higher muzzle velocities, particularly with such as a .300 Magnum. A 26" .30-'06 will equal a 22" .300 Magnum.

A possible problem for some when using a very lightweight rifle is that of wobble when shooting offhand. This is more likely to be the case after hurrying uphill to get a shot on an animal, and you're huffing and puffing and trying to hold the rifle steady. A medium barrel can help offset this.

Digressing a bit: One of the reasons I like the concept of these new Short Magnums is that they can produce a rifle with a long, medium barrel, but a short and lightweight action. The overall weight is the same as a skinny/short-barrelled mountain rifle, but with better balance and ballistics. I believe I get at least some of this benefit with my 700 Ti in 7mm08, with its 22" barrel--and a total of 6-1/4 pounds.

Art

 

[TechBrute]

Everything Art said.

 

[bogie]

IMHO, an inch or so of action isn't gonna make that big a difference. A light stock and a good sling mean a lot when you're gonna carry it around all day.

 

[Art Eatman]

Bogie, an inch of receiver and bolt is about the same weight as a couple of inches of extra barrel length, isn't it? And that's around 150 ft/sec or so of muzzle velocity, right? Doesn't a skoshi bit of weight out front help in steadying one's hold on Bambi?

Sure, save weight on the stock, if that's feasible. And a plain sling beats these highly decorated thingummies, for sure...

, Art