I am building a long range shooter on the Stevens 200 that I got for x-mas. I have already lined up the stock, trigger, bolt knob, etc. I am, however, having a difficult time picking out a barrel manufacture. I really would like it to be 30 or 32'' and have throat cut long so I can seat SMK's out long. Money is a little tight but I want a quality barrel, just one that wont break the bank. I am leaning on Criterion but am open for suggestions.

30 inches is a pretty long tube.

The problem with long tubes is that they really warp when they heat up. So shot strings need to very slow and preferrably on cold days.

If you can make it work go for it, just do as heavy a contour as you can find.

I'd use a barrel block to bed the rifle. If your going to go that long.

My 338 Imperial, a full length 404 Jeffery necked down is on a 27.5" Kreiger that i am very happy with. Good Luck with your project.

quote:

Originally posted by MOA TACTICAL:
30 inches is a pretty long tube.

The problem with long tubes is that they really warp when they heat up. So shot strings need to very slow and preferrably on cold days.

If you can make it work go for it, just do as heavy a contour as you can find.

I'd use a barrel block to bed the rifle. If your going to go that long.

Only reason for going that long is my buddies that shoot long range swear by the long tubes. Their Lapua's sport 32'' barrels. I am probably going to use a Douglas #7 or somthing similar

Buy a Krieger 9.35 twist. I've seen a few Edge's built on Kriegers shoot better than most Benchrest guns.

IdahoCTD,

were the 9.35 twist design for 250 or 300 grains?

Any good barrel, machined by a good smith, should shoot well. I've used a few now and cannot say that any are honestly better than others. I prefer Lilja but that is because I have used more of Dan's barrels than any other.

Any twist at or below 1-10" should do what you want. I don't see any reason to use a 30-32" barrel when 27-28" should get it done. If you insist on a really long tube I also suggest a barrel block.

Realistically a 10 twist will stabilize 300gr bullets but it seems like Krieger really has the 9.35 twist dialed. The velocity difference between a 28" and 30" isn't huge with a 338 at the Edge's powder capacity.

I've gone away from Lilja personally because I've had a few that didn't shoot well at all and have a friend that bought one of his barrel where the bore looked like a jump rope when the lathe was spinning because it was out about .030". Dan told him it was in spec. for straightness even if it was contoured way off. Since then I've been using cut rifled barrels almost exclusively and haven't had a bad barrel yet, knock on wood. I've had some unbelievably accurate Harts and some seriously bad ones too. Every Schneider, Krieger, Bartlein, and Brux I've used have been under 1/2" shooters with some hovering around 1/4". To Lilja's credit I have a .416 Rem. that will shoot 1/2" any day I can and has shot closer to 1/4" on occasion.

My current Edge was built by Carlock, and has a 30" fluted 1-10" barrel on a Bat action. It does an easy 2850 fps with 300 grain SMKs and 92 grs of H1000. I've good 3 friends with Edges built on Rem 700s with 30" 1-10 Gaillard barrels. Their speeds are almost exactly the same with the same loads.

My first Edge had a 27" 1-10" Montana rifleman barrel. I could only get 2650 fps out of that one.

IdahoCTD,
I had the same problem with Dan barrel in 338 RUM, pretty much got the same response as you did in 2005 according to my invoice, so I sold the rifle right away and decided on a 338 Lapua build.

Thinking about Mike Rock, Obermeyer and Kreiger cut rifled barrel's for a 300 grain Berger and Sierra bullets.

I don't have experience with Rock or Obermeyer even though I have 1 each of their barrels that I haven't chamber them yet. The Obermeyer I ordered 10-12 years ago and it took 16 months to get so I was a little turned off by that and lost interest in it. I do have another 7mm barrel on order from Obermeyer now. I ordered it the beginning of Jan. and he said he was running 7mm's in a month or two but I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully it's not like the last order. I have several Bartlein and Krieger cut rifled barrels and haven't been disappointed yet. Of the button rifled barrels the only company I've used and haven't got a dud from was Schneider. I've used Hart, Lilja, Shilen, and PacNor. I have 2 Douglas and 1 Lothar Walther that shoot acceptable and 1 Blackstar I (made by K&P) that is a tack driver. The most accurate rifles I've ever build wore Hart barrels but so were the most inaccurate. I had a Hart .308 that shot in the .0's and .1's so often it was boring.

As a side note...A friend of mine built a guy a .338 Edge with a Kreiger 9.35 twist barrel on a untrued Remington 700 action recently. The guy has high dollar benchrest rifles with custom actions and competes regularly in benchrest with a Dasher. He thought he would have to have the action trued later on and almost didn't have the gun built because of it. It's the most accurate rifle he owns.