Will this work to fit a barrel?

[Tozguy]

If I can't trust it, I don't hunt with it.

Absolutely agree with that statement.
But does that mean your first shot from a cold barrel is the problem as opposed to a third or fourth shot that ruins a nice grouping
BTW does your scope check out OK? There has been many an accuracy problem traced back to a bad scope. It is really important to be able to trust your scope first and foremost.

 

[cdhknives]

It is as random as I can tell. I shoot 5 shot groups. I will get a nice tight 5 holes touching, then 3 days later I get 4 and a flier, or 3 and 2 fliers. I can't find a pattern...just sometimes it throws one or 2 rounds in a 5 shot group and many times it shoots a great 5 shot group. I wait a minute or two between shots...not full cooling but not heating it up either. The bad hit this year was a first shot/cold barrel. The other 7 critters I harvested/culled were perfect hits. Very frustrating when you know you didn't pull or flinch but get a poor hit anyway. After almost 10 years of off and on trying to figure it out via reloading, bedding, scope swaps, deep cleaning, etc I have no conclusion left but 'bad barrel'. The fact that it is a 2" gun with everything but 80 grain bullets should also be a big clue it is very sensitive...I have just been stubbornly trying to fix it without major modification (keeping it original) but recently declared failure. This is my walking rifle, and since every few years that means walking the prairies for pronghorn it needs to be accurate and reliable. Besides, I've never rebarreled a rifle. Time to learn!

 

[epanzella]

I agree with your concerns.. 2 to 3 moa flyers don't work in Texas. No reason why you can't get a 7 lb hunting rifle to shoot 1 moa reliably.

 

[Bamban]

Clayton,

Can you chuck this fixture in your 3J? The OD is only 3 inches, ID is 2 inches. It should be long enough for you to work on the chamber. The screws are brass tipped.

If you want to give it try, I can mail it to you. I also have an extra floating reamer holder I can loan you as well.

 

[Tozguy]

The fact that it is a 2" gun with everything but 80 grain bullets should also be a big clue it is very sensitive...

Have you determined what twist rate you would get in a new barrel?

 

[john.k]

Have you tried another scope and mounts?..........Some of the issues sound a bit like a faulty scope .

 

[cdhknives]

I have tried several scopes from other known good rifles.

I would probably get 1:9 twist. I don't care about shooting light bullets and prefer the better energy from heavy bullets in the short featherweight barrel, but by the same line of thought I don't need to throw the extra heavy match bullets. That eliminates even faster twists. I don't see any hunting grade bullet that is even close to marginal with 1:9...and blanks in this twist are readily available.

Helluva offer, thanks you, and I may take you up on that Bamban. I have both 3 and 4 jaw 6" chucks but the spindle bore of my lathe is just over 3/4", so a full size blank will not fit though the headstock until after profiling. I have not even bought a barrel yet so it will be a while...still deciding whether to spend the extra money on a profiled, threaded, and long chambered barrel and need to build a barrel vise and action wrench first.

 

[pontiac428]

If you're shooting a 9 twist 243, you should probably be considering heavier projectiles. The caliber is capable of 1000 yard competition all day long with 165 gr (7 or 8 twist, 9 is borderline). Also, the 80 gr projos you mentioned are going to be short at that weight, meaning you won't get the bullet seating dept in the case and in the lands at the same time. The 243 needs to be stuffed .000 to .015 into the lands to be accurate. The throat length on factory barrels is lawyer length, meaning the manufacturer runs the throat deep enough to handle any box of ammo on the shelf. The first step to tuning loads for any production rifle is to set the seat depth, then worry about powders and velocities. You may even be scrapping a good barrel. I'll never say that fitting a high end barrel is a bad thing, because it isn't. But there is always sub-1" accuracy to be had out of a new factory barrel if you feed it right.

 

[Dabbler]

You have another option. Buy the correct reamer and rechamber the barrel shorting the lands and grooves. then custom bore the lands to provide at least .005 engagement with the ammo you load. Your extractor groove will be out of place. Mark it carefully, and take it to a shop with a mill and have it cut. (Pacific tool will sell you a reamer with no cutting of the lands)

Total cost will be far less than a new barrel. If you have excessive jump to the lands, you are sure to get the symptom you are describing. Thing is, you will have to buy a reamer anyway if you buy a barrel blank.

I've never bouigh a precahmbered barrell, don't know anyone who'd sell one, and wouldn't know ho to properly process it if I had one. Using the same precise setup is essential for chambering for accuracy. I don't think it can be done with two setups (factory, then home).

 

[cdhknives]

I like heavy for caliber bullets in relatively overbore cartridges like the 243...that is a big part of the reason I dislike this barrel. As far as twist goes, fortunately the 80 grain all copper bullet I am using is long for weight, so they shoot like 90-95 grain lead core bullets. I know all about seating to contact with the lands and have tried both ways. Barnes Bullets has strongly recommended leaving a jump to the lands and I think that is as much due to the high engraving force required by the all copper bullet vs easy deformation of a lead core jacketed bullet...gotta be a bit cautious there in this case. The M70 magazine allows cartridge length to about 3.0", well over the 2.8" SAMMI spec and I have used all of that on occasion (looking at you 300WSM!)

In theory I could bump the shoulder back enough for exactly one turn of the barrel and rechamber...with only minimal deepening of the existing extractor cut. That could be done with a careful hand and a good file. It is not that much more work at that point to take a long chambered barrel from Douglas or similar and fit it, but it is a bit more cost! The only machining for that is shaving the shoulder to get chamber depth correct and filing the whole extractor cut plus finish reaming the chamber.

Lots of options. I still haven't made a final decision. I still need to try a recrown and to build a barrel vise and action wrench. No hurry here...