What bullet weights and what velocities are you getting out of that 16.5 in barrel? I’m working on a 6cm in a night stalker stock with a pure precision SKLTN action and probably a preferred barrels carbon fiber barrel but im not sure what length I want to go with. I want to go as short as possible with decent velocities. Going to coyote hunt with it.
16-18 inch shorty rifles
- Thread starter DrDeath
- Start date
Oops, I see someone already asked that. New here, still learning the layout.
Bighorn Origin
Patriot Valley 18" 6.5 creedmoor .75 taperless with diamond flutes
Manners pro hunter in black and blue
Zeiss LRP S3 4-25 in Zeiss precision rings
Omega 300
Patriot Valley 18" 6.5 creedmoor .75 taperless with diamond flutes
Manners pro hunter in black and blue
Zeiss LRP S3 4-25 in Zeiss precision rings
Omega 300
I really like this 750 taperless contour. Handful of guys over on Rokslide are using them in short barrel configs. 18in fluted weighs sub 38oz. Which is pretty damn light for a steel 18in barrel. Same as carbon for less than half the price.
Agreed, mine weighed in around 2.3 lbs on a super cheap kitchen scale, so right around that 37-38oz mark. I was torn on what contour I wanted until I found a few threads talking about the 750 taperless.
$400 from preferred barrel, guess it's not less than half, basically half price. I haven't bought a carbon in a few years, but they were $750 then, figured they went up just like steel tubes since then. I'll probably order a few up to try on the new sig cross, and the howa mini as preferred has specific shank diameters available for both.
A blank with fluting from preferred is $410, if you wanted the extra lapping its $450-465. Just added one to my cart. Let your smith thread the muzzle if they're charging that much! When I priced one last week I added not options and it was 410$. That's why I thought it was half the price of carbon.
Add in the 400-550 for chamber, tenon thread, muzzle thread and it’s similar. Mine was 999 + a rush fee that I added. It would have been the same as an 18” proof carbon blank at 699 (expert voice) + smith work.
Steel barrels shoot better than carbon, raw accuracy potential is likely the same you just deal with way less bullshit. I'd take the steel all day.
In f class and benchrest - sure. If you arent shooting off a $1,000+ front rest I promise you can’t shoot the difference between them.
I've done load dev on enough carbon barrels that I don't want one, unless it's for a specific purpose built rifle. Especially in this 16-18" area, there is no advantage, other than a "look".
Show me a picture of the rest you shot off and the shotmarker. You didn’t test shit if you used a bipod or anything less than seb
Sincerely: someone with a bunch of barrels who shot f class from a seb
I agree with ya. Went through the carbon fad myself but after going through several carbons I can tell ya steel shoot better in my opinion. Just not a fan of 5/8” OD barrels wrapped with carbon.
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I don't own a seb so I guess my experience and info don't count. Your data is yours, that's where you get your opinion. I've néver saw a carbon barrel on an f class or benchrest line, have you? I'll take a steel over carbon, cuz of my data and observations. You can do what whatever you want......
Until you get to that level of shooting you won’t see any difference.
Theres no benefit to having lighter weight in precision shooting and that’s a harmonics game at that the highest level of that’s why steel is preferred.
This thread isn’t about shooting agg .2s off a benchrest setup. I’ve developed loads for over a half dozen carbon barrels and all have shot well under half minute.
Just making sure it was clarified that your data was shooting off a bipod at who knows what - not some kind of precision testing.
I was able to get out and shoot today, 15-20 degrees in NW Montana. Below are some speeds of factory ammo out of the 18" taken with a Garmin Xero
| Ammo | SD | ES | AVG |
| Hornady match 140 edlm | 15.44 | 51 | 2501.6 |
| Hornady match 120 eldm | 11.10 | 28 | 2751.2 |
| Berger 144 LR hybrid target | 31.88 | 83 | 2553.0 |
Damn, those are some shit numbers for berger. Have they gone to shit now or what? I remember members here used to always put berger on a pedestal for its great factory ammo.
I was disappointed too. The first group was also about 3”, the second closed down to .9”. But they were the first 10-15 shots through the rifle so I may have been getting used to it.
I have 2.5 more boxes of the 144 so I’ll see how those play out. I also just ordered some 135 classic Hunter and 140 elite Hunter to try - then I’ll also have a good start at lapua brass while breaking in the rifle.
Working on finding a load for the 18" .223W, Tried AA2495, accurate but slow, Staball Match, to short of a window, Varget seems like a good combo. 24.2 seems like a good spot.
77 SMK, LC12 case, Varget, 205m primer. I do need to look into cleaning and barrel condition, I fired the factory FGMM 1st, two runs of the Varget charges, but look at the SD/ES between the two. Weather for all intents and purpose was the same, ammo loaded at the same time. Pretty basic on prep.
77 SMK, LC12 case, Varget, 205m primer. I do need to look into cleaning and barrel condition, I fired the factory FGMM 1st, two runs of the Varget charges, but look at the SD/ES between the two. Weather for all intents and purpose was the same, ammo loaded at the same time. Pretty basic on prep.
If anyone is interested, I’ve got a carbon six 16.5” 308 1:8 shorty for sale in the PX for a Seekins HIT, unfired
