25-06 which barrel?

[WolfmanGK]

Hello,


I have a friend who is debating which barrel to use for his 25-06 with his gunsmith. His gunsmith is telling him that a narrow, sporter barrel is going to be more accurate than a bull barrel. He wanted me to ask here and see what you guys have to say. He also would like to know which barrel length is optimum.


I appreciate any wisdom and will forward it to my friend.

 

[loadedround]

I would think it would depend on how far or long he intends to carry his rifle and how he intends to shoot his rifle. A 26 inch medium-heavy barrel would be great for bench rest or long range shooting from a rest, but a royal pain to carry any distance especially in bad terrain. A lightweight 22" barrel is a joy to carry but he will be sacrificing velocity, possibly some accuracy, and recoil will greater with the lighter barrel. Your friend will have to make the choice depending on his rifle's use.

 

[Jim Watson]

His gunsmith is telling him that a narrow, sporter barrel is going to be more accurate than a bull barrel.

B.S.

The difference will be small if the quality is good, and I would rather hump a sporter barrel than a bull barrel on a .25-06 which is likely to be a hunting rifle, but that is just stupid.

I had a .25-06 once. I did not particularly want the caliber but it was the only thing available at the time with a 24" sporter barrel that was not a mag-numb. I think a 24" medium sporter barrel will be fine for most .25-06 uses unless he wants a traditional old heavy varmint gun.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Bbl length - for a round like .25-06, with a lot of powder and not a lot of area behind the bullet for powder expansion, in a hunting rifle, I'd want 24" as the optimum length.

As for profile, a thin barrel of good quality can be VERY accurate from a cold shot. It's when it starts heating that the trouble begins. Really it comes down to his age, general shape, and hunting conditions - how far is he going to be humping it? But generally, I would one one step up in contour from the pencil-thin barrel to simply a "lightweight" or "sporter weight" barrel, perhaps a "medium" contour, if he's young/strong, and/or not humping it very far. How many barrel profiles does he have to choose from, *exactly*, and what are the barrel thicknesses at the muzzle for each of them, *exactly*? And what's his age and fitness level? What kind of hunts? Rough, mountainous terrain, going in several miles? Or walking 50 yards to the treestand from the pickup truck? It all just depends.

 

[rcmodel]

The gunsmith is full of crap.

Unless:
The sporter weight barrel is one made by a very high quality barrel manufacture.
And the heavy barrel is one made in China out of an old truck axle.

Given barrels of equal quality, you can bet the heavy barrel will be potentially more accurate, especially when it gets hot from firing.

On the otherhand, a heavy barrel is just that. Heavy!
No fun atall to pack around in the woods.

And I agree with the others.
The intended use of the rifle is more important in selecting a barrel weight then ultimate accuracy.

A light rifle that will shoot 1 1/4 MOA will kill more deer then one that shoots 1/4 MOA but is too heavy to take hunting.

rc

 

[Bart B.]

Barrel length, weight and temperature have little if anything to do with their accuracy.

Skinny, whippy light weight ones shoot just as accurate as thick, stiff heavy ones.

If they change point of impact as they heat up, either the barrel's not stress relieved correctly or the receiver's face isn't trued square with its barrel tenon threads. People with properly stress relieved and fitted barrels can shoot dozens of consecutive shots 20 to 30 seconds apart into tiny sub MOA groups at any range. Lake City Arsenal tests match ammo at 600 yards shooting 200 or more shots per group. Good lots of ammo shoot 1 MOA and to do that well at 600 means they've got to be 1/3 MOA at 100 yards.