Number of grooves..??

[DesertDog753]

Hey Everyone...

Being absolutely new to all of this puts me in a position where I'll have lots of questions, but won't for awhile be able to offer much in return.

My question today deals with the number of grooves in a barrel. Does anyone have an opinion of what they think is better/worse about the number. I've heard some say that an offset number such as a 3 or 5 groove is better because it doesn't have lands exactly across from each other that you might find in a 4 or 6 groove.

Thoughts/opinions would be appreciated....

Thanks,

DD753

 

[bdale]

Rodney Wagner shot a world record last year .336 at 600 yards at our club with a 4 groove Brux

 

[butchlambert]

A barrel can be good with any configuration. The amount means nothing. I believe the 4 groove has been the winner for several years, but maybe because they are just the better barrels.

 

[abishai]

pick your juju ...... I like my 5 r bartlien . After my third clean with a high x count , I ordered 12 more just like it

 

[Keith Glasscock]

Not to drag this too far off subject, how have you guys that do chambering corrected for the reamer flex on a 5 groove barrel?

I know it can be a problem because I've had a barrel with a 5 sided freebore. I've been playing with the idea that the problem can be mitigated by using barrel groove design that helps to support the reamer. I don't do my own machine work, so I can't tell you if it works. Perhaps I've just got an exceptional gunsmith. My 3 groove barrels are heartbreakers...

 

[CatShooter]

I have two premium 30 cal barrels - one is a 6 groove and one is a 12 groove, and they both shoot the same. Both clean up as easy too.

 

[jb]

the grooves are about 70% of the bore and lands are about 30% i think there may be an advantage to 3 lands in .172/.204/.224 bores as the wider land would transfer heat faster. a land in a .172 of a 3 land bore is about the same as land in a 6 land .338

 

[people]

Yup just pick your poison and run with it. I have used 3, 4, and 6 and they all have produced great groups.

 

[Eddie Harren]

Catshooter, who made the 12 groove barrel?

 

[jonbearman]

I also want to know who made a 12 groove.

 

[dedogs]

+1

 

[mshelton]

Catshooter, who made the 12 groove barrel?

And have you shot a cat with said barrel?

 

[butchlambert]

I believe Shilen still makes 8 groove as I just purchased one in 22RF. Do you remember the micro groove barrels?

 

[M-61]

the grooves are about 70% of the bore and lands are about 30% i think there may be an advantage to 3 lands in .172/.204/.224 bores as the wider land would transfer heat faster. a land in a .172 of a 3 land bore is about the same as land in a 6 land .338

Interesting. Just wondering...wouldn't there then be more heat from friction in a barrel with fewer lands/grooves because there is far more surface being contacted by the bullet?

Have one Butch...Marlin....may also be called 'Ballard Rifling' but I'm not sure about that.

 

[CatShooter]

Catshooter, who made the 12 groove barrel?

I donno...

Some years back, I had an Stainless 40XB/SS action I wanted to build a LR "Practical Field match rifle" in 300 WM, so I ordered a Shilen through a local guy who is well known (Moe Defino). I ordered a 10" and after waiting 49 years, a 12" came in.



So I had a minor sulk & pout, and he said he had 4 match barrels that he picked up, and he would fit one at a good deal, and if I didn't like it, he would get me a 10" Shilen for 1/2 price. So I took it, and it shot like crazy. Not only did it group well, it wasn't fussy, and the POI never drifted. I could take it out of the case, point it, and hit something.

When I cleaned it, the patch looked like it had more of those groove lines (you know what I mean)... so I looked in the muzzle, and there was a hellova lot of grooves in there. I ran a lead plug through it, and it was a 12 groove barrel. I called Moe and asked him who made it, and he said he picked them up at Perry and didn't know who made them.

I asked all around and no one was making 12 groove barrels back then (~2002-ish).

So I don't know, but it sure is nice.

Trouble is with guns like this is that you don't shoot them much cuz you don't wanna use them up, cuz you can't get another.

I haven't shot it in 7 years, and I just dug out the cases last week for an anneal and reload.

---

<edit>... an interesting note about this rifle - the chamber was cut with a minimum reamer, but the reamer had a largish neck - still inside SAAMI, but not a "no turn".

When I used a bushing "S" die on the necks to make them 2 thou under loaded neck, the necks came out so small that the bushing would fall off of the neck - the necks were 5 thou SMALLER than the bushing.

I pondered this for a while and called Pat Ryan at Redding, and Pat said it was impossible - a bushing could not make a neck smaller than the hole in the bushing, so I said "try it".

He called me back two days later and said "Damn!!"

So this is the rifle that discovered the bushing problem that Redding has, that caused the warning that is on the lower right of page 3 of the Redding catalogue.

 

[CatShooter]

Do you remember the micro groove barrels?

They still make them - I have a 336 in 35 Rem with 22 groove rifling.