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22rf barrel rifling

ratton

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 21, 2009
884
149
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Nevada
I am about to order a 22rf barrel from Bartlien. The options for rifling are 4 groove, 5R and Conventional 5. This will be going on my 40X repeater conversion. What do you recommend and why?
 
Whichever will give you less bullet deformation. We’ve used everything from Benchmark 2/3 groove, Kreiger barrels, LW, Shilen, and Lilja. By far and long the most consistent and arguably the most accurate have been the 2 groove Benchmarks. Out of your listed choices, I’d be inclined to go with the 5R as it will give you the least rifling deformation as the projectile goes down the barrel.
 
When I ordered in January, I was told that they did not have the tooling to do 5R for rimfire barrels, so I guess that has changed. I went with 4 groove, but would have used 5R if that choice had been available at the time.
 
I am a fan of odd land and groove barrels for less bullet deformation, I specifically prefer a 3 groove. With even land barrels you have a land opposing a land where odd lands have a land opposing a groove. But that doesn’t mean my 4 groove rimfire barrels haven been excellent.