I have a long action 700 that needs a new barrel.

I am thinking 6mm Ackley Rem or 6.5x284.

I can see merit and problems with both.

It will be a 28 inch MTU contour barrel in a AICS chassis.

Mr Big

It depends a lot on what you intend to do with it. I have a 6.5/284 that I use for long range match shooting. It is quite a nice cartridge, and has held a national record at 500 meters.

However I used to have a 7mmx57 necked down to 6.5 and improved. IMO this is a pretty optimal design, and I prefer it over the 6.5/284 (the 6.5x57 AI also held a national record for me at 1000 yards). I used RWS 7x57 brass which was excellent quality. The main advantage of the 6.5/284 is the ease of case forming (there is none required) over many of the alternate 6.5s.

FWIW, the 6.5/284 is at the end of its life, and I plan to move to a straight 284 Win with the next barrel. Not sure if I will be any better off, but I want to give it a try given the trend that has emerged in the last few years towards 7mm.

Regarding the 6mm Rem AI, I have not owned one. But I have had a 6/284 and a 243 Win AI. In my experience, the big 6mms are too big to be of any practical use. I could never really get the claimed velocities to make the big cases worthwhile - I used more powder, but got little practical benefit over smaller 6mm cartridges. In my opinion, the 6mm Dasher is outstanding, and the 6XC is worth a look. Other than that, I have no use for a bigger 6mm.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to move a big bullet as fast as you can. But in my experience, you get the best results moving a high BC bullet at around 2800fps to 2950fps, or thereabouts. At least that's my experience and that of many other long range shooters I have discussed this with. So that's what I tend to look for when deciding on a new barrel / chamber for a project.

Mate,

What twist and groove is your barrel?

Is it a Madco, TrueFlight or an American barrel?

Thanks for the tips, I have quite a good number of 700 actions laying around.

I have never used a Trueflight - they have a spotty reputation. Some really like them, but a number of good shooters I know have tried them, but didn't use them after their first barrel.

I have used a lot of Maddcos in the past. My 6.5/284 is a 1/8" Maddco HV contour. Most Maddcos are 6 groove button rifled, though he does make a few 3 groove barrels. I am in the process of rebarreling a rifle in 338 Edge, and that is using a Maddco 6 groove, 1/10" HV barrel.

Since the late 2000s, I have used mostly Kriegers, and these are still my favourites. I have tried a few Bartliens, but have not really had the same success with these as I have with the Kriegers. I now a number of very good competition shooters that have had great results with Bartlein barrels, but I have not been able to get the same lever of success. I do intend to try Bartlein barrels again though.

Sent you a PM.

Dan Lilja has a very good reputation in the LR venues these days.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Dan Lilja has a very good reputation in the LR venues these days.

For tactical matches and F-Class I have not seen that to be true.

Here is the tactical match standings from 2014.

The vast majority of shooters are using Bartlein.

Here are the stats.

Bartlein Barrels continued its winning streak in 2014. This year 30 out of the top 50 shooters were running Bartlein barrels. It takes the next 3 brands combined to just equal half as many as Bartlein had! They had over 3 times as many barrels represented as any other brand.

Benchmark Barrels made the jump from #4 in last year’s results to #2 in 2014. There were 9 shooters sporting Benchmark barrels among the top 50 shooters this year, which was a 250% increase from last year. There were several different gunsmiths represented within that number, which indicates that confidence in Benchmark Barrels is fairly widespread among precision gunsmiths.

Hawk Hill Customs made its debut onto this list in 2014 at #3, with four shooters using their barrels.

Krieger Barrels was a surprise at #4. In 2012, Krieger represented over 40% of the top competitors in the PRS, and that was cut in half in 2013 with just 19%, and that was cut in half again this year at just 6%. That means there was only 3 shooters who finished in the top 50 that said they were running a Krieger barrel. That is a surprising trend. Both Krieger and Bartlein started with approximately the same representation among these guys in 2012, but the stories obviously have diverged since then.

Dan Lilja wasn't even in the top 11 by percentage and nobody in the top 50 shooters was using a Lilja..

Lilja barrels were very popular in 1000yd BR about 10 years ago, and held many of the records in that period. However the last 10 years has seen a significant shift from buttoned barrels to cut rifled barrels.

Initially Kreiger made inroads as a supplier to short range and long range BR, then more recently Bartlein established a strong presence.

There tends to be a trend to "follow the leader" in the competitive shooting sports, so when a barrel maker is seen in the winners circle, an lot of others tend to follow.

Personally I have had better results with Krieger barrels than Bartlein, however their is no arguing with the great competition results that Bartleins have achieved in recent years.

Custom rifle builds have become enormously popular in the last 5 or so years. It has become common to see people contemplating their first build ask some version of the question on forums "who makes the best barrel". As if they are at risk of wasting their money by buying the "wrong" brand of barrel.

The fact is that many barrel makers are out there, and any one of those barrels is capable of shooting very well. And equally, all of these makers will occasionally produce a lemon.

At the end of the day, barrels are a consumable. If you shoot enough, you will go through plenty of them.

In Australia it was the same way as it is here.

F-Class and fullbore shooters swapping back and forth depending on what their mates shoot.

Everyone can make a great barrel and everyone can make trash, you have to spend quite a bit of money on barrels normally to end up with the best, and just because you buy 10 barrels from anyone doesn't mean that all ten will shoot.

http://www.accurateshooter.com...hampionship-secrets/


At 3,300 fps, the 105s deliver ballistics that are hard to beat, according to John: “My .243 shoots inside a 6.5-284 with 142s. Nothing out there is really ahead of [the .243], in 1000-yard ballistics unless you get into the short magnums or .284s and those carry a very significant recoil penalty. In the past I did shoot the 6.5-284. I went to the .243 because it had similar ballistics but had much less recoil. It doesn’t beat me up as much and is not as fatiguing.

With the .243… there’s no tensing-up, no anticipating. With the reduced recoil, I can break and shoot very good quality shots. I find I just shoot better shots with the .243 than I ever did with the 6.5-284.”


I can't wait to get my 240 Weatherby Broughton barrel assembled with a Borden action.

I had a 6mm AI and shot 95 SMKs at 3550. It was a laser, and I loved it. Barrel life was about 1500 rounds.

I regularly shoot Kriegers in competition but installed my first Bartlein a couple of months ago. I wanted to try the 5R rifling and I got in on a group buy for a discount and faster turn time.

So far it shoots good groups but is slower than my last couple of Kriegers. It only has 142 rounds through it so the jury's still out on it.

I know that 20 years ago Dan Lilja's claim to fame was in his excellent .224 barrels but he's never had as much success in the larger bores.