Heavy Barrel vs Light Barrel

T

t3tikka250

Inactive
At the present moment i own a Tikka T3 Lite 22-250,
(as my name would suggest).

I am wondering what the benifits of a heavy barrel rifle would be over my current one,

say if i was to sell my gun and buy the Tikka T3 Varmint , what would the benifit be?
 
A little more prolonged shooting, usually a bit more accuracy, less recoil, etc.\

Drawbacks are that they are a bit heavier making them harder to manage.
 
Heavy barrels are better for sustained shooting at, say, abundant prairie dogs. Or ten-shot strings of fire on paper.

For the occasional-shot type of hunting, such as coyotes, light barrels work just fine.

For three to five shots at a time on paper, commonly there's no real difference in group size.
 
Benefits of a heavy barrel: steadier to hold, heat up slower as you shoot (also cool down slower), less barrel whip, less recoil and muzzle climb (and for those who say a 22-250 has no recoil, try 300+ shots in a day).

Benefits of a lighter barrel: lighter weight for carrying, more maneuverability, and first-shot is still pretty much where you want it.

I would say take a look at your shooting style, and if you do longer strings of fire from prone or sitting, go with a heavy barrel. If you fire an occasional shot, or want a "walking varminter", lighter barrel will be fine.
 
I'm from the same school as most everybody here- want accuracy, gotta have a heavy barrel. The bench guys use them- must be a good thing. I thought that until one day 2 years ago I was working up loads for a 308x.326 TNT which is nothing more than a standard 308 Winchester with a tight neck. As I was at the shooting bench one of the ranchers came by with a new in the box Remington 700 in 308. He asked if I would put the scope on the rifle and sight it in for him. We put the scope on and took it outside where I shot a group less than 1/2" with Remington ammo. Just for the fun of it, I tried some of my 308x.326 loads in it and it shot a one hole group. The Remington had one of their pencil barrels (skinny) and was real quick to cool- less than 5 minutes. Needless to say I was impressed with the skinny barrel. So if you think you having a slim or standard weight barrel keeps the rifle from making good groups- you'd be wrong.
 
Heavy barrel in 22-250 for stationary fun on a prairie dog town.

Sporter weight barrel for long walks or predator calling.

The more you shoot the more you want a heavy barrel to soak up the recoil and keep the POI from shifting.

The more you walk the lighter you want your rifle to be :-)

Jimro
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top