28 inch barrel for 300 magnum for hunting rifle

I would sell the barrel and buy the contour from the maker that you prefer.

Nothing wrong with 28" other than barrels normally come in 28" blanks, so 27" would be a normal length after the gunsmith would cut an inch off the muzzle. Otherwise, you pay a sur-charge for the extra inch with possibly increasing the wait time.
 
wildcat westerner said:
Hello,
I have a Savage switchbarrel rifle and we will be adding a 300 magnum barrel to it. The barrel is 1" bull barrel and 28 inches long. The present barrel on the rifle is .940 at the muzzle, very accurate, but also heavy.
So, within common physics paradigms, practical ballistics, and some common sense, I could use your experienced help. The cartridge is in the .300 Win.-.300 Weatherby ballistics mode. I have used 165 grain bullets for decades and do not see much reason to be changing at this late date.
How would you go about reducing the weight of this barrel that is a target barrel, to make it easier to carry in the field? Leaving the green jungles of the `Wash.-Oregon Cascade mountains to the much more open Rockies in New Mexico allows me to have a longer weapon. From a practical ballistics point of view will the extra 2 inches of barrel length be worth the weight? I have been happy with 26 inch barrels for a very long time.
I have been told for this rifle simply leaving the barrel at full length and fluting it completely would substantially reduce the weight. I have the good fortune of a gunsmith who has been very patient with me, and if fluting takes a long while, we both would be good with that, especially if the barrel does not lose accuracy.
How wide and deep should these flutes be for a .30 caliber barrel! Would you shorten the barrel to begin with, and also turn down the barrel to a certain outside diameter?

Thanks in advance for your experienced wisdom.

WW
Click to expand...
I have a 28" on one of my 300RUM's, and it is turned down to .850 and fluted, so compared to a straight 1", it is considerably lighter. It shoots superbly well, so I can't see any accuracy loss vs a full 1" tube.
 
I shoot a 300WM with 29 inch #5 barrel. My favorite factory load is the Federal 200gr TLR load that leaves my barrel at 3000fps. I believe the factory rated this ammo at 2810fps from a 24 inch barrel. No suppressor or muzzle break. The extra barrel length helps this caliber. 1/2 inch groups.
 
R. Cram said:
I would flute it because I hate turning down the outside diameter and re polishing and it would fit your forend I would assume and leaving it 28 inches is very good thinking the weight savings of 2 inches of barrel could not be noticed and the extra length could give you 70fps more speed. I think it is very humorous to watch people chamber their barrels in some exotic super cartridge designed to give more fps and then cut the barrel off and reduce their gains or eliminate their gains and have a rifle with mediocre speeds and fast throat erosion, what a waste. I have handed a rifle I put together with a 28 inch barrel to a lot of people and asked their opinion of how it feels and not one of them noticed it had a longer barrel. short barrels are a silly fashion statement
Click to expand...
Oh boy did you smack my pet peeve right out of the park!!! Still boggles my mind to this day.
 
It is all your preference. I personally wouldn't go longer than 26in. I would sell the barrel you have now and buy a 3 or 3B contour, and have it finish at 26in, with/with out flutes, your choice, and aim for a finish weight of 9lbs scoped, maybe 10lbs if you are not using a muzzle brake. At that weight and length it will be enjoyable to carry, shoot well, and have good velocity.

Hunting rifles get a lot less comfortable to carry in the mountains when they are 11+lbs and are almost 5ft long.
 
Last edited:
wildcat westerner said:
Hello,
I have a Savage switchbarrel rifle and we will be adding a 300 magnum barrel to it. The barrel is 1" bull barrel and 28 inches long. The present barrel on the rifle is .940 at the muzzle, very accurate, but also heavy.
So, within common physics paradigms, practical ballistics, and some common sense, I could use your experienced help. The cartridge is in the .300 Win.-.300 Weatherby ballistics mode. I have used 165 grain bullets for decades and do not see much reason to be changing at this late date.
How would you go about reducing the weight of this barrel that is a target barrel, to make it easier to carry in the field? Leaving the green jungles of the `Wash.-Oregon Cascade mountains to the much more open Rockies in New Mexico allows me to have a longer weapon. From a practical ballistics point of view will the extra 2 inches of barrel length be worth the weight? I have been happy with 26 inch barrels for a very long time.
I have been told for this rifle simply leaving the barrel at full length and fluting it completely would substantially reduce the weight. I have the good fortune of a gunsmith who has been very patient with me, and if fluting takes a long while, we both would be good with that, especially if the barrel does not lose accuracy.
How wide and deep should these flutes be for a .30 caliber barrel! Would you shorten the barrel to begin with, and also turn down the barrel to a certain outside diameter?

Thanks in advance for your experienced wisdom.

WW
Click to expand...
To be honest I would buy a 300PRC carbon barrel 26". Shoot the big bullets and have a nice manageable mountain rifle. Have the best of both worlds.
 
wildcat westerner said:
Hello,
I have a Savage switchbarrel rifle and we will be adding a 300 magnum barrel to it. The barrel is 1" bull barrel and 28 inches long. The present barrel on the rifle is .940 at the muzzle, very accurate, but also heavy.
So, within common physics paradigms, practical ballistics, and some common sense, I could use your experienced help. The cartridge is in the .300 Win.-.300 Weatherby ballistics mode. I have used 165 grain bullets for decades and do not see much reason to be changing at this late date.
How would you go about reducing the weight of this barrel that is a target barrel, to make it easier to carry in the field? Leaving the green jungles of the `Wash.-Oregon Cascade mountains to the much more open Rockies in New Mexico allows me to have a longer weapon. From a practical ballistics point of view will the extra 2 inches of barrel length be worth the weight? I have been happy with 26 inch barrels for a very long time.
I have been told for this rifle simply leaving the barrel at full length and fluting it completely would substantially reduce the weight. I have the good fortune of a gunsmith who has been very patient with me, and if fluting takes a long while, we both would be good with that, especially if the barrel does not lose accuracy.
How wide and deep should these flutes be for a .30 caliber barrel! Would you shorten the barrel to begin with, and also turn down the barrel to a certain outside diameter?

Thanks in advance for your experienced wisdom.

WW
Click to expand...
If you want the performance increase you would get adding 2" of barrel length, it won't be much. You could get much more performance gain down range by going to a heavier more aerodynamic bullet. 165gr bullets don't belong in 30 magnum cartridges.
 
wildcat westerner said:
Hello,
I have a Savage switchbarrel rifle and we will be adding a 300 magnum barrel to it. The barrel is 1" bull barrel and 28 inches long. The present barrel on the rifle is .940 at the muzzle, very accurate, but also heavy.
So, within common physics paradigms, practical ballistics, and some common sense, I could use your experienced help. The cartridge is in the .300 Win.-.300 Weatherby ballistics mode. I have used 165 grain bullets for decades and do not see much reason to be changing at this late date.
How would you go about reducing the weight of this barrel that is a target barrel, to make it easier to carry in the field? Leaving the green jungles of the `Wash.-Oregon Cascade mountains to the much more open Rockies in New Mexico allows me to have a longer weapon. From a practical ballistics point of view will the extra 2 inches of barrel length be worth the weight? I have been happy with 26 inch barrels for a very long time.
I have been told for this rifle simply leaving the barrel at full length and fluting it completely would substantially reduce the weight. I have the good fortune of a gunsmith who has been very patient with me, and if fluting takes a long while, we both would be good with that, especially if the barrel does not lose accuracy.
How wide and deep should these flutes be for a .30 caliber barrel! Would you shorten the barrel to begin with, and also turn down the barrel to a certain outside diameter?

Thanks in advance for your experienced wisdom.

WW
Click to expand...
To be honest, I would just get a prefit 300 PRC Carbon barrel. I would not flute or turn down an already rifled and chambered barrel. You very well might change the characteristics of the barrel. I'm sure some will have contrary opinions on that subject and that's fine. I would not choose that path. The 300PRC will allow you to shoot a wide variety of bullets. Unless you plan to chamber a custom 300wm throat you are limiting yourself on bullet choices. Again just my opinion.
 
26"-27" #5 contour, forget the carbon. This configuration will be all the "Stiff" you will need or want. You can order two of these #5's for the price of one carbon, in some cases, and the difference in weight and chances of getting a "cull" are not worth it unless you are a back packer where every ounce counts.
 
MighteyWhiteHunter said:
It is all your preference. I personally wouldn't go longer than 26in. I would sell the barrel you have now and buy a 3 or 3B contour, and have it finish at 26in, with/with out flutes, your choice, and aim for a finish weight of 9lbs scoped, maybe 10lbs if you are not using a muzzle brake. At that weight and length it will be enjoyable to carry, shoot well, and have good velocity.

Hunting rifles get a lot less comfortable to carry in the mountains when they are 11+lbs and are almost 5ft long.
Click to expand...
Yeah but the cool factor??!!?!
 
I can't imagine hunting with a 14-15lb rifle. Sure if you just drive around and always glass and shoot from a vehicle, who cares how heavy its is. But I'm too much of a wuss to hike around and pack out an animal with a rifle that heavy.
 
I will add that I never have barrels machined after the rifling is done, even on cut rifled barrels.
I have seen it have zero change and, I have seen it ruin a barrel. This is why I do not flute any of my barrels. If I copy a profile on a factory barrel that is fluted, I don't flute the new barrel, fluting adds stresses to the steel and it is a gamble whether it stays 'normalised'.
Many can argue, but I just don't risk a change in stress.

Cheers.
 

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