Looking for guidance on cast bullet freindly custom barrels.

[Rcmaveric]

This is going to be one of those cases where i know enough to be a danger to myself but not enough to know what kind of questions to ask.

I am in the planning stages of 3 custom barrels. I have to go over seas the begining of next year for 6 months and wife said I could splurge on my guns. I have searched high and low and cant really make heads or tails of online retailers order forms or really where to turn for the informations I need.

I want to order 260 Rem barrel for Savage Hunter 11 with 1 in 10 twist varmint style barrel (heavier than a hunter barrel but lighter than a bull). It currently has a 1 in 8 and i think the 1 in 10 would be way more cast bullet friendly with a 1.123 inch, 140g cast bullet (.61 BC). Burger bullet calculator says that is the slowest twist that will adequately stabilize my bulllets 1600 fps+. Obviously a short action but the rest of the specs i am clueless on like threaded and shank. Current barrel i cant get accuracy over 1450fps.

Next barrel is .270 Win barrel for a Savage Axis gen 2. I want a 1 in 12 twist rate with a varmint weight barrel. That should comfortably stabalize a 130g, .956 inch bullet (.320 BC) from 1600fps on up. Obviously a long action. No clue on the rest of the specs. Currently has a 1 in 9 and has great accuracy at 2050fps.

Third barrel is 6.5 Grendel barrel for an AR15. I just want a 1 in 11 twist as well as in a varmint weight. I tried to carry a bull barrel but that thing gets heavy. Its an ar... so contor... i dont know or does it really matter? First barrel was a 1 in 9 bull and had great accuracy at 2050 fps horrible to carry. Well accidents happen and this new cheap barrel has a 1 in 8.5 and i cant get any accuracy after 1650 FPS, its heavy as sin and fun to shoot so no real practical use unless still hunting.

Reason for the odd twist rates is because I have a theory. I want to see how the twist rates affact velocity/ accuracy and those are the calculated slowest twist that will stabilize my bullets at 1600 fps incase i cant get the velocity high enough. If i get the velocities into the 2000 FPS zones then those twist will be more than enough. I see a trend in my current twist rates, velocity and accuracies and i want to experiment. Problem is trying to find manufactures that offer those twist in those calibers.

As far as other specs i am thinking recessed crown and 22 inch barrels. As far as riffling type I am clueless on. Rest of the barrel options I have no idea. I want cast friendly barrels and have no experience here in custom barrel land.

So what is your guys/gals inputs and thoughts on specs suggestion. These will be hunting rifles primarily used 100 to 200 with maybe a couple 300yard attempts if I ever make that drive or feel confident enough to attempt it. Who should I go through? It seams McGowan has the calibers and twist but a bad reputation or so I read trying to google the information i think i needed. The others dont seam to offer the twist in caliber or offer one and not the other. Should i just email one of the manufactures, who do you recommend? Do gunsmiths make barrels? Should i try a local guns smith? I am not even sure how to find a local gun smith. I expect to spend 500 a barrel but i hope its less.

Incase your are curious, all ready picked out the boyds stocks. That was easy part...

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[lar45]

Talk to Goodsteel. He built me a Mauser in 30-06 XCB with a 14 twist Krieger.

I can push 2800fps ish with the 30 XCB boolit.

My best accuracy was with 2500+ and Carnauba Blue.

This was 10 shots at 75 yds.

I hear that he is also working his magic on AR15s now. His last project was a 300BO that was printing ragged hole 10 shot groups at 100yds.

[dverna]

Just a thought. If your reason for doing this is to test your theory, you are spending a lot of money to do what has already been done. Do a search on RPM threshold or PM Larry Gibson. Some here poo-poo the work Larry has done but you will learn alot reading those old posts.

Larry is an accomplished shooter, knows how to cast good bullets and has accurate rifles for his testing.

Even if you decide to do this, you will learn something from Larry and you will shorten your learning curve considerably.

[dverna]

On a separate subject....

Doing this to get a HV cast hunting bullet makes no sense at all. Use jacketed bullets for hunting and save yourself a lot of time and money. No cast bullet will outperform a jacketed bullet at 300 yards

If you want to do a lot of rifle shooting, and are looking for a less expensive bullet, casting may make sense. I went down that road and decided it was not worth the effort. I bought 6000 Hornady .224 SP bullets for just over $400 that shoot far better than anything I can cast and they serve both for target work, and varmints. By the time I factored in the cost of a GC, and the cost of cases, it is less expensive to shoot jacketed in the .223 than cast in my .308’s That is because .223 cases are very inexpensive compared other bottleneck cases.

[shortlegs]

What about re-boring a 223 barrel to 6.5 with twist that you want for your AR?

[Rcmaveric]

Mr. Gibson has helped me in the past and his previous comments on RPM threshold has what has led me down this path. His old post about the 6.5 Swede is what helped me get the .260 Rem shooting. I beleive him and his test. I wish to experment my self. My 260 is only accurate ar 1400 fps. It will shot 2000 fps without leading, but you wont hit the broad side of barn though. Slow it down to 1400 and it will shoot the wings off a knat. 1400 fps is a challenge for me to shoot out to and 200 yards with that bullet drop. Do able though and fun for only me. Not the wife though and its her gun (one of those i bough this for you but it is realy for me kind of things).

I do shoot alot. I shoot over 100 rounds a week in every caliber between the wife and I. If i dont keep an eye on her she will shoot off over a 100 rounds quickly. Jacketed bullets are expensive and why I left them. At .05 cents a pistol shot and .09 cents a rifle shot i will never go back jacketed bulllets. My guns only see a jacketed bullet for break in if they werent lapped before hand. Last time i bought jacketed ammo for Grendel it was 30 bucks a box of twenty. My wife shot 200 rounds last weekend and giggled the whole time. That would have been 300 bucks. Hornady 123g Amaxs were 40 something a box of bullets before they were discontinued. Various other bullets i have bought were around 36 bucks a box. For 36 bucks i can cast and reload close to 1000 rounds. I dont know about anyone elses budget with a wife and 4 kids on an E6's salary but trying to spend 40 bucks is like fighting lions and debating God with an angry atheist. Only reason i get this extra money is because the wife said i can keep my Per Diem from next years deployment. Live sparingly and i can easily save a few grand.

I have no grand vissions of super high accuracy at 2500+ fps. I understand my own limitations of shooting and reloading. My goal is consistent MOA accuracy 1850 to 2000 fps, but i will be happy with useable accuracy at 1850 fps or better. Anyrhing over 2100 fps will be an exilleration and i may dance an old Irish jig of happiness. I dont shoot competitions. I shoot for fun and hunting. I will never know what my chosen cartridges are capable of if i dont try. I am very capable with these guns as they are out to 200 yards. My .270 all ready exceeds my expectations. So will a slower twist be better or worse? Wont know until i try.

I dont use hard bullets either. Around 10BHN even at 2000 fps. and I have paper patched softer with great results. So I am confident that my bulllets will perform on game. No real world experience as of yet. If not i will just paper patch a soft lead bullet. From my research up to BHN of 15 will expand on game up at 2000 fps without exploding. All my game has been taken with a 12G. Not from a lack of effort, but because i get board easily and go find the deer. I use a 12G to stalk with buck shot. There was a turkey I harvested at 100 yards with my 270 though went drt. No damaged meat. That was a 10 BHN bullet at 2050fps .

So if you were going to out custom barrels on your rifles for cast bulllets, what would you choose?

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