Gunsmithing Shilen Ratchet Rifling?

[IKE]

I'm about to place an order for a Shilen barrel in 6.5mm. They have an option for what they call "Ratchet" rifling. The picture on Shilen's website makes it look something like 5R rifling, but with the land's trapezoid tilted to one side. Does anyone have any information or experience with this style of rifling? How does it compare to Shilen's standard 6-groove rifling?

If you're going to suggest another brand, please hold your comments. I have a gift certificate to Shilen that I'm using for this order.

 

[eddieharren]

"Canted Land" rifling is the same whether they call it R, P or Ratchet.

 

[Dirty D]

I should be able to give you some observations in about a week, I ordered a Shilen ratchet rifled 6.5CM barrel from Jim @ NSS today.

 

[fryj00]

I run a Shilen 8-twist .284 Win barrel that is the Ratchet groove and it shoots the lights out. With careful ammo development, it will deliver bughole performance.

I can't really speak to any comparisons with other brands or models.

Hope that helps!

-Bryan

 

[17874]

I'm about to place an order for a Shilen barrel in 6.5mm. They have an option for what they call "Ratchet" rifling. The picture on Shilen's website makes it look something like 5R rifling, but with the land's trapezoid tilted to one side. Does anyone have any information or experience with this style of rifling? How does it compare to Shilen's standard 6-groove rifling?

If you're going to suggest another brand, please hold your comments. I have a gift certificate to Shilen that I'm using for this order.

I run a .260 ratchet rifled barrel and it shoots great.

 

[excaliber]

I was told that Schneider makes the Ratchet rifled barrels for Shilen. Don`t know if thats true but either way I have one that Schneider made for me in 338. Great shooting barrel. I chambered mine in 338 Excaliber and hit steel with it out to 2449yds.

 

[Clark]

I have 3 Shilen ratchet barrels on order 16-18 weeks.
16 weeks was two days ago.
My son's baby was due 6 days ago.
Lots of waiting going on.

(2) #3 Stainless select match Caliber 308x13 Ratchet twist


(1) #3 Stainless select match Caliber 6.5x8 Ratchet twist

 

[Temp9]

Shilen makes good barrels. I have a .223 from them with the ratchet rifling. The ratchet rifling... well... shoots like any other rifling. But it cleans up... well... the same as any other rifling. Shilen makes great quality barrels, but not because the rifling style. The performance comes from good quality blanks with sharp tooling, good quality control, so on, so on. The ratchet rifling is marketing. Maybe it makes a difference, but it's not enough of a difference for a mere mortal like myself to notice.

 

[Straight Shooter]

I use a lot of 5 groove R style rifled barrels and cannot tell a thing on paper over a 4 or 6 groove.

 

[Hoser]

The rimfire benchrest guys swear by them.

 

[BurnOut]

Regarding the 4 groove ratchet vs. 6 groove traditional, I recently read something that indicated that a 4 (or 3) groove barrel will shoot a bit faster than a 6 groove due to reduced friction (and all other things being equal). I don't know if there's any truth to it, but the reasoning seems sound.

That said, I'm also getting close to ordering a ratchet-rifled Shilen in .260 Rem for one of my Savages. If I get a touch more velocity out of it from reduced friction, then hey... bonus. If not, that's okay, too... it's going to be a 20-22" piece anyhow, so it's not like I'm going for max velocity.

 

[fryj00]

Regarding the 4 groove ratchet vs. 6 groove traditional, I recently read something that indicated that a 4 (or 3) groove barrel will shoot a bit faster than a 6 groove due to reduced friction (and all other things being equal). I don't know if there's any truth to it, but the reasoning seems sound.

That said, I'm also getting close to ordering a ratchet-rifled Shilen in .260 Rem for one of my Savages. If I get a touch more velocity out of it from reduced friction, then hey... bonus. If not, that's okay, too... it's going to be a 20-22" piece anyhow, so it's not like I'm going for max velocity.

I was also told by Shilen that, even though the overall area of 4 lands is less than 6, the 4 lands are a bit "beefier" and might last a little longer. Might. The ratchet plays a role in this as well. It's less friction between the bullet and the land because of the "smoother" engagement. The sloped side of the land is the leading edge.

Also, I am getting outstanding velocity out of my barrel for what it is. Reloader 17 helps but, still, I'm getting 2871fps with 168 Berger Classic Hunters from a short action and 22 inch barrel.

 

[Clark]

I can get unthinkable velocity with Re17, but when I back off a proportional safety margin for the temperate change possible when hunting, it is back down with every other powder in velocity, and cursed with temperature variations in trajectory.

That is why so many are after H4350.