Sporter vs Varmit barrel weight...

i'm going to be putting together a 300blk bolt gun, using one of the ER Shaw barrels that Gunshack is doing a group buy on....and i'm trying to determine which to buy. they have a stainless varmit contour (16.5" and .9 at muzzle) and a sporter contour made from 4140 with a .9 shoulder...

i'm going to use this gun out to 200yds...MAYBE a little farther if the opportunity arises, but i have other guns for longer range shots.

it'll mostly be shot from a bench on a bipod with rear bag....and usually shot suppressed (7.62-SDN-6). Gun will be assembled from a savage 200 in .223 and will spend its life in a hart lrt stock (afraid i MIGHT have to do some stock trimming if the fore end is longer than i expect)

which would you choose...and why?

If ur gonna use it mostly for bench work might as well get the varmint contour. Those fatter barrels are easier to find accuracy nodes since they are so fat and short. If your gonna carry it around for hunting maybe the sporter. But even so the varmint one shouldnt be to heavy since its gonna be shorter than 20". jMHO

brian

Id go with a varmint contour.

since you will be using it from a bench the fatter barrel will heat up slower, allowing you to shoot more shots before letting it cool( although once you do get it hot it will cool down slower).

good advice from these guys. Because it is so short, it will not be too heavy to tote around. And the short stiff barrel should be more accurate.

So short that the Varmint can only help. I'll bet that the LRT stock will add more weight than the heavier contour of the barrel will.