The only stupid question is one.....

Is it wise to buy a rifled blank and have a smith contour it? I thought stresses could be introduced?

All the top barrel manufacturers are set up to contour their blanks and can do it much cheaper than an individual shop can. Unless you need a specific contour that is not offered by the barrel company, I would let the manufacturer do it. A knowledgeable and properly equipped gunsmith can contour the barrel without causing damage to the bore.

As far as I know, for button and cut rifled barrels, all barrel makers start with round stock, deep drill then rifle. After that is done, then they contour.

Hammer forged barrels start as a shorter bit of stock, and are hammerd out forming the bore and grooves and contouring at the same time, and then a finish cut is made to clean up the contour.

Properly done, there is no problem with a smith re-contouring a barrel, as they are just taking off more material than the manufacturer did.

The only unwise part is paying extra to have a blank re-contoured as you could just buy a blank from the barrel maker contoured exactly the way you want it.

Thanks guys, see my post on then.376 Steyr. TMR has the blanks but won't contour as light as I'd like, may have to have a smith do it.