Re: Krieger barrel contour
I've had a couple of rifles built using Krieger barrels. All of my friends have their rifles built using Krieger barrels. I don't think I've ever seen a rifle with a Krieger barrel that was installed right that did't shoot very sub MOA with a good shooter.
I went with the heavy varmint profile, for a few reasons. The first is that I didn't want the weight of a straight tube. The walk to the firing line is sometimes pretty long. I also wanted to maximize the life of the barrel, so I chose .308. With this caliber you get a very good barrel life. I also chose .308 because many of the matches that I wanted to shoot are limited to the .308.
Another big benefit of the heavy varmint is the 5" section at the breech end that maintains 1.250" thickness. This leaves you a lot of room for setting your barrel back and having the chamber recut, for when your throat gets blown out.
If going with .308, I'd also get a twist faster than 1:12. I know that Krieger says that 1:12 should be fine up to 175s, but I've found them to be iffy with the heavier/longer bullets.
If you decide to go with a caliber other than .308, do your research and consider factors in light of how much you're going to be shooting the rifle and how deep your pockets are.
For example, the .243. I really like the .243. It shoots flatter, bucks the wind better and has less recoil, but the barrel life is about 1/3 of what you would get out of a .308. That was a consideration for me, because when rimfire season ends and we start into centerfire season, for us, I put at least 500 rounds a month through my .308. With a .243, I'd be having my barrel set back/replaced at least every season with a .243, rather than every second or third season, with the .308.
In any case, Krieger is never a bad choice. Just be sure that you get the right twist. Which rifling you get won't matter much. They all shoot well.
These were some of the first groups that I shot with my last barrel, when working up loads. They aren't best ofs, just a few that I shot that day. The center diamond is 3/4" from top to bottom and were shot at 100 yards off of a bipod using a squeeze bag.