I have a .270 on a VZ-24 action that has been my "beater rifle" for a while. It shoots OK but I am thinking of rebarreling it to .257 Roberts in a #1 or #2 contour -- mainly because the magazine isn't long enough for full-length .270 loads. I'd also like a truly low-recoil rifle as a loaner.

Which brand of barrel do you like best for the money -- considerations include accuracy, lack of fouling, etc.? The rebarrel work will be done by a fully qualified professional.

John

I'd say to a large degree, who threads and chambers the barrel will have a much larger effect on the accuracy then who makes the barrels. Not to say all barrels are equal, but they are pretty close in quality, and I haven't heard a one, even the less pricey ones as being bumm shooters when properly chambered.

Pac Nor seems to get the most votes in the quality/$ criteria, but you could also through in Douglas and Shilen. Put a few more $'s out, and you are looking at Lilja, Hart and Krieger.

Again, I'd much rather have a $200 barrel with a $400 chambering action blueprint, then a $500 barrel, and a $100 chamber job, as I'd expect the former to provide superiour accuracy.

I firmly belive what Paul said about the threading and chambering is true. To date I have 3 Douglas barrels, 1 Hart, and a Lilja on the way. The price difference between the 3 is very little. I have taken pains to break the barrels in and to care for them. All have shot extremely well. The Douglas barrels get a bad rap for fouling. But all three of mine foul very little. The Hart fouled less than the Douglas at first. Now I can tell very little difference. I expect the same out of the Lilja. The "smith" you use is, I believe is more important than the maker of the barrel if they all have a proven track record. JMHO

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight......RiverRat

Adams&Bennett $96 at Midway

For the money I'd go with a Pac-Nor Supermatch. If you want to spend a little more then throw in a Lilja or a Hart. Another excellent barrel seldom mentioned on this board are Gary Schnieder's from Arizona. There are others but these are the ones I favor. sure-shot

If you're going to have your own gunsmith fit the barrel then you'll be suprised to find that there's not much difference in price between the top of the line barrels and the so-so barrels. For example, I was surfing the barrel makers sites the other day and started adding up what it would cost for a contoured barrel for a .257 roberts I'm having built. I looked on the douglas and the Hart websites and was suprised to find that when it was all tallied up the hart was only going to cost me $10 more than the douglas. Looking at shilen and pac-nor I found similar prices. Actually, pac-nor was going to cost more because they charged extra for cutting the featherweight contour. What I'm saying is that there's little difference in the prices between the mediocre barrel makers like douglas and the top of the line ones like hart, so why not use the best?

My long awaited .338 Win Lothar Walther has finally arrived. Now, I'm eagerly waiting for it to be installed on my Win 70, so I can head to the range and see how well it shoots as I need (another...)Moose rifle but an accurate one, at that...

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Andr�

[This message has been edited by Andr� Mertens (edited 02-02-2002).]

In my opinion there are 2 seperate answers to the issue of barrel quality Vs chambering quality.

If you full length size so the cases have about .003" or so headspace, then barrel quality will almost totally determine the accuracy you get. For example a switch barrel bench gun in 270 that has a few thou of shim put between the barrel and receiver, but only on one side, will still top groups.

In fact the drop of in accuracy will often be small enough that it will take several groups to show a fall off.

Neck sized only cases can be quite different and are far more dependent on everything in the action and barrel lining up.

But overall, in a rifle that is correctly bedded and scope and mounts are OK, then I would take the top barrel everyday over a lesser barrel and trued up action.

Real good barrels just seem to want to shoot and shoot with lost of different loads.

Mike

I'd go with a Lothar-Walther barrel and get it in 270..the 1909 works fine with a 270 Win. cartridge...Have it openned a little if necessary when you rebarrel it...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Correction VZ-24 works fine if openned up a little, not a big job at all...Even the 257 Robts. benifits tremendously from a 06 lenth action.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com