Barrel nut vs shouldered - What say you?

[Schmo]

Possibly going to be ordering another barrel before long. It’d be a 223 barrel for my Tikka. Either a Criterion barrel nut prefit, or PBB shouldered. Does a properly torqued barrel nut setup suffer from POI shift if gun is dropped? Is shouldered the only way to go?

 

[hereinaz]

I have done both and not noticed any material difference and would expect none. Shouldered barrels are cleaner and a bit easier to deal with.

 

[mrolen]

Go with a shouldered on a tikka. action to action measurements are very close and it will look cleaner. Only time I’m in favor of a barrel nut is when action tolerance is known to very any you need the adjustment to get proper headspace.

I’m pretty sure if you dropped a gun hard enough to adjust the POI from the barrel nut/ tenon your going to have bigger problems with the rifle.

 

[Schmo]

Go with a shouldered on a tikka. action to action measurements are very close and it will look cleaner.

The reason I’m considering barrel nut option, is that it’s up to $150 cheaper than shouldered

 

[TaperPin]

At 100 ft lbs of torque it’s solid enough to not matter with either style if dropped. As mrolen said, shouldered looks cleaner.

A Benchrest guy over on Accurate shooter had a very accurate shouldered barrel and it was shot as is, then the shoulder was machined down for a nut and the barrel shot exactly the same.

I’ve never liked the look of a nut, but forced myself to get one just to say I did and now I don’t mind them at all. For Tikka I’d just get a shouldered barrel, but for Remingtons a nut can save a few hundred dollars over having a short chambered or long shouldered prefit installed by a gunsmith.

A nut and specialized nut socket isn’t free if purchased separately, so be sure and add that in.

 

[wind gypsy]

Only reason i've never owned a barrel nut prefit is because the ones that typically offer the price advantage come with more limited contour, chamber, or twist options or a longer lead time that limited my interest. If the exact option i wanted was $100+ cheaper with a nut included I'd not hesitate.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I have both, although no nuts on my Tikkas.

Something else to consider on a Tikkage, Remage, or Howage is that you will have to open up the stock to fit the nut.

 

[Hydra6]

I have some very nice older actions (Stiller and Defiance) that shouldered prefits are not available - I am using barrel nut barrels for them. I use shouldered prefits for Tikka.

 

[waspocrew]

I’ve done both - definitely prefer the shouldered for clean looks and ease of install. If you don’t really have a specific contour in mind, barrel nut is cheaper and not much more difficult to use at all. I guess it just depends on what you’re after.

 

[SloppyJ]

I've owned multiples of both. Personally I'll almost always pay the difference for a shouldered barrel. It's so much easier to install.

On my Excalibur 6 creed barrel with a barrel nut, I used a healthy dose of red locktite. The idea was to essentially make it a shouldered barrel by locking it into place. It worked but still a bigger PITA.

One thing to consider is that you'll need at least one extra tool for the barrel nut so that price difference shrinks a bit. On top of that you'll need at least a go gauge as well. You should have it for both but honestly I've yet to have a shouldered barrel that wasn't machined correctly.

If you're not planning on swapping it, the barrel nut is fine. Not sure if they sell tikka stuff but I bought a criterion match barrel from NSS that was shouldered. Shoots great on my PRS rig. Have fun building your first rifle. It's quite addicting.

 

[HuntHarder]

I think function is similar, but barrel nuts are FUGLY. On looks alone i won't do a barrel nut. Reminds me too much of a Savage.

 

[SDHNTR]

I think function is similar, but barrel nuts a FUGLY. On looks alone i won't do a barrel nut. Reminds me too much of a Savage.

This, precisely.

 

[gbflyer]

Isn’t this the place that promotes that beat - up ugly-assed Rokstok with a “dead cat” barrel channel with the Hubble Space Telescope fastened to a train track on top, having dropped it 9 times in the dirt from 36”? Don’t worry about the looks of the barrel nut. It’s all about function.

 

[Hondo64d]

Possibly going to be ordering another barrel before long. It’d be a 223 barrel for my Tikka. Either a Criterion barrel nut prefit, or PBB shouldered. Does a properly torqued barrel nut setup suffer from POI shift if gun is dropped? Is shouldered the only way to go?

I had a Shilen DGR action in an MPA chassis that I had three different Criterion barrel nut barrels for. An 8 twist 22-250, a 6.5 Creedmoor, and a .308 barrel, all in the light varmint comtour. Every one of them grouped fantastic, as well as any Bartlein, Brux or Kreiger I’ve ever used. BUT, over a course of fire, they would slowly shift POI. With the 6.5 barrel, POI dropped over a mil during a PRS match. Very frustrating…

So, I started trying to isolate the problem. Changed scopes with no improvement. Changed from chassis to professionally pillar bedded McMillan stock. Still shifting POI. Finally had Jon Beanland fit a shouldered Bartlein barrel and no more shifting POI.

So, I probably won’t use any more barrel nut barrels, but I do want to try a Criterion shouldered prefit some day.

John