Couple of barrel questions?

[Exhaust3]

I've hung around for a few months and have the opportunity to build a 6br. My questions are as follows: I am building the rifle for varmint hunting,Not much competition where I live and a whole lot of varmints). I am considering Pac-Nor re-barrel my short action Rem 700. I would like to know if I should go with a 1-10" or just get the 1-8" and be done with it. I plan on shooting the 87 V-Max, and 95 NBT. Now for the hard part, how many lands? 3 or 6? Pac-Nor has a wide selection for lands. Any information would be helpful to say the least. I have searched this site many times but I have not had all of my questions answered. Thank you

 

[Wild_Bill]

Ok it depends what projectiles you are going to use if you think you would like to try the heavy match bullets down the track use the 8 twist but if you are not going over about 87gr go the 10 twist as a hunting barrel a little more teist will help the bullets blow up on impact and will give you more options the 105gr A Max is verry explosive and would be a good choice in windy conditions.

Cheers Bill
Australia

 

[bpost1958]

wait....A 8 Twist barrel will spin bullets at a higher RPM than a 10 Twist will. The measurement is the distance it takes for the bullet to rotate once. Hence, a barrel with a 8 twist rotates the bullet once in 8 inches. Conversely, a 10 twist will rotate the bullet once in 10 inches.

 

[Forum Boss]

I'd go three-groove just based on personal experience that they are accurate and foul very little. If you want to shoot the 95s, I go with a 9-twist just to be safe.

 

[Forum Boss]

I agree with Lynn. The good 105s and 107s are proving capable of shooting "2s" and sometimes even high ones in good rifles at 100 yards, so you don't really have to think in terms of short vs. long-range 6BRs. Just got back from a Varmint Silhouette match. Nothing like hitting little 4" high mini-silhouettes at 600 yards. I didn't shoot a paper target, but I think the Scenars were holding about 1.5" of vertical at 600, based on my sighters. Not world-record stuff mind you, but the Pac-Nor Savage 8-twist was knocking targets down as well as anything today, including a couple full-custom 6.5-284s.

FWIW, my come-up from 100-yard zero was 46 clicks--which indicates the Scenar 105 is shooting up to its claimed .530 BC and then some.

 

[shcal]

I agree with the 8" twist option. All I shoot is varmints and I rarely shoot anything under 200 yds. The barrels shoot very well and you will definitely want to test your shooting ability farther out. Sunday I was shooting ground squirrels at between 250yds & 350 yds. The 87gr V-max was literally blowing them up. I have a 28" PacNor three groove in 8" twist and shoot regularly the 105gr A-max also, it does well with all the heavy bullets and is easy to clean up.

By the way, I was just on another forum where a well known Savage expert told me I should cut 4" off of my barrel as it was too long. Never heard that advice before,going to a 24" barrel). Has anyone else?
shcal

 

[Forum Boss]

By the way, I was just on another forum where a well known Savage expert told me I should cut 4" off of my barrel as it was too long. Never heard that advice before,going to a 24" barrel). Has anyone else?
shcal

In another thread, Lynn noted that he just got a 32" Pacnor and it only gave 15 fps more than four other 30" barrels. So... that tells us 30" is plenty.

But is 28" too much? Don't think so. I've talked to a LOT of smart barrelmakers and they all seemed convinced you continue to get useful velocity gains at least out to 27" or so. With a 28" you can get the barrel set back and still end up at 26" which is as short as I would go. I think 24" is definitely too short unless you spend all your time shooting the 60-70gr bullets with very fast powders--then I could see going to 24". I'd say keep it at 28" or take off no more than an inch.

 

[flatlander]

In your place, I'd go with the 8-twist 3-groove PacNor. The lands are wider in their 3-groove barrels, and might stand up to erosion a bit longer than narrower lands in 4,5, or 6-grv. bbls. I've shot a few of the 87 V-Maxes in two of my 8-twist Dasher barrels, and was impressed with groups at 600.