I have been shooting my old Rem 700 VS for a while, mostly 100-300 yards from a rest. If I tried, my handloads in .308 Win would make 1/2" to 3/4" three shot groups at 100yd, though I have moved to shooting five shot groups and saw them go to 3/4"-1". This is from the original factory tube with around 3000rds through it.

I have the chance to have it rebarrelled; for the overall cost I can allow for, I am looking at a Shilen match barrel. My two questions are:

I shoot primarily 168-178gr bullets, so should I stick with a 1-12 twist? (No 1-11.25 available I guess)

I would like to go with a chrome moly barrel so I can have it finished like the action...or would a stainless steel barrel have more to offer in accuracy?

I don't think you would see any difference in accuracy between SS or CM with all other things being equal but I do think copper is easier to remove from stainless. I always opt for a faster twist rate barrel on the off chance that heavier bullets may be needed for something else.

I may be missing the point,but why do you want to change? roger

I agree, go with a faster twist. You can still shoot the 150 gr. bullets just fine and also the heavier ones. I would go to at least a 1-10. I usually build .308's with a 1-8 twist. It seems to work well and will shoot 150's to 220's well.

Having said all this, if it ain't broke why fix it?........Tom

I would give the factory barrel a little more effort, and maybe sure the trigger was a crisp 2 lbs or so. You don't mention what optics you are using, and maybe that is a limiting factor as well.

Try IMR 4064 at around 42.3 grs with 168's or 175 Sierras. Odds are the barrel will shoot better than you think.

As to custom barrels, they can be better if a very competent GS chambers and installs them. They will not shoot any better than what you are shooting unless the trigger and sights are already at an optimal configuration.

M2Cents, YMMV

Sputster

I'm with bartsche. 5 shots in 3/4"-1" is excellent. I don't think with a new barrel you have any guarantee of smaller groups. Jumping from 3 to 5 shot groups often will open your groups a little.

Mark

I see the various points you all have. A little more background: the barreled action is factory, and a year ago I did run the Tubb Final Finish bullets through it. The scope is a Leupold Tactical Vari-X III 4.5x14x40 (usually shot at 8x), mounted on Leupold standard mounts with a one piece base. The stock is an HS-Precision, and I recently put a Timney trigger in (set by the factory at 1.5lb).

I have just started shooting 5rd groups; for a long time I shot 3rd groups with a goal of .5" at 100yd - which I could get to sometimes, but not always.

In the past I worked out 155gr and 165gr Sierras with Benchmark powder; lately shooting 168gr Hornady and Sierra match bullets with Varget. I have a batch of 175gr and 178gr up next - so I could go through them and see how they do, before just going to another barrel. And I can try the 4064 too.

Thanks for the replies all.

The rate of twist is never a "hard" fact. In my 03A3 I can shoot sub-MOA groups with bullets from 130gr to 180 grains but it likes 165's the most. This is in the barrel it came with in the mid 50's when my dad bought the gun. The twist rate is 1:10.
In my 358 Winchester I have shot 150gr pistol bullets to 0.3" groups at 2508fps and 180grain bullets to .4" groups. This is a semi-custom gun based on a Remington 700 action, Douglas barrel with 1:12 twist.
It is a lot harder to get too fast a twist rate than it is to get too slow a twist rate. My experience has taught me that when in doubt go faster twist than the minimum needed.
In a 308 I would go with 1:10 unless I was going to use very light (100 - 110gr) or very heavy (200-up) bullets. The longer bullets need faster rifling and the shorter bullets need slower rifling but the lighter bullets will do fine with a twist rate that is 50% faster than needed while the heavy bullets will not work with a twist rate that is even 10% below the minimum required.