I have seen rifles in 308 advertised with a 5-R barrel designation. These are supposed to be superior barrels to the norm. Does anyone have any experience with them and were these barrels offered in calibers other than 308 by Remington?

I don't think you will find these offered in other calibers, but I could be wrong on that. It was in a Police Special version , and they are quite accurate.

LJS:

308 Sako is correct about the offering only in 308win, as far as I am aware.

The 700 ss 5R rifled barrles guns came out of the custom shop and are a bit hard to find. They are the commercial version of the M-24? sniper rifle...

I purchased one a couple of years ago as an "F" class (600 yd. rifle), loaded up Lupa brass, Varget, Fed 210s, and 175 grain SMK, first five shot group was .0185"...immediately called the gun shop and purchased another one...

Most accurate out of the box factory rifle I have shot. A few custom barrel makers make 5R rifled barrels and may make them in other calibers..Mike Rock (Rock Creek Barrels?) comes to mind.

The 5R barrels were also offered in 6.8SPC. If I can believe the guy at the store, Remington is no longer making these. It was a one time deal and when they're gone, they're gone. The last time I was in the local shop, they still had the 6.8. I bought the 308. It shoots better than the average factory gun, about the same as a VSSF model.

There's a lot of info on these on the sniper sites. They are viewed as a definite premium. I believe the barrels on those rifles were actually made by Mike Rock for Remington. Boots Obermeyer does the 5R, and probably did the most to popularize it.