Can you guys shed some light on how the thickness and shape of a barrel affects accuracy. Are heavy barrels inherently more accurate? Do they heat up the same, dissipate heat the same, etc? I have a Ruger #1 tropical in 375 H&H and was wondering what a 375 would shoot like with a barrel that is less substantial (I'm not changing, just curious).

Barrel contour does not have an effect on accuracy; straightness, uniformity, and smoothness of bore do.

A heavier barrel contour will heat up more slowly, thereby slowing down any heat-induced warpage. However, some pencil-thin barrels shoot very well (for 2 or 3 shots anyway), and some heavy barrels shoot poorly.

Going to a thinner contour on your 1-H will increase felt recoil (due to decreased mass), and will result in excessive gaps between the barrel and the fore-arm (unless you have the hanger reworked or change to a 1-B or 1-V fore-arm.

Don't bother. It's not the answer to any accuracy problems you might have.

George

Other things being equal (and they rarely are) a heavier barrel will be stiffer and this means barrel harmonics (whip) will be less so the heavier barrel will tend not to be so sensitive to different loads....and having more metal to heat they will also heat up (on the surface where you feel it) as quick as a thinner barrel but then will be slower to cool also.

Again, "all things being equal", it is generally easier to get a heavy barrel to shoot a load accurately, and a heavy barrel will generally shoot more successive and closely spaced shots accurately than a light barrel due to the effects of heat stress.

The only reason to have a heavy barrel on a hunting rifle is to match the weight and balance of the rifle with the cartridge for which it is chambered. Since mass production at factories doesn't lend itself to individual contours matched to caliber, .25/06 sporters tend to weigh the same, or slightly more than .35 Whelan sporters; which obviously is not appropriate. And one make of rifle I've looked at uses the same contour for a .270 as for a .416 Remington!