Backup build questions

[bulldog5477]

Kind of in a bind and was looking for some advice on possibly setting up a backup gun for competitions this summer. At the moment i have my primary comp gun, nothing special trued R700 in 6.5creed barlein barrel sitting in an xlr element stock. Gun shoots great but with my current round count i'm guessing ill be replacing a barrel mid season. By my best guess ill be down a gun for a month or two depending on how load development goes, which in my case isn't a speedy process cause i'm pretty green to the whole thing not to mention weather and work might set it back even more. So that brings me to the question at hand. Should i just suck it up and replace my barrel now or should i start another build so i have a gun to shoot while the other one is down? If i did set up another gun i was leaning towards a tikka ctr 6.5 creed (24") with either another xlr element or krg x-ray/whiskey 3. My budget is about 2k so i could have the backup put together pretty quick, or should i be considering something entirely different? any and all advice is appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[Fursniper]

I'd rebarrel because I'd rather have another caliber if I was to do a new build. Depending on your smith, you should be able to rebarrel for around $600-750. Either that or go a new caliber, possibly a 6mm would be what I'd consider.

 

[Hoier]

I would do the backup. And if you wanna do the Tikka try to get the same stock as your primary gun.

 

[OH58DViper]

What's your current round count and load data?

 

[bulldog5477]

I am leaning toward the tikka/xlr element just because I know I'm comfortable behind it so the transition from rifle to rifle would be pretty easy. But my current round count is about 1300. I shot the majority of it using factory ammo (hornady eld-m), and the last 200 has been working up a load. The load I settled on is 140 rdf, 41.3g rl16, 210m, loaded in hornady brass.

 

[Supersubes]

You shouldnt even be sorta be in the realm of smoking that barrel. That factory ammo is creampuff pressures compared to what most are going for with their handloaded CM's. I dont know what your projected round count will be, but that will settle your decision.


Build yourself a backup if you like, but your barrel is still a baby at this point.

 

[bulldog5477]

shit i hope your right that would make this decision a hell of a lot easier. I guess i was always under the impression that barrel life was limited to around 2k to 2.5k, so what kind of barrel life should i be expecting? As far as factory ammo goes i think that was harder on my barrel than hand loads. With the factory hornady i was getting about 2850 fps with ejector swipe on about 70% of the brass.

 

[lte82]

shit i hope your right that would make this decision a hell of a lot easier. I guess i was always under the impression that barrel life was limited to around 2k to 2.5k, so what kind of barrel life should i be expecting? As far as factory ammo goes i think that was harder on my barrel than hand loads. With the factory hornady i was getting about 2850 fps with ejector swipe on about 70% of the brass.

If you are really wanting to shoot a lot of comps, having a back up rifle in the same caliber and configuration would be great. You only have to deal with one set of dies, brass, powder, bullets, and ammo which saves time at the loading bench. You also only have one rifle configuration to learn, which means you can really dial in your positions, moving, wind reading, etc much better than if you had two (or three) completely different rifles to learn. The more time you spend figuring out different systems, the less time you can spend building your skills, which means more fumbling around with controls, more time moving and building positions, and worse wind calling.

I opted for two identical comp rifles for the open division, with the same basic action, trigger, barrel, brake, chassis, scope, caliber (6.5 creed), etc. I also have a matching rifle in 308 for training / tactical division. I even built a 4th matching rifle in 338 norma, with the only difference being a heavier barrel and long action, for ELR. Now no matter what I take out, it's all the same, and I can actually work on my shooting instead of learning how each rifle works.