Thin Barrel Contour Data

[snowcamoman]

Anyone know how certain custom rifle gunsmiths and factory rifle manufacturer's come up with pencil thin barrel profiles? Do you think they're just doing the calculations on the material properties and pressure's? Or are they engineering a design and then doing some lab testing to see if a barrel will hold up to the pressures? I had a rifle built by a company and I ended up going with a Lilja #1 profile on it. I wanted a really light barrel in stainless and this was one of the lighter one's I could find and I like Lilja's too, so it was a pretty easy choice.Yesterday though, I called the company who built my rifle and inquired a little about custom gunsmith's that utilize Lilja barrels and then turn them down to even smaller profiles. He said that it was funny I should ask that, because he had spoken with Dan Lilja recently about the same topic. Basically, Dan Lilja told him that he wasn't sure how people safely turn down a barrel beyond what their smallest profile is.

Anyone know if there's some kind of barrel voo-doo science out there that I'm missing? I could to the math and I'm sure that the barrel manufacturer's put a factor of safety into all of their profiles and thicknesses, but how does a custom gunsmith know what to use as a bare minimum?

 

[Fire_9]

Why would you want to go lighter than a #1?

 

[snowcamoman]

For weight savings.

 

[luke moffat]

Just save weight but turning it down on the inside and make it a 338

 

[snowcamoman]

Luke...good one, I like that.

 

[Fire_9]

How much weight are you really saving?

 

[GKPrice]

not much - call and talk to PacNor about contours, they were always willing to chat about these sort of things and they'll most likely do anything you'd ask within reason - IMO you can save a lot more weight and still maintain good barrel qualities by going to an ultra light stock and R&R accessories and gun components with alloy or CB part - IME if you go too light on the barrel you'll wind up regretting it - do some calculating on contour vs. weight ... personally I'd much rather have a shorter accurate barrel than a skinny one that scatters shots due to that svelt contour and usually you don't give up THAT much velocity - It would seem that the Tikka LITE contour may be real close to a sweet spot

 

[GKPrice]

Just save weight but turning it down on the inside and make it a 338

by JES boring a .30 barrel to .338 you ARE removing weight, no argument there

- A while back I had a Tikka superlight that I convinced myself was shot out, had JES make it a 338 Win Mag and quite frankly unless I put a brake on it (considered it but NOOOO) it was just too light for me recoil wise ... sold it - if a person wanted a LIGHTWEIGHT 338 mag this would be a darn good way to go if a brake was an option, that cut rifled 338 barrel did shoot

 

[snowcamoman]

I went ultralight on everything else in this build, figured I'd go light on the barrel too. It ended up in the 4.05lb range, which isn't too shabby. I would have gone lighter and I think I called PacNor at the beginning of my search and still found Liljas #1 lighter. There are still gunsmiths turning more off the #1 though and I'm not sure what research or testing they're doing.

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[left hunter]

I would love to hear about the specs of your 4 pound build! That is pretty impressive

 

[Fire_9]

I would personally stay on the safer side of things and leave it a #1. What caliber?

 

[snowcamoman]

It's a 300RCM built on a Pierce Titanium action with their new all Ti bolt. It sits in a very light Browns pounder stock that weighs 13 oz. Trigger is a Timney Calvin Elite. I'm not a big brake fan, but Pierce said it had a pretty stout recoil, so I had Ti threaded brake added. Barrel is the Lilja #1 at 21 inches. All metal is Cerakoted and bolt is Nitride coated.

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[GKPrice]

It's a 300RCM built on a Pierce Titanium action with their new all Ti bolt. It sits in a very light Browns pounder stock that weighs 13 oz. Trigger is a Timney Calvin Elite. I'm not a big brake fan, but Pierce said it had a pretty stout recoil, so I had Ti threaded brake added. Barrel is the Lilja #1 at 21 inches. All metal is Cerakoted and bolt is Nitride coated.

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Did you have an Aircell recoil pad put on that 13 oz stock ?

 

[snowcamoman]

It's the lightest one Brown's uses. I spoke with them and was willing to wait for a lighter one to be pulled from their run. I was happy to wait and save a few ounces.

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[luke moffat]

I went ultralight on everything else in this build, figured I'd go light on the barrel too. It ended up in the 4.05lb range, which isn't too shabby. I would have gone lighter and I think I called PacNor at the beginning of my search and still found Liljas #1 lighter. There are still gunsmiths turning more off the #1 though and I'm not sure what research or testing they're doing.

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Haha you know you are getting nutty with rifle weight when you are posting down the the hundredths of a pound weight haha!!!

I am not there yet! Hope to see some pics of some of these components on a scale to help brake it down for someone else looking to do the same.

 

[dotman]

Kreiger has a #0 contour.

 

[snowcamoman]

Kreiger wouldn't do a #0 in stainless, just Chrome moly. Their stainless starts at #5 contour in stainless .30 cal, which is double the weight.

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[Ryan Avery]

I've always wanted to shoot a fast ten shot group with a #1 contour. Just to see how fast and much the POI changes. I know this is not the point of a rifle like this, but just for the hell of it.


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[GKPrice]

Kreiger wouldn't do a #0 in stainless, just Chrome moly. Their stainless starts at #5 contour in stainless .30 cal, which is double the weight.

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IMO there's not a single thing wrong with a CM barrel, in fact in extreme cold temps CM is less likely to be brittle than SS, just cerakote it !

 

[GKPrice]

ultra thin barrels is one of the things that make sense to cryo temper .....