Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Re-barrle or flute

I have a Bartlein number 3 in 280 Remington Ackley it is a little heavier than what I thought it would be I have settled on a load right around 2800fps accuracy is excellent I would like a little more volocity but my bbl is only 23 inches long thinking of ordering a barrel from Bartlein in like a number 2 or 2b try to get it as close to a standard Remington Sporter contour looks like a 25 inch 26 inch barrel. would you rebarrel or would you Flute the barrel from Kampfeld custom? to try and get a weight savings

You'll gain 70 to 80 fps for the extra 3 inches of the 26" barrel. If that is worth the extra expense of the swap, new load development time without the rifle etc. then go for it. For me, I'd say not so much.

Fluting will not likely make you feel better about the weight, and adding barrel length will keep the weight up, granted you will get a little more velocity but at a price,not sure Bartlein will do a #2 in SS they will possible do a 2B in .284, I personally would not want my tube any longer than 24" on a 280AI, you could use a different barrel maker so you can drop down a contour size like a #2 or #3 Hart...so much give and take!

I think I can live with the velocity but not so much the weight. as she sits now she is a couple ounces over 10 pounds

That's heavy.

Have you thought about recontouring the existing barrel?

It get a Remington Sporter contour if that's what you want.

That rifle is a a good 2.5-3 pounds heavier than it needs to be. They'd have to flute the barrel to the point that there was only a hole to make it acceptable.

that is also a possibility

Hart barrels on their web site says they do recontouring of barrels

Is this the one in an H-S stock?

I had a 22" #3 Brux spiral fluted by Kampfeld, the fluting made a difference to me, enough of a difference that I don't want to sell or re-barrel it now.

Had him spiral flute two Brux #2's, they are much nicer to me and drop right in Ti take-offs.

I agree with Steelhead, it won't make a 10lb rifle feel like an 8lb rifle.

If you recontour the barrel, you will also have to rework, or replace, the stock. When faced with the same issue that you have over my own 25" Krieger in .300 WM, I had Dixie Precision Rifles flute my barrel. It knocked off 15 oz. and had zero effect on accuracy.

yes it is.

For me, I don't mind large amounts of float between the barrel and stock. Had Karl flute a Rem Mag contour and got rid of about 8 ounces. Course that got it down to about 7 pounds 8 ounces for our rig which made it kind of nice. Not sure what else you have on your build, but 10 pounds does seem heavy.

That's a place you could trim some weight by making a change.

Bartlein's #3 is the same as most folks #4 & their #2B is the same as most folks #3. They will recontour your #3 to a #2B in 7mm because they did one for me, they charge $40 if I remember right. You'll have to recrown but they can do it already chambered. I agree with the others not to put a 26" on there, you'll just be adding the weight on there even with a skinnier barrel & it'll mess up the handling, 23" is plenty for a 280 AI. Fluting is mostly cosmetic, it'll take a little weight off but not enough to make a real difference, going down a contour will be a lot more noticeable. At 10# though you likely have other issues like too heavy stock & bottom metal, that's pretty heavy even with a Bartlein #3 contour.

By the time your done trying to make a 10 lb rifle lite you will have essentially replaced most of the hardware.

I did exactly the same thing when I had a custom 280 AI built. I shortly after learned that I much prefer a lite rifle. I chose to leave the 280 AI as is rather than rebuild the entire rifle.

My solution to the problem was to buy a Tikka T3 lite and top it with a lite scope for my mountain rifle excursions. A Kimber Montana would also do rather nicely. In the end you'll end up with 2 nice rifles for what you would have spent on one.

I use my 10 lb 280 AI for a number of hunting situation, just not mountain excursions. In the end I have discovered my heavy 280 AI is indeed very useful for a some of my hunting situations. My barrel is 23" and in my opinion gives 99% of what the 280AI has to offer.

Shod

I would replace the stock before i would mess with the barrel.......

sounds like you have a lot of extra weight in the rifle and not all of it is in the barrel

sounds like a good course of action

I would look at other components to find out where the excess weight is lurking.

A lighter stock, a lighter scope, aluminum rings floorplate or ADL mag box. You can save significant poundage there. I am more a fan of lightweight stocks, scopes and mounts than I am of skinny barrels.

If you can trim some weight in those other, less important areas, then you might consider throwing $100 at fluting the barrel to save a few ounces, but that is the last place I would look.

I also wouldn't worry about 50 fps one way or another. You are way ahead of the ballistic game choosing any of the high BC bullets available in 7mm.

At 800 yds, whether the bullet starts 50 fps faster or slower is mostly irrelevant.

It sounds like your rifle could be near perfect with a few minor changes. I have #3s that are much lighter than yours with nothing drastic.

It won't beat a Montana in the weight department so spend that $1200 carefully if you are going after a true lightweight.

Totally agree with TC. 60fps is way high for 23 to 26. Lucky to get 30. 60 is more appropriate going from 17 to 20. This is not straight line graph, but an uneven curve for drop-off.