Bull barrels, how big a difference?

[Gdbyrd]

I'm looking around for a .223 to play around with.  Just about everything I'm finding is a normal tapered barrel.  I don't plan on toting this gun around, I'm going to be sitting at a bench shooting at paper with it and I know a bull barrel is a good thing for accuracy and consistency..But overall how much of a difference does it make?

[JASmith]

A lot will depend on how accurate you want the rifle to shoot.  Many rifles manufactured today are capable of moa accuracy and some quit a bit better.  By and large the benefit of the bull barrel is a small increase in accuracy due to its exceptional stiffness and mass compared to standard barrels.  These characteristics diminish the magnitude of vibrations of the barrel. 

If you are just starting in the precision shooting game, you may be very happy with a standard barrel as a starter.  This will be a less expensive path to developing the shooting skills you would need in order to take advantage of the accuracy potential of a properly installed bull barrel.

[Frank46]

Check out the rem 700 varmint synthetic to get an idea of a heavier than normal weight bbl. Benchrest shooters like their bbls shorter and much heavier. Think somewhere about 22" max in length and way fatter. If you aren't lugging around then maybe this is what you might want. Frank

[Gdbyrd]

Thanks for the info guys.  You are very right about pricing.  Its crazy how much it costs to step up to a bull barrel over even a sport contour....

Ultimately I wish I could see a comparison between two guns side by side all things same aside from barrel thickness : /

[Frank46]

The rem 700 VS bbl is 26" long and approximately .750 at the muzzle. This is a varmint weight bbl. I've seen some customs the same length and .850 at the muzzle. Portability starts becoming a problem with bbls at or over this weight. I had a buddy who used to compete in sniper type matches and he was way more physically fit than me. I believe he had a pac-nor bbl in 308. Frank

[wolf]

hey gdbyrd hope this helps you. I bought a remington 700bdl 7mm rem. mag. about two years ago guess it was made in the 1980's-90's had a custom competition stock with some scratches and I'm not sure if the stock is cracked at the rear or if its just a scratch. it has a regular contour barrel. basically the gun was not taken care of but was in decent shape. at the time of purchase the seller bore sighted it to 100 yards. I got it home and deceided to disassemble it and clean it. I removed the scope and then took the gun completly apart cleaned everything and then reassembled it. the scope was taken off the rings cleaned, put back on, leveled by eye pushed foward in the rings from where they were for better eye relief and then locked down. I then hid it in my secret hiding place for two years so my wife would not hit me in the head with it. I finally got around to firing it in october 2009. the first three shots were stacked 1 and 2 about a 1/2" apart then with 2 and 3 about 4" apart from each other, top to bottom descending into a lazy L and closer to the centerline of the target. the second three shots grouped tighter all within a 3" diameter. after I figured where she was shooting,the last three shots were neatly stacked top to bottom, 1 about a 1/4" from 2 and 2 about a 3/8" from 3.  all the shots were taken at 100 yards. I did not sight the rifle in as of yet because I wanted to try out my other guns, but when I do I will try to get some pics. of the targets up, of before and after sight in. I would like to some day own a remington sendero with the fluted bull barrel but after seeing the shots taken with their standard barrel and I think that after zeroing in this 7mm mag it could probably group on a dime. Oh ammo used was standard off the shelf remington 7mm mag core-lockt express 175 gr. well I hope this helped you and although my bdl don't look like new it sure does shoot good. this one is a keeper. 

[diggler1833]

Having plenty of time between shots makes it easier to make an arguement for a skinny barrel.  Heavier barrels heat up slower and usually accuracy falling off due to a hotter barrel is slower as well.

I think that even the Remington factory varmint contour is still a bit skinny in my eyes.  I own a Remmy 700BDL in 30-06 and a Ruger #1B that have skinny barrels, and they are good in the field hunting.  I'd have no qualms either about carrying my 700's with heavy barrels in McMillan stocks out to the field though.  If it is too heavy for you, go to the gym.

Yes it will cost you more generally.   Then again, you generally get what you pay for too in this hobby.

[Graybeard]

It's not really a matter of heavy barrels shooting more accurately than skinny barrels all else being equal but really more a matter of the heavy barrel is likely to do it for more consecutive shots with little to no cooling time between them than a skinny barrel.

If a barrel is made correctly and is correctly stress relieved them it really should not walk shots as it heats up. I've had skinny barrel rifles that just did not walk shots as it heated due to the lack of stress in the barrel.

Accuracy has more to do with the quality of the barrel and how well the action is set up than it does to do with size of barrel.

[wyohandi]

If your gonna answer your own question
I just built 2 300win mags with heavy barrels 1" and .975" dia.
One is a Rem action the other is a Savage same thumbhole stock on both
same 6-24x burris on each they will both put as many rounds into a 5/8" hole as you would
care to shoot 10-15rds groups, gets kinda warm after that
I have a Rem 700 factory sporter that will put 3-4rnds in the same size hole but after that
it opens up probably because its already smokin hot.
So I guess it depends on how many in a row you need to put downrange.
Not sure what caliber your thinking about but a 13-14lb 300Win mag is quite easy to shoot off
the bench we usually put 50rds each session down the tube and you never feel like you have.
Oops re-read post 223. Have one of those too, usually need to clean it before I notice heat affecting
accuracy. It has shot 50rd MOA groups just to see if it could.

[wolf]

Gdbyrd: attempted to get a back to back test for you. I shot my 1984 preban colt AR-15 chrome lined bore with a 20" barrel and open sights, against pops new flat top 20" stainless steel bull barrel AR-15 with a 3-9 scope. all was going fine his three shot groups were within a 1 1/2" to 2" circles. my three shot groups were about 2" to 3" we both took 9 shots total and let the barrels cool for about 15 seconds between shots. then pops gun fell off the sand bag. forgot to mention we were bench shooting that was it for him for the day. I kept shooting, three more shots about 3 seconds between shots, grouped a 3" to 4" circle. then I shot the last three rapid fire as soon as target was aquired all landed in about a 6" to 8"  circle. although  not super conclusive it will give you some idea on how the barrels as expected would degrade in accuracy when heated. also my eyeballs looking through that peep sight, I'm 48 years old they aint what they used to be. next time we go scope to scope.

[NickSS]

I have been a target shooter for 45 years as well as a hunter and general gun nut.  In a properly bedded rifle with a good barrel (not even the best makers make all winners in that respect) there is not real difference in accuracy between a heavy and light barrel.  I owned a featherweight model 70 Winchester with a fiberglass stock that right out of the box would not hold a 2 inch 3 shot group.  I sent it to my brothers brother in law who was a bench rest rifle builder of note.  He pillar bedded it, recut the crown and lapped the bolt lugs as well as did a trigger job.  When I got it back it shot 1/2 inch three shot groups but five would open out to about 3/4 inch and 10 would go to about 1.25 inches.  This was pretty consistent waiting only a couple seconds between shots.  Letting the barrel cool it went right back to 1/2 inc 3 shot groups.  If I waited like 10 minutes between shots It would blow out 10 shot groups of around 5/8 inch.  Now I also had a 308 and 223 match rifles fitted with match grade bull barrels.  either one of these rifles with match grade ammo could shoot 10 shot groups at 200 yards with 2 to 3 seconds between shots that printed into 3/4 inch or less from a bench rest using a 10 power Leopold scope. This illustrates the real difference between a bull barrel and a thin hunting barrel as well as I can think.