Button VS Cut rifling question

[AKShooter]

For background, current thought is to build a 600 yard f classer, right now looking at a 260 AI or variant thereof. Building on a savage action, have an additional post in competition forum but figured I'd ask the barrel question here

Guess wondering the accuracy difference one could expect out of say a shilen select match button rifled barrel vs a Brux, benchmark, kreiger, etc cut rifle barrel?

I realize any makers can produce a superbly accurate barrel but what is general consensus

Asking since right now can easily order the shilen tomorrow, at around 330 or so, or buy barrel blank from one of the above for about the same and have it chambered, guessing for around 400-500 total?

The money is not so much the concern More just wondering what might be the expected accuracy differences

Thanks

 

[joejo]

ehh.. apples to apples

i prefer cut rifle though. although i have a button rifle shilen on my 22-250 that shoots pretty good.

 

[scott_at_vortex]

Most of the custom button rifled barrels these days look damn good. For example: Benchmark. I would not hesitate to shoot a Benchmark any day of the week as everything I have seen of theirs looks fantastic. That being said, all of my guns have Brux barrels on them. They are right down the road from us and make make great barrels also. I like to buy locally when possible and the fact that they are cut rifled doesnt hurt

Scott

 

[Steve Blair]

I currently have Hart, Shilen, Brux, Bartlein and Krieger barrels. All shoot very well but Brux and Krieger are the most consistent, rarely needing more than minor load adjustment after rebarreling. The others will potentially shoot just as well but seem to need more development.

 

[Switchbarrel]

I currently have Hart, Shilen, Brux, Bartlein and Krieger barrels. All shoot very well...

My barrel situation is similar to above. I have barrels from Shilen, Lilja, Benchmark, Bartlein, Kreiger and possibly a couple others (got so many I can't remember 'em all anymore). If I were to tell you any one shot any better than the rest, I'd be foolin' you and myself. I can't tell a difference, they're all good.

-Rick

See, I knew I forgot about some. Got in on a Rock Creek button rifled group buy earlier this year, had it chambered in 6 Dasher, haven't shot it yet.

 

[MrMajestic]

Put your money down and roll the dice! They all make good, great and occasionally not so good ones. They can control the process but the Mill makes the bar!

 

[AKShooter]

Going to pick up a conversation with Jim but also wanted to hear any additional comments regarding the Criterion barrels?

I know they came out with some fanfare. Just don't know if they have delivered. I'll do some searching too

Thanks

 

[dreever]

My personal opinion from past experience is that cut rifled barrels last longer. My picks as to manufacturers would be Kreiger and bartlein.
Again this is only my opinion.

Danny

 

[chuckbuster243]

I have a Shilen, Broughton, Krieger and a Criterion. They all shoot great but I actually like the Criterion as good or better than the rest.. It cleans the easiest of all of them as well as being the least finicky. I have some shooting buddys that have a couple of Criterion's as well with the same results. But as a earlier poster said you will have good ones and bad ones from anybody. Matt

 

[XTR]

I looked into it a little before I got in on the group buy for Rock Creek button rifled barrels over on Snipers Hide early this yr.

From what I read the big difference is that button rifling can induce stresses into the steel, some of which can be eliminated by stress releaving at the factory. I also read that if you get to warm the barrel up with sighters it makes less to no difference, and that there have been a lot of successful BR guns with button rifled barrels. Another thing for the manufacturers is that doing button rifling you can't vary the twist, and you have to contour the barrels after they are rifled.

I think in the end I don't think most of us will ever be able to tell the difference. Initial load testing with the rifle that I built with the barrel looks very promising.

That said, as someone who plays the F class game, I understand how we as shooters obsess over little things that may or may not make a difference anywhere but in our heads.

 

[wildcat284]

I spent yesterday at the range, shooting my new 6.5mm SAUM. It has a Criterion 1:8 twist barrel.

Outstanding barrel: 4-5 patches and barrel is perfectly clean and very little (if any) copper fouling. Accuracy, well i'm just doing ladder testing but I have several groups of slightly under 0.5 MOA.

All this for a barrel that cost me $400.00 NZ. Even though it was a blank, it only cost me an addition $150.00 to be profiled and chambered and crowned. A Shilen I saw down here in New Zealand that was an already a profiled unchambered blank was $750.00. I also have seen Krieger barrel blanks running at $800.00 (all NZ $)

So I think that I got fantastic deal.

 

[swd]

I think when your dealing with the best barrel makers of either type it comes down more to the individual barrel itself more than how it was made.

 

[X-Caveman]

I think your estimate for what the custom cut rifled barrel is going to cost you is low. Chamber, crown, finish will probably be $250 - $400.

 

[AckleymanII]

I think when your dealing with the best barrel makers of either type it comes down more to the individual barrel itself more than how it was made.

+1

A friend, Steve Chernicky, some years ago, attached a machine/computer on a lathe bed that had a long stylus on it. A rifle barrel was rotated and the twist measurement was measured every 0.200 of an inch and plotted on a graph. It was really amazing how twist rate would speed up and slow down, which does have an effect on harmonics. He charged a fee to scan a barrel, guy got the graph on the barrel.

What he did find out was that if a barrel was cut within 2" of a big skip or slow down in the barrel, the barrel would not shoot to benchrest standards.

 

[Shynloco]

........

I think in the end I don't think most of us will ever be able to tell the difference.....

I understand how we as shooters obsess over little things that may or may not make a difference anywhere but in our heads.

+1...Boy ain't that the truth. And I dare say, Benchrest shooters are even worse in overthinking things and going to the nth degree to make sure we get the most out of our barrels. But like many have said, we buy some of the top brands of barrels (mentioned above) and they all preform up to our expectations no matter the process used to "cut the barrel", as there are methods available (i.e.cryogenics) to address concerns like "stress."

Alex

 

[JimPag]

A lot of time it comes down to getting a good batch of steel. I've heard horror stories from people who work at Bartlein, Krieger, and Rock Creek about getting bad batches of steel, so nobody is immuned from getting bad barrels from any barrel maker.

 

[AckleymanII]

A lot of time it comes down to getting a good batch of steel. I've heard horror stories from people who work at Bartlein, Krieger, and Rock Creek about getting bad batches of steel, so nobody is immuned from getting bad barrels from any barrel maker.

+1

 

[jonbearman]

I have bought them all for different projects over the years and I like kreiger,pac-nor,bartlein ,mcgowen which offers cut barrels now. X-caliber is a rising star, shilen, criterion and others are all way better than factory barrels. Broughton I have never tried but brux are very fine barrels as well. I would stay away from lilja only for the reason of his arrogance. Lederer is a good one along with many others including hart but hart says they don't make bad barrels so they lost all my business. You can get a hummer in all of the barrels or a turd but the top makers you cant go wrong in the big picture which would be kreiger,brux,bartlein, and pac-nor.

 

[Rpbump]

For my black powder rifles I like cut rifleing. For centerfire rifles I've not had enough experience with different barrels (cut/button) to say which is better.

Rpbump

 

[wi50]

The shooter will be the single biggest detriment to accuracy, followed by atmospheric conditions. The barrel will be the least of your worries......at least that's how I see it.