I need to replace the barrel on my 22-250. Its a Rem 700 about 20 years old, it won't group anymore and I have cleaned it until all patches are whiter then when they went in. It still wont group. So I have a strong feeling its gone. I have no clue how many rounds have been through it but if I had to guess I would say around 3000.

I was looking at a Shilen replacement from Brownell and was wondering what twist a factory rifle has. I think its 1-14 but I want to be sure. Would this be correct? It mostly a varmit rifle and I shoot 50's and 55 grain 90% of the time.

Its a standard BDL Mod 700 nothing fancy. I am going to upgrade the stock too since this one is beat to hell.

Yes, it's 1-14 and it's not a dumb question. According to my information most of the manufactures use or used a 1-14 twist for the 22-250 and Swift.

Most all of the 22-250 rifles use the 14 twist. It is my opinion that some of the 55 grainers would be better off in a 12 twist. If you go with that you could shoot a heavier bullet if you choose.

You might be able to have someone Air gauge it an depending on what's found , maybe lopping off some of it

an Re crowning it ?. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43odFm0mrI

Just a suggestion ;

3000 isn't a whole lot of rounds.... Do you reload? If so, have you tried "casting" the chamber - see how much "freebore" is eroded? Is the stock loose, scope, bases? Have you changed loaded ammo lately? Different bullet? Hundreds of reasons it may not be shooting 1/2"groups, I'd check all I could, unless you "Want" a new barrel? lol..... It may be gone, who knows. $2-300 for barrel, another bunch to have it installed, time you wait on gunsmith, money.....

By the way, you can get the barrel in even faster twist for heavier bullets, 1-12, 1-10 even faster 1-8..... The fastest twist might make it so that the lighter bullets present a problem, that's a different story.... My Remington is 1-14 twist, I wish it were at least 1-12 to shoot the 60gr better. My AR is 1-8, it will take .224 up to 75-80gr range.....

After 3000 rounds I'd take a WAG guess and say that there may be some throat erosion.

It'd probably cost less to trade it on a new M-700 than to rebarrel and fix the stock.

Actually....quite a bit less!

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
It'd probably cost less to trade it on a new M-700 than to rebarrel and fix the stock.
Actually....quite a bit less!

Good advice! But My personal choices would be a Savage Mod 12bvss, or a Ruger Varmint. These rifles at the range produce some really small groups.
What would you want for that worn barrel, beat up stock and well used action? roger

I get my Shilen barrels from thebarrelman.com. He has the best prices on Shilen that I have found. I am not sure he carries the pre-threaded pre-chambered barrels though. God Bless, Louis

I'm in agreement with the trade in camp rather than the re barrel camp. Unless the rifle has senimental value. And I'd stick with the 1/14 or 1/12 twist. It's a varmint rifle. If you want to shoot 75gr bullets, get a .243. that's a varmint rifle also.

Its not how many rounds down the barrel,its how hot you got the barrel when you were shooting.If you want to do your own project I would go for it.If wanting a new rifle the savage is what I would be looking at.

Brand new take-off barrels for the Rem 700 are readily available and very economical. Have you considered that as an alternative to spending alot of money on a custom barrel? No chambering, no contouring, no bluing -- just screw off and screw on, with a check of the headspace to make sure it's within tolerance.

1/14 for 50gr and below...1/12, 1/10 or 1/9 for 55gr and above...besides someday you might like to rechamber to 22-243 Midd and REALLY get a performance increased with 60 gr and above.

Thanks for the replys. I am doing it to learn how to do it. My father has built a few rifles from the action up and is now working on a double from a 16 ga double. I want to learn so this is a project for me. This was the first gun I bought myself so there is some sentimental with it. My others were bought by my mom and dad. I traded a POS Ruger 06 that would not hold a 2 inch group for this rifle and a few bucks. I have had it for at least 20 years.

Here is the history. It always shot Federal and Rem factory ammo from 1/2 group to 1 inch group depending on the bullet, load etc. About three years ago I started loading for it. Some rounds on the hot side but most of the loads were midhigh range of the load manuals.

Last year while developing some 50 grain Blitzking loads I noticed I could not get it to group under 1.5 inches. The very first thing I did was check all screws and bolts on the scope and gun to make sure everything was tight. I then thought maybe the scope so I put a brand new one on. No change.

I then bought a box of 55 grain Rem soft points. I have killed a bunch a Couse Deer with this round and I get about .75 group with them. It was shooting about 1.75 group now. I thought maybe it was me, bad day at the range. Went out a few weeks later and I got it down to 1.5 but nowhere close to the .75. This 1.5 was the best. Some of them were 2.5 and there is no consistentcy with the groups.

Thats why I think it needs a new barrel.

I am not worried about the install or the stock part. I don't like the lighter bullets below 50 grain so maybe 1/12 would be ideal. That way if I wanted to shoot something a little heavier I could.

Now you got me thinking about changing calibers although I love the 22-250 round. Damnit I hate it when I do that.

I would get a faster twist. Worst case is the light bullets wouldn't shoot as well. But most likely you will get higher RPM, which will help tear vermin up, plus you can buck the wind better with higher BC bullets.

Bigger scopes, skinnier women, faster twist. All this is largely fashion.

The 1-14 twist, particularly in the fast .22-250, will stabalize conventional bullets of at least 60 grains, and very likely 65 grains.
"Conventional" meaning a lead core, lead tipped spitzer. Unless you wish to use very long bullets (like the Berger VLD) or very heavy hollow point and polymer-tipped bullets, the 1-14" twist is fully adequate. Hell, 64 grain WW spitzers shoot fine in one of my .222's, so a 1-14" twist will sure as the devil shoot them (and longer) at the velocity of a .22-250.

Now, if you fancy that you'll start shooting 77 grain HPs, etc. in a gun that's never been used for this purpose, then go right ahead and get you one of those pretzal-maker barrels. Otherwise, stick with conventional twists for conventional bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Bigger scopes, skinnier women, faster twist. All this is largely fashion.

The 1-14 twist, particularly in the fast .22-250, will stabalize conventional bullets of at least 60 grains, and very likely 65 grains.
"Conventional" meaning a lead core, lead tipped spitzer. Unless you wish to use very long bullets (like the Berger VLD) or very heavy hollow point and polymer-tipped bullets, the 1-14" twist is fully adequate. Hell, 64 grain WW spitzers shoot fine in one of my .222's, so a 1-14" twist will sure as the devil shoot them (and longer) at the velocity of a .22-250.

Now, if you fancy that you'll start shooting 77 grain HPs, etc. in a gun that's never been used for this purpose, then go right ahead and get you one of those pretzal-maker barrels. Otherwise, stick with conventional twists for conventional bullets.

Thanks for comment and I agree. If and I say IF I did change twist it would be 1/12. But I am probably sticking with 1/14. I have no desire to shoot anything above 65 grains and now that I have a 270 WSM I will probably no longer use this on anything larger than a Coyote. So 50 to 55 grain is what I will shoot in it. 50 grain blitzkings do pretty good number on varmits.

quote:

But most likely you will get higher RPM, which will help tear vermin up

A screaming fast light bullet from a faster twist barrel tears 'em up better than a screaming fast light bullet from a slower twist barrel, huh? You're kidding right?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Bigger scopes, skinnier women, faster twist. All this is largely fashion.

What Stonecreek says in this thread has a lot of general validity. Ther are however screwball exceptions and today we witnessed that. My cousins bought a lot of bulk green plastic tip 50 grain .224 dia. bullets. In his normally fantastic performing 22-250 Ruger Varmint he gets mostly Key holes at 100 yds. Today I fired some of these bullets in my 12bvss .223 ; 6 shot .300" group ( all round Holes ). With the same rifle My cousin duplicated that performance. His might have been .350". Hard to understand ,but that's the story. roger