Im building my first custom bolt gun. Its a terminus zeus QC action. Its going to be for long range. I want to take some classes with it no competition. I have several questions maybe you guys can help me out. First i want to go with 24. What twist? What contour? Carbonfiber or stainless? I shoot alot and i reload also a good company to buy from and brands dam i feel lost
- Thread starter eamieva02
- Start date
8 twist will stabilize anything you’ll want to shoot.
Don’t splurge on carbon fiber unless you’re competing in NRL Hunter or similar (you said you aren’t), or hunting with significant foot travel with it.
Heavier contours are nice for recoil mitigation and spotting impacts. M24, MTU, etc. are good, but honestly you can buy any reputable barrel brand and any contour will be fine. Some folks like the Palma contours as well. Heavier barrels are easier to get balanced too.
Buy a brand that you can find in stock somewhere. Plenty of prefits out there in stock from reputable smiths.
Don’t splurge on carbon fiber unless you’re competing in NRL Hunter or similar (you said you aren’t), or hunting with significant foot travel with it.
Heavier contours are nice for recoil mitigation and spotting impacts. M24, MTU, etc. are good, but honestly you can buy any reputable barrel brand and any contour will be fine. Some folks like the Palma contours as well. Heavier barrels are easier to get balanced too.
Buy a brand that you can find in stock somewhere. Plenty of prefits out there in stock from reputable smiths.
8 twist is legit. I’ve had great luck with proof and criterion. Rem varmit/ medium Palma is the lightest contour I’d go with. I really like M24/MTU contours. A proof comp contour is heavy but very nice for a prone gun. IMO it is a little heavy for a general purpose long range rifle. Great for a comp Gun, but I wouldn’t want to pack my belly gun any real distance.
I went this time with a 7.5 twist Osprey Barrel Works. Haven't been sorry, didn't do a creed but a Gap instead. Barrel is outstanding. Brux and Bartlein are also pretty much top of heap.
You could try putting a post in the px for a wtb 6.5 creed barrel and I bet you’ll get some good options. Also front range precision usually has some good options in stock as well as LRI. Marksman or heavy Palma at 24” would be great. 1.8 twist will do it all as mentioned above.
get a proof prefit and be done. you'll never notive the extra 2"
but
if you want to spend more money and buy a blank and have a smith do it
7.5 or 8 twist
M24/M40/MTU/Heavy Varmint contour will be better for weight and for higher volume shooting
bartlein kreiger benchmark hawkhill
if you're going to shoot a lot carbon fiber is a bad idea
but
if you want to spend more money and buy a blank and have a smith do it
7.5 or 8 twist
M24/M40/MTU/Heavy Varmint contour will be better for weight and for higher volume shooting
bartlein kreiger benchmark hawkhill
if you're going to shoot a lot carbon fiber is a bad idea
What Are the cons for a CF barrel?
if you dont mind replacing expensive barrels that see a lot of range time and dont want the extra 2-5 pounds of weight of steel than nothing
I have a proof CF pre fit, and I had a BSF CF AR10- .308 barrel. They both shoot/shot very well. The only difference I have noticed is that my barrel on the 6.5cm didn't seem to like the +140 gr bullets. With all my other barrels for bolt guns, they were spun up from a blank, so they were chambered based on what I intended to shoot in them. That isn't a CF thing, more of a pre fit thing. Not sure if the CF rigidity plays a role in the bullet weight shooting ability or what.... The proof shoots 130gr extremely well and is a ton lighter than my SS barrels.
For my next long term barrel (meaning for a caliber that won't burn it up too terribly fast), I'm looking hard at the Bartlein CF or at least a proof blank that I can have spun up. CF barrels are a lot less rigid so I assume the harmonics is a factor, but I've not seen anyone complain about any accuracy or other issues in a long time with CF barrels, they pretty well have them figured out.
The CF barrels are quite expensive compared to stainless barrels. For a steel shooting gun stainless is definitely more economical.
I too have a Proof CF pre-fit and I’ve found that it really likes the Berger 130 VLDs. Haven’t hand loaded any Hornady 140 ELDS, but the factory ammo that hammers in my other 6.5CM were not impressive in the Proof CF. I’ll experiment if handloading 140s can help, but with the 130s shooting 3/8”-1/2” groups reliably my motivation is lacking…
YMMV, happy shooting
I personally can't get past the ugly and double the $. But that's just me.
straight non tapered bartlein barrel go big or go home .
That's exactly my experience. I couldn't get 140 anything to group well enough but the 130 hybrid and 130 VLD shoot extremely well. I tried quite a few 140-153 gr bullets and anything over 136 gr just wouldn't do as well as I expect. The 130 gr. Hybrid OTM bullet is ridiculously good though. The bigger bullets were also too long to mag feed without a huge jump. Not sure if it's a carbon thing or what bit it seems to be a thing
Similar threads
