Mark,
Some guy did an article for GUN DIGEST or another shooting rag a number of years ago about turning down heavy barrels to see how it affected accuracy. Turned out it really didn't, as long as the barrel he started with was a good one in the first place.
I only have one heavy-barreled varmint rifle anymore, mostly because it's a period piece from the 1960's, a .243 on a Mexican Mauser action with a custom California-style stock. It spoke to me one day at Capital Sports, and for $350 I couldn;t resist.
