Barrel dimensions

Tim,

The stock you see in the picture is not too bad for weight, 2lb 6ozs (after much trimming).

Now you have surprised me, I handled one of the Swindlehurst actions in Italy last year, and it was one heavy lump of metal. Wouldn’t have thought it would make 10.5lb with a 24” .900 barrel on, but I’m happy to take your word for it.

One final question, if I may – I assume you have a Harrell tuner on the above, is this bare or do you have some weights on it?

Brian
 
Hello Brendan,

I have been shooting 22 RF Benchrest here in France for the last 8 years with some success. I had the opportunity to shoot several barrels either on my rifles or close friends rifles.
Since the WBSF draft was published about 3 years ago, we decided to use the only one rifle 14 pounds format. This allowing to "recycle" a lot of ISSF used rifles (still in good shape) with minor modifications, and we are pleased with that, the participants number in our registred matchs is rapidly increasing every year.
This year we had 26 registred matchs in our National Circuit, and we should have at least 35 next year (starting in september).

Concerning barrels, I had the best results with the rather "skinny" barrels ( .825" to .850" ) fitted with a let us say heavy tuner ( Harrel's with the heavyest, or medium, additional weight ).
The bigger barrels seems to be more finnicky regarding tuner weight and setting. The "tuning windows" seems to be much more narrow.

Another concern is rifle balance. Our rifles are nose heavy, with rather long barrel and heavy tuner. I had good results adding over 1 pound of lead in the butt of the stock. So, I spare some weight on the barrel to place it in the butt. All in all, my rifles weight at about 13 pounds and ride the bags very well.

Concerning barrel brand, I had the opportunity to shoot:
- 1 Anschütz 1907 factory barrel
- 1 Hart
- 1 Krieger
- 2 Shilen 4 grooves ratchet rifle ( 4 years ago)
- 2 Border Barrels
- 8 Broughton ( 4 or 5 grooves, I am unable to tell any difference !! )

The Krieger was the least performing, but a barrel does not make a rule !!!
I shoot only Kriegers in centerfire, but the rimfire barrel I got ????
I personnaly prefer the Broughtons because of their consistancy.

Be aware that "fashion" is a major parameter in barrel choice. 4 years ago, fashion was Lilja,then 2 years ago Benchmark, to date the rage seems to be Shilen 4 grooves ratchet.
I am rather faithfull in my brands choice and I stick to Krieger in CF, Broughton in RF.

These lines are only reflecting my humble opinion.
Sorry if my English is not perfect, it's not my mother langage ;)

Your friend,

The Pigman ( Jean-Louis Espinet )
 
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Brendon,

I agree with the pigman on a couple of things.

1/ the real thick barrels are hard to tune and not worth the trouble. If you really want a 1.25 make it a little shorter and forget the tuner, but I think anyone going that way will chase their tail looking for ammo to work in it. But you can get lucky with ammo, so don’t let us stop you.

2/ they are front heavy and to balance it up I’ve got a pound of lead in the butt of mine too.

3/ Broughton are good barrels, that is what is on my big gun at the moment and there is a shipment of Broughton rimfire barrels for a select few coming into Australia soon.

Peter
 
Barrel Ammo match up

I think the lead in the humble RF projectile has an impact on barrel selection. I have trouble getting the "hard" lead in top Eley to preform in my tight Lilja, but the softer Lapua lead seems to cope with the under sized bore better.
I have one of the Broughtons coming to Australia going onto a 10.5 gun and I am looking forward to seeing if that theory stands up.
I also think we need to have a re-think on our tuner design aliitle to save some weight. I have one ready for the Broughton when I get it into the shop.
Brett
 
Brett said:
I think the lead in the humble RF projectile has an impact on barrel selection. I have trouble getting the "hard" lead in top Eley to preform in my tight Lilja, but the softer Lapua lead seems to cope with the under sized bore better.
I have one of the Broughtons coming to Australia going onto a 10.5 gun and I am looking forward to seeing if that theory stands up.
I also think we need to have a re-think on our tuner design aliitle to save some weight. I have one ready for the Broughton when I get it into the shop.
Brett
Click to expand...

Hi Brett,

Do you have any Brinell or Rockwell hardness numbers for the lead alloy used by Eley and Lapua “or” can you tell me how you calculated this if you didn’t use one of these tests.

What you’re suggesting could definitely have an affect on accuracy, but the softness of the lead alloy would also influence how much the bullet is deformed or reshaped from launch acceleration “before” it enters the bore.

If you’re interested, I can provide some documentation for this but not immediately.
Let me know.

Landy
 
Hardness

I don't know if one is harder than the other, but the lube use on Lapua, gives you the preseption that it is softer than Eley.
 
Barrel length

Perhaps you need the same profile as an RTM smithed Shilen fitted to a BRNO 2 approx. 16" long from the early 1980's

I've seen one that shoots extremely well with tuner aids; just a simple glue in on the barrel

Blind
 
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