Hey guys,
I've pulled the trigger on my new barrel project. (Actually, this will be a barrel for my 9 year old son to use deer hunting this fall.) Will be using a Les Bauska barrel blank to make a 20", 1:10" twist, blued, Contender carbine barrel to be chambered into 300/221 by Mike Sirois of On Time Technology. I'll use the factory synthetic forend and butt stock. Will have to cut off a few inches off the butt stock to fit my son's length of pull. Planning on using Hornady 130 gr SP (not the SSP bullet which has apparently been discontinued; despite e-mailing my questions twice, Hornady has yet to respond.... ) and/or 125 gr NBT. Hoping to get 2500 fps. I also have a 22 LR Contender carbine barrel which will give my son a chance to practice w/ during squirrel season. He didn't have the grip strength to open the action so ordered a device from Mike Bellm that should help. I'm hoping everything works out so that my son can try some deer hunting in November. Thanks to you guys for putting me onto Les Bauska and OTT. Price wise, this will end up being LESS than a factory (Fox Ridge) TC barrel. Gary T.

Good luck Gary to you & your son! The Les Bauska barrel should work well. I like the 125 Nosler Bal Tip in this cartridge. It just out shot everything else. I have shot one deer with it so far & perforrmed well. Keep us updated on your results.
Rich Jake

Congrats on getting your son started on hunting. It is time I was doing the same with my youngest boy.
If you are still wanting the Hornady 30 cal. 130 SSP, Midsouth still has them listed for 12.10/box. I looked at one synthetic stock and was not sure where you could cut it down without getting into the hollow cavity. I know you can get Contender youth buttstocks in walnut that are a couple of inches shorter. They are $70-75 new, I have trying to find a good used one for my boy. Good Luck with your project I sure he will enjoy it.
Mike

If you're set on using this for hunting and you are going to be pretty much limiting your bullet choices to < 150gr bullets, then why not get a little slower twist to help raise those velocities. I would think that 1-14" would stabilize 125-130 gr bullets and get you top velocities...not to mention help the rifling last longer near the throat anyway.

I just checked Shilen's site and they recommend 1-15" for bullets up to 150gr and 1-14" for up to 168gr bullets. Given the lower velocities from a Whisper type round 1-14" would certainly do it. Just a thought...

B_Koes, Those are good points to consider. In fact, I had some similar thoughts about the twist as well. As I understand it, JDJ developed the cartridge using the the fast twist to enable it to use heavy bullets (220-240 gr) at subsonic velocities, primarily for tactical applications. (On the other hand, Dr. Rogers, AKA "The Hitman," had a recent article in "The Sixgunner where he used a suppressed 300 Whisper carbine w/ 240 gr bullets to kill around 30(?) deer this past year w/ good success.) My 12" VVCG 300/221 barrel has a 1:8" twist. I use it for deer hunting w/ 125-130 gr bullets, but thought it would be good to have the capability of possibly playing w/ the heavy slugs some day. I've been very pleased w/ its performance. Consequently, thought I'd not stray too far from what's worked well for me so far. I believe the T/C factory barrels are 1:10" twist also. That having been said, I probably won't ever shoot anything heavier than 135 gr bullets in the new barrel.