Important Barrel Question...

[Savage_Jake]

I am looking to purchase a barrel for my .260 build. MidwayUSA has Shilan 26" Varmint barrels instock for $275

How good are these barrels?
Would you buy a precision barrel from MidwayUSA?
Is the varmint contour good for bench shooting, paper punching, and gong ringing? :)

I want to order tomorrow so if someone could chime in tonight, that would be great.

[geargrinder]

They aren't as good as the Shilen barrels from Northlander. ;D (Just kidding, they're the same barrels. But Jim is a site sponsor)

Other than that, the varmint taper is great for all the things you listed.

[Savage_Jake]

I was gonna get one from him or a Benchmark from Kevin Rayhill but the wait is too long.

I already have a 14-16 week wait on my stock from Kevin. I want to get the action and barrel together so I can start testing loads.

[dfrosch]

The barrels from Midway are Match barrels. Northlander's barrels are Select Match, which means they are held to tighter tolerances.

http://www.shilen.com/barrelGrades.html

[Savage_Jake]

I may call Jim Briggs monday about the McGowen 28" Varmint Contour he has listed.

Although I would rather have a 26" or shorter.

[lwink]

Get the 28" and have it cut and recrowned locally, shouldn't run too much or be much of a wait if you know of any decent local smiths. Or keep the extra two inches so you can rechamber down the road? Two more options for you... whatever you do, make sure you will be as happy as possible otherwise you'll end up reworking it and all your time and money will be wasted. Good luck.

[Savage_Jake]

I may just keep the 2" for added velocity. Since its a bench gun I'm not worried about weight.

[Savage_Jake]

Does anyone have any experience with the Match and Select Match barrels?

Would I see much of an accuracy difference?

This is the barrel I'm looking at purchasing.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=482505

[fatdaddy]

I bought a Shilen match from midway a year ago in 243. I also bought 2 28" Mcgowan's, premium match, from Jim in 6br. I sold the shilen to my bro along with all 243 paraphernalia. On any given day, its a toss up as to which will shoot better. Both the mcgowans, and the shilen shoot extremely small groups every time out. Bill

[Savage_Jake]

I just bought a McGowen 28" Bull .260 barrel from Jim @ NSS. Cant wait until it gets here.