.20BR project.

[Alycidon]

I am putting together a .20 BR varmint rifle for use against fox, rabbit crow etc.

Just when I thought I had got the specs about taped up my riflesmith has advised that generally he finds that chromed barrells perform better than stainless ones. Not sure yet if he means in life or accuracy but have any of you found that.

He is also recommending Douglas Premium air gauged barrels, I like the look and sound of Bartelin, again anyone any thoughts. Accuracy more important than life. Will use a 1 in 9 almost certainly following Todd Kindlers recommendations but Douglas dont appear to show so it may be acedemic.

Am meeting him on Wednesday for final decisions.

Thanks for your help and advice
A

 

[James Jones]

A crome lined barrel will last longer than a non lined barrel of any make but I have never heard of one being as accurate as an unlined custom barrel , the croming process will not allow an even deposit to the bore so you will have a differance in bore diameter. If they were as accurate and they do last longer then all the target shooters would be using them.

As for the barrel makes , I personaly like the 5R type rifleing as it offers a little more speed and is said to last a little longer , I can attest to the speed part but have;t shot one enought to tell about the life. Now I do know that barrels with more lands and grooves like the 8 in the shilen and 6 of the hart will not destroy the bullet at high speeds that your gonna be able to get the the 20BR

 

[Patriot44]

Alycidon, do you mean a 22BR. If you did mean a 20BR, I would think you need a slower twist barrel. Are there .20cal bullets that require a fast twist rate. I am not real familiar with the .20cal, and the only bullets I know of are between 20grn to 40grns.

P44

 

[Geoff Seymour]

Hi,

Had a few log in probs here but I am here again now.

I do mean 20BR and not .22BR, the .20 is a much better performer in all areas, just run the ballistics, I was stunned when I did.

For 50 grain bullets 1 in 9 in the normal twist and 1 in 12 for the 40 grainers.

I am talking about barrels made from Chrome moly alloy not chrome plated bores. Speed will be about 3800 fps for the 50 grainers.

A

 

[EddieHarren]

20 Br

This question has been beat to death on this, and other forums. No one has offered any definate proof if one is better than the other. BR, Highpower, X-course, longrange and F-class shooters use SS barrels more than CM barrels. There must be a reason.

 

[James Jones]

The differance between the SS and CM is great enough for their to be alot more SS custom barrels than CM. If you look at the CM against the SS on a hardness scale you will se that the CM is harder and stronger BUT the SS resist fire cracking and high pressure erosion in the throat area hence giving you longer accurate barrel life.

Now if you were gonna be hunting in the artic then I would choose the CM because it will not change dementionaly so it'll be more accurate from one extream to the other.

 

[Alycidon]

This project was finished about 15 months ago. I bought one of each barrel but had the stainless version fitted. I am running the Berger 50gr at about 3500 and the SBK 39gr at about 3600-3700 ( not checked), these are mild but very accurate loads. I shot the Bergers in a recent UK Benchrest meeting off a bipod, shot in the .2s and .3s coming 5th overall against dedicated BR set ups.

Time will tell how long this level of accuracy will last, last fox I shot at with it I missed at 140 yards, if ever there was a case of pilot error that was it, I had 27 for 27 before that out to 252 yards.
Only downside is the weight at 14lbs + NSX !.

A