1/11 twist barrel

[sakofan]

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Hi
I would like to rebarrel my remington varmint 204 with a 1/11 twist 24inch barrel.
I was thinking about pac-nor but would consider others.
I would like to know if I could get a slightly lighter contour than the factory barrel without losing out on accuracy. My rifle is the remington varmint sf with the heavy fluted stainless barrel.
Thanks.

[Wrangler John]

Pac Nor is a good deal. The barrels I have ordered and either had installed on Remingtons or their Savage drop-ins I install myself are accurate. Best thing is they stick to the delivery schedule, and the price is right. You can get any contour you want - I had my 40-X barrel matched exact so I didn't have to modify the bedding - it came out perfect. A lighter profile would work with litle or no bedding work. Give them a call is my recommendation. You could go Shilen or Krieger, but the wait time is much longer and the price a tad higher.

[Rick in Oregon]

+One for Pac-Nor.

I had PN make and install one of their SS Super Match 24" 3-groove 11 twist barrels on my blueprinted stainless M700 action....in 204 Ruger Match (custom reamer w/no-turn neck). I had them duplicate the original Remington Varmint contour, but they'll use any contour you wish for a slight upcharge. Here's the finished rifle on my bench during a rat shoot:



My intention was to build an accurate 204 specifically setup for the 39SBK or any of the 40's. It does quite well with any bullet in that weight range, and still shoots the 32's no problemo. Here's a typical target shot with the 39SBK with the 11 twist PN barrel:



I've got barrels from every major maker in my safe, but the majority of custom barrels are all Pac-Nor, and my next one will most likely be another one of theirs for the reasons mentioned above. Good luck with the project.

[Neil S.]

I too am interested in a 1/11 twist custom barrel. Rick, I have been thinking about getting a custom reamer made, but it looks like Pac-Nor's "204 ruger match" chambering might be what I am looking for. It looks like yours is working out for you! Is the throat shortened so you can touch the lands? Have you noticed longer brass life?

-Neil

[Rick in Oregon]

Is the throat shortened so you can touch the lands? Have you noticed longer brass life?-Neil

Neil: Yes, I can easily touch the lands with either the 32 or 39/40 grain bullets if wanted. As for longe brass life, really dunno, as I keep at least 400 rounds loaded for each of my varmint rifles, and the brass has only been shot twice. But with only .001" clearance per side of the neck, I would assume the brass would almost last forever if only neck sized when loaded....which I do.

All dimensions were tightened up on the Match reamer, and I eliminated the silly .100"+ freebore of the SAMMI chamber. The reamer is almost a copy of TK's match reamer, but with less freebore and a tighter neck (.230"). The only caveat with such a chamber is once so chambered, you should not fire factory ammunition in that rifle....no big deal for me, I havent fired a factory CF rifle round in over 30 years, but it bears paying attention to if you go that route.

[sakofan]

Thanks for the info guys.
Rick What velocity are you getting with your 11 twist 24inch pac-nor with the 39 grain sierras ?
I think a 24 inch barrel would handle better than a 26 inch.

[Bayou City Boy]

Is the throat shortened so you can touch the lands? Have you noticed longer brass life?-Neil

Neil: All dimensions were tightened up on the Match reamer, and I eliminated the silly .100"+ freebore of the SAMMI chamber....... The only caveat with such a chamber is once so chambered, you should not fire factory ammunition in that rifle....

Which is exactly why " the silly .100+ freebore" exists in the SAAMI chamber, and why lots of folks who reload go to custom chambers in rifles chambered for various other cartridges, too...

Hornady and Ruger both locked themselves into the 4200 FPS pre-production advertised velocity, and then they had a heii of a time getting there without having to worry about the pressure required to get there. Their "solution" was to lengthen the freebore, go with a lighter bullet than originally planned (33 grains), and according to rumors they originally used a blended powder to hopefully get the 4200 FPS.

That's a the major reason why today Hornady sells 32 grain bullets, whereas for years prior to when the 204 Ruger leaped onto the scene they sold 33 grain 20 caliber bullets. It was a thin wire balancing act to get to 4200 fps safely in all factory rifles, and most factory rifles never could get there anyway because of typically sloppy factor chambers. But high pressures were safely corralled in those with the comparably tighter chambers.

-BCB

[struttin]

I have a new 1/11 twist Pac-Nor barrel on its way and I'm wondering what to expect as far as round count goes before accuracy drops off. This is my 1st custom barrel and reading your comments about how they shoot is going to make this a long wait.

[Neil S.]

Thanks for the info Rick. I've been doing some reading on Varmint Al's site about tight necks and I'm interested, and I also want to start neck turning. I'm not too interested in shooting factory fodder, so thats not a problem . I haven't been able to get to the lands in my savage and I'm sure I could shrink my groups with less freebore. Its hard to imagine keeping 400 loaded rounds handy, I only keep 50 rounds loaded at a time!

[Hotshot]

Neil,
I don't have as many rifles as Rick, but I can't imagine only 400 rounds. I have 2000 204R, 1000 17Fireball, and 1500 220Swift loaded. If I'm protecting my shooting buddies from the attack of rogue prairie dogs they will not get around me because I run out of ammo.
I did have a 1:10 Shilen 25inches that did real well with 32-50 grain bullets. If there were more bullet selections similar to the 50gr Bergers I would choose 10 twist over the 11.

[Rick in Oregon]

Neil: Part of the decision to go with this PN 11 twist barrel was also to use a custom reamer for a "no-turn" neck. Using Nosler or WW brass, a loaded round mics .228" at the neck, so using a .230" chamber neck dimension, there's no need to neck turn unless wanted. I do neck turn for a few of my rifles, but only the ones that have true tight-neck chambers. No sense creating more work than what's necessary. For what I do with my rifles, .001" bullet clearance per side of the chamber neck seems to align the cartridge perfectly in the chamber, and the targets don't lie. Factory ammo in a factory chamber just cannot match the results with a rifle so set up.

sakofan: I'm getting 3,960 fps with 26.5gr of 10X with the bullet (39SBK) seated .008" off the lands, and the last group shot with that load printed a .211". Another lighter load using the same bullet, 25.1gr of 10X runs at 3,708 fps, and is always one hole also.

As for my "ready rounds" for each rifle, packed in 100 round plastic boxes, four of those boxes fit perfectly in GI .50 cal ammo cans. So one can for each rifle seems to work well, but in truth, some of my rifles have FOUR .50 cal cans filled with "their" ammo. With over 20 CF varmint rifles to feed, that's plenty of ammo to have on hand, even for those "glorious days" when the shooting is non-stop and Skippy is charging the truck and benches. (That's also the time to have a reliable 22LR belt gun on hand!)



Our days afield shooting ground squirrels from the bench usually rack up around 300 - 400 shots a day, so if I want to shoot one rifle for a four day trip, well, you can see how much ammo is required for the type of shooting we do here. Another reason we always take more than one rifle. Besides, having more than one rifle means you want to shoot more than one rifle, right?

Good luck with your new 11 twist. I love my Pac-Nor 11 twist barrel, and wouldn't change a thing. Don't think you'll regret it either.

[sakofan]

Thanks Rick.
I guess I wont have to worry about losing velocity going from 26 to 24inches so.

[Rick in Oregon]

Thanks Rick.
I guess I wont have to worry about losing velocity going from 26 to 24inches so.

An interesting tidbit in that regard is the story of when I sent my Cooper MTV in 204 Ruger back to the factory to have its 26" barrel cut back to their advertised and cataloged length of 24". When I got the rifle back and using the same load, my velocity actually increased a good bit with the shorter 24" length.....go figure. The accuracy seemed to not be affected by the shorter length either (taped holes in the target were from initial scope zeroing):



I have a post on this forum a number of pages back that detail the event if you care to do a search. It was quite an interesting outing that day to say the least. To me, 24" seems right for both bench and carry, and still give most of the usable velocity the caliber is capable of giving.

[Neil S.]

Wow thats quite the loaded round count you guys have! There's nothing similar to a praridog or ground squirrel to shoot here in New England, which is why I find those numbers incredible!

Rick- A "no-turn" neck does sound appealing, although I would like to try turning for uniforminty as well. I dont think a true tight-neck is right for me as I will be hunting with this gun and wouldn't want a jam if the chamber was a little dirty.

-Neil

[sakofan]

Rick.
I was looking at the pac-nor site and seen the 204 ruger match listed on the wildcat page. Is this the chamber you got ?
do you just order this chamber or do you have to give them more info.
I would also like to know why you cant fire factory ammo in this chamber.
Sorry for all the questions but im trying to get as much info as possible.