I am thinking of building a 257 Roy on my SS Winchester 70 classic action. I have a McSwirly that fits the action and is made for a #5 shilen contour. I am looking for suggestions on a barrel. Preferably 26" finished length, SS, Fluted (to save some weight, in a #5 contour. I have been looking at Lilja, Krieger and Hart.

I built one years ago on an Interarms mag action and used a Shilen 26" barrel.

Damn thing turned out to be a prairie dog gun.....groups were spectacular often running 3/4" for three shots.

Then a guy came along and loved it...he offered me more than it was worth which of course means.....he now owns it. He lives in Montana.

I recommend a chamber without the Weatherby freebore. I've burnt out 3 barrels on a 7MM Weatherby. They all took a lot of experimenting to get an accurate load, which I blame on the freebore. I also think that the freebore contributes to fast barrel burning as gas leaks past the bullet in the freebore area. Jack O'Conner thought that the 7X57 burned barrels out faster than a 270 because of this. That is, the old 7X57's had a long throat to accommidate the 175-grain military bullets and if used with 120 or 139-grain spitzers there was essentially a long freebore. Anyway, between a freebore and having a hot cartridge, the bore could erode very fast. My last &MM Weatherby barrel had the throat frosted looking andd a loss in accuracy at 600 rounds. The next barrel was in 7MM STW. It took little effort to develope an accurate load. The throat are looks like new, but it has only about 300-400 rounds fired through it.

i''ll second what iowadon said about freebore, of the 3 barrels choices,ive got more shooting time with krieger cut barrels than the other two, but that doesn''t mean the other 2 arent great also,#5 fluted will be steller,go for it.regards jjmp