Badger or Krieger?

[Marlin Junky]

I'm looking to rebarrel one or two M77s (either the .358 or .350, or both) and am wondering who would be my best choice of the two: Badger or Krieger? I want to shoot 170 to 270 grain boolits fast... no more 2000fps limitation. I haven't talked to anyone at Badger yet, but Krieger can only provide a bore diameter of .3500" (I forgot to ask what their tolerances are) with a 14" or 16" twist.

Then there's the question of stainless vs. CM. I'm leaning toward stainless just to save the darn bluing charge! Will a stainless barrel make a good (1 MOA) cast bullet shooter?

MJ

[felix]

Better have a smithy who has mucho accuracy experience with Rugers do the restocking. I would hate to spend money on a real barrel with a lousy action fit. ... felix

[eka]

Not to throw you a wild card, if you have for sure narrowed it to these two. But, a buddy of mine has bought three Shilen barrels (.223, .22-250, & 6.5MM) and they are really slick units. The 22-250 was doing right at 1" at 300 yards without much load work (nasty orange bullets). I'll have to say, I'm impressed. All except the 12 week or so wait. I told him if he'd been shooting cast it would probably have been a 1/4 inch group :mrgreen:.

Keith

[docone31]

I got an Adams and Bennett cheapie heavy barrel. I am very pleased!
With the Rugers, just put a washer from an inner tube, cut one out, and put it under the front action screw.
I read that somewhere, and my M77 was a slinger. Now she prints real well.
Cheapie fix.
Bedding isn't that hard. Anyone can do it. Matter of fact, I had two Palma rifles built, one for my wife and one for myself. I had to rebed both actions once my gunsmith was done bedding them. Both barrels tipped upwards, couldn't use the sights.
Many, many times, I have found, if you want it done right, do it yourself.
Pillar bedding is a snap also. Actually easier than full action bedding.

[Bass Ackward]

I haven't talked to anyone at Badger yet, but Krieger can only provide a bore diameter of .3500" (I forgot to ask what their tolerances are) with a 14" or 16" twist.MJ


If you can't win fair in life .... cheat. I .... think you better call them again.

They told me that they could use the 357 tooling and give me down to a 346 bore with .3575 groove. By the time the groove cleans up, you have a .358 and thus .006 tall rifling. More important to me is number of lands. 6 lands X .006 = .036 of drive area. 4 X .006 is only 24. So you can accomplish the same thing by staying at .004 tall rifling and going to 6 or 8 lands. I had them make 8 lands. .006 tall for my 45. Fouling is a thing of the past. :grin: Have I ever said that I like tall rifling?

What you have to watch is that you have a rotating pilot on your reamer. Then you can change the size of the pilots to fit the .346 bore. A fixed pilot may or may NOT fit, but with tolerances THAT close, there is a good chance that chips will cause it to bind and snap that pilot clean off, thus ruining the reamer. Got the T-Shirt for that one too many times :grin:

That's the curse of taller rifling, your smith has to understand and be set up to handle it.

[GabbyM]

Then there's the question of stainless vs. CM. I'm leaning toward stainless just to save the darn bluing charge! Will a stainless barrel make a good (1 MOA) cast bullet shooter?

MJ

Brownell's OXPHO-BLUE will blue a barrel that looks about like a Remington flat finish. I don't even polish them out. Just rub it on with a cleaning patch. If a fellow was to actually polish the steel first I think it would come out shinny blue. Some barrels are a little rough with metal whiskers when you get them. I just sand them with fine grit held in my hand. Until they are smooth. Finish off with fine steel wool to take out the swirl marks and call it good. After a few weeks to allow the bluing settle I'll polish them with auto polish and that's it. No oil or any of that smelly stuff. They always wear out from the inside out for me.

It takes over night for the nice blue color to sink in. You wake up in the morning and go WOW.

Cold blue isn't durable like a hot blue but I don't care. You have your little bottle of liquid gun blue to fix any scratches.

[Marlin Junky]

They told me that they could use the 357 tooling and give me down to a 346 bore with .3575 groove. By the time the groove cleans up, you have a .358 and thus .006 tall rifling. More important to me is number of lands. 6 lands X .006 = .036 of drive area. 4 X .006 is only 24. So you can accomplish the same thing by staying at .004 tall rifling and going to 6 or 8 lands. I had them make 8 lands. .006 tall for my 45. Fouling is a thing of the past. :grin: Have I ever said that I like tall rifling?


Bass,
I hadn't considered the 38/357 barrels for two reasons: .346" is an awful small bore. I probably should check all my "rifle-type" molds but I'm pretty sure most cast around .349" on the nose. A .346" bore may shove these boolits into the case upon chambering. The other reason was the twists available in the .346" bore are 1:10" & 1:18.75"; i.e., too fast and too slow.

I can appreciate .006" high rifling for a .45 bore but that sounds pretty high for a .35. My .35-336A (1951) has .005" tall rifling and it'll even shoot SAECO 352 to 2100 fps well; however, where do we reach the point of diminishing returns?



What you have to watch is that you have a rotating pilot on your reamer. Then you can change the size of the pilots to fit the .346 bore. A fixed pilot may or may NOT fit, but with tolerances THAT close, there is a good chance that chips will cause it to bind and snap that pilot clean off, thus ruining the reamer. Got the T-Shirt for that one too many times :grin:

That's the curse of taller rifling, your smith has to understand and be set up to handle it.I was going to send the barreled action to Krieger (or Badger) and have them do the chambering and installation (I think it was around $275). Let me know if you want to do the chambering/installation. I don't know when I'll purchase the barrel though... it may be some time before I can make a decision, especially with this .006" high rifling idea floating around in my head. :-D

MJ

[bruce drake]

PacNor Barrels offers that caliber for Rugers. I've got one on a Mauser that I use for Long-Range shooting and its great. Chris is threading a barrel in that caliber for an Enfield #4 for me right now for me to mount once I get back from Iraq.

Bruce