Barrel Nut Disadvantages?

[Tokay444]

The why is cost and relative ease of manufacturing.
It has absolutely nothing with being a superior interface.

 

[Tokay444]

With a "shouldered barrel", you just put a smith back in the mix and no more DIY.
And the shouldered barrel has to be exact. I'll keep the nut Thank You.

I have had nothing but shouldered barrels on my Nucleus, and have affixed them all myself.

 

[Tokay444]

It is very simple, if you never intend on removing the barrel until it is shot out go the shoulder route.
If you intend on removing it to swap barrels or for whatever reason, then you should go the barrel nut.
Me I like my Barrel Nuts.

Exhibit A

Dean View attachment 1227497

I swap shouldered barrels and even take them off for cleaning all the time.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Accuracy in the .5 inch at 100 yards does not impress a lot of target shooters. If that is all the accuracy you need then it is good enough.

The majority of shooters are hunters or plinkers and .50 is good enough at 100 for them.
If they are willing to spend the time and reload more precisely they could certainly get those nutted barrels down to the .20-.30 range. I've done it.
Those that need to consistently be under .25 or better usually shoot custom guns for competition not hunting or plinking, so in that instance they would not end up with a nut but their guns will cost 5x as much as the normal gun.

 

[sparky123321]

I do agree that the accuracy potential is probably greater for a shouldered barrel, but I've had numerous barrel nut setups shoot 1/4 MOA and a few even better. Also, remember many, many, many other factors come into play when it comes to accuracy.

BTW most, if not all, Savage and Remage barrel nut prefit's you see out there are not cut rifled barrels. I've had a few high-end cut rifled barrels done with a barrel nut and they were amazing shooters.

I don't compete so I'll take the convenience and cost savings of a barrel nut setup all day long. They will outshoot 99.9% of the shooters and will take a PD out to 1,000 yards.

 

[scope eye]

When a barrel won't shoot to my liking, I start screwing with the headspace and more often than not it helps.

Dean

 

[sparky123321]

BTW I also have a Savage Target Action done with a shoulder and a straight 1.25" match quality barrel. It's a ragged hole shooter at 100 yards, but I probably wouldn't do it again. It's getting time to rebarrel or do a cutback and I dread sending it out for a couple months to have the work done. Not to mention I could buy a new prefit for close to the cost of having it cutback.

 

[sparky123321]

When a barrel won't shoot to my liking, I start screwing with the headspace and more often than not it helps.

Dean

Headspace? Do you mean AOL/jump or jamb?

 

[scope eye]

No I mean turn the barrel in or out and lock it, I have run as loose as 9thou and as tight as 2thou.
I don't know why screwing with it works but it does.

Dean

 

[tobnpr]

Never seen any evidence that nutted barrels shoot any less accurately than shouldered.
Used to be a limitation on diameter, but "specialty" nuts solved that problem.
All the documentation you need, right on this website.

I would submit that for 99% of shooters, exception being those needing to shoot one-hole groups and have the skills to do so- a nutted barrel will exceed the skills they have to shoot it assuming everything else is there that is needed for an accurate system from quality barrel and chambering job to correct stock fitment and trigger.

Plenty of Savages- and others- win competitions, including Team Savage F-Class World Champions.

Savage F-TR Team — World-Beaters on a Budget « Daily Bulletin

It seems hard to believe you can compete and win at the highest levels of long-range shooting competition with a stock factory rifle, but that’s exactly what Team USA did at the recent F-Class World Championships in Bisley, England. The U.S.

bulletin.accurateshooter.com

You are being redirected...

 

[jelenko]

That is exactly correct. A half moa at 100 yd barrel won't hunt in any kind of BR......

Right. But is great in 'cross the course' - and, if I've got it right, in PRS.

 

[INTJ]

Right. But is great in 'cross the course' - and, if I've got it right, in PRS.

And that brings me back to my original thought. Barrel nuts are fine for most stuff but for the ultimate in accuracy a shouldered barrel is better.

 

[mikecr]

Consider this like studs -vs- bolts.
That's what this is.
I believe you'll conclude that studs offer superior fastening, especially where the connection broadly challenges preload.

-With bolts, the first thread takes a third of the load, the first three threads take three-quarters of the load and the first six threads take essentially the whole load. Beyond the first six threads, the remaining threads are under essentially no load at all.
-With studs, the nut pulls ALL engaged threading into load -evenly.

Then there is direction of challenge (connection push/pull, tensile/shear).
Engine heads for example push apart from block, if not for fasteners holding their connection in preload.
This can be a lot of force, so studs, having greater loaded area, are preferred.
Racing engine heads are usually held down with studs (not bolts).
And I'll remind here that barrels also try to push apart from action.

I can think of nothing inferior with a stud connection, which is analogous to a barrel nut configuration.
Savage uses finer threading,, another plus.
Savages also shoot well,, another plus!

 

[sparky123321]

Also, historically at least, only Savage used barrel nuts. Savages have had very limited trigger options and once again only button rifled barrels. Throw a high quality cut rifled barrel and a match quality trigger like those available for a 700 action or clone into the equation and I'm willing to bet any advantage to a shouldered barrel almost disappears..

 

[sparky123321]

No I mean turn the barrel in or out and lock it, I have run as loose as 9thou and as tight as 2thou.
I don't know why screwing with it works but it does.

Dean

Interesting. Never tried that.

 

[swd]

No I mean turn the barrel in or out and lock it, I have run as loose as 9thou and as tight as 2thou.
I don't know why screwing with it works but it does.

Dean

My guess is it’s changing the length of the barrel in relation to the front of the action so it’s acting just like a tuner.

 

[Big_Daddy]

My barrel nutted Prairie Dog guns shoot just fine.....LOL

Savage action with a McGowen barrel.

And yes, this grouping has been repeated many times....

Granted if I were to spend thousands and thousands of $$$ on an BR rifle, I would most likely not go with a barrel nut.
Why? ...... Just because I guess...

 

[rijndael]

How much of Savages success/accuracy with the barrel nut is because of the floating bolt head?

 

[Fast14riot]

I wonder if we put set screws or split a barrel nut with a locking screw, just like die lock rings, if this would also negate the inference of it being mechanically inferior? (Yes I know barrels use much more torque than dies, but is the precision required any less?)

 

[INTJ]

I think the way to do a barrel nut would be to thread the outside of the receiver. Then turn a two sided shoulder on the barrel tenon that the nut fits over. That way you'd get the solid squaring of the shoulder with the barrel nut.