Quote Originally Posted by toddcdozer View Post
Yes thinner barrels ARE inherently less accurate for MANY reasons not only related to tuning. Could a thin barrel shoot a better group than a thicker barrel? Sure. Anything can happen once.
The factors keeping the deck loaded AGAINST thinner barrels is long.
1. Faster, larger and less predictable resonance.
2. More and less consistent barrel torque due to rotational mass.
3. Thermal issues. Even if you wait 1 hr between shots it will be inherently less stable.
4. Weight/balance. A 6lb gun may be just as inherently accurate as a 12lb gun. Shooting it accurately is ANOTHER issue.

Yes a light barrel can be incredibly accurate. A HUMMER light barrel may run better than a regular heavy, this is an exception to a rule however. Until I see the short range BR guys heading toward sporter weight barrels, I will keep this opinion intact , in my mind anyway.
PROVING anything with a GUN on the INTERNET is difficult as we still aren't 100% AWARE of EVERYTHING going on in a gun during firing. We are close, but not there yet.
Skinny barrels have their place. Any gun that I am going to carry further than from the truck to the bench.

To say a skinny barrel is less accurate would require defining a little.

Can it sit there like an 8 lb bull barrel and take shot after shot without accuracy deteriorating. No. But that is not what it is designed to do.

I can assure you that for the first 2 or 3 shots a well built light contour rifle can keep up with the Bulls

That first cold bore shot is what is important to a hunter anyway. I can't remember the last time I used a second shot on game.

Now an absurdly lightweight rifle can be extremely difficult to shoot accurately but that has nothing to do with the accuracy of the barrel. I like a little weight in my barrel. I like a #3 Bartlein contour for my hunting rifles. A little weight forward works wonders steadying that shot.