Hello, the factory barrel on my winchester model 70 300 Winchester short mag was not giving me the consistant accuracy that I wanted, so I am haveing it rebarreled, with a Lilja. This is a hunting rifle, and I wanted to know if there is any significant accuracy difference in a number two taper,and say a number five? I know there is a weight difference. Which taper would you recomend?

His web site gives dimensions and weights on various tapers. I do not believe you would encounter an accuracy difference but when I have done projects in the past, Dan Lilja was more than helpful with questions like this....I would talk/e-mail with him before doing any project using his barrels.

If you are talking about practical hunting accuracy there won't be any difference and I wouldn't carry a .30 with a muzzle diameter much over 0.575".

Before you went to the expense of a re-barrel, I would make sure the bedding and trigger were right first. I know a couple of people who have WSMs and get less than an inch groups (and one gets .5") with the factory set ups. If you need to re-barrel, I agree with Bill, get it as thin as you can and stay with 24".

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Larry

DB Bill, and Larry S, I was wondering why you would stick with a thinner barrel on a hunting rifle? Just for the weight?

On the Lilja website I believe they state that the #2 contour is 1/2 pound lighter than the #3 contour. I have seen the #3 contour and it is a rather hefty barrel for .30 caliber and under.