Well this is my first rifle with a barrel nut and I need some direction on what is the correct direction to my goal. This is what I have, Shilen built DGR rifle in 243 Win. with a Remage barrel nut, 26" long, straight taper to a muzzle dia. is 0.82", Stiller action. Really is a beauty of a rifle, but WAY to forward heavy. I knew this going into the buy, but I have quite a few heavy weight 6mm's and I need a lightweight walking varmint rifle.
My goal is a sporter weight barrel at about 0.65" dia. and may elect to cut it back to 23" or so. Local gunsmith says he can taper it down, but due to stress in machining may not shoot very good afterwards. Is this true in regards to the stress. I do not have a barrel nut wrench or barrel vise yet. Not sure if it is possible and what may be all involved, but is it possible to get rid of the barrel nut completely using this barrel?
Just looking to really lighten it up on the barrel end and not sure if I like this barrel nut setup yet. One final note is I just love accurate rifles, and if it is not accurate in the end, it's going down the road.
What are my options with this setup? Am I missing anything? Also looking to keep the cost at a minimum.
Thanks for all the help.
Regarding stress, many will say that it’s OK to carefully contour a button rifled barrel, not so much a cut rifled barrel. As an example, Hart will recontour one of their barrels, which are button rifled. I believe Shilen is button rifled. I would personally heed your local gunsmith’s advice and leave it alone, especially if it’s a good shooter. You might be able to get rid of your barrel nut if there is enough 1.2” diameter beyond the nut. Some Remage setups are on a shouldered “tenon”, but most are contoured starting at the 1.06 shank diameter. So, it depends. Again, your Smith could look at it and tell you.
There are some excellent prefits setup for Remage and you can order the contour you want. I’ve had good luck with X-Caliber stuff, but there are also others. There is nothing wrong with a barrel nut, lots of Savages out there that are deadly accurate. If you want rid of the nut and want a shouldered barrel, then it’s a job for your smith for sure. It’s been my experience that a prefit, by the time it’s done, really doesn’t cost much less than getting a conventional barrel install. Especially if you’re planning on buying a wrench, vice, and headspace gauges for a one time install. It’s really cool if your doing a lot of switching though.
Hope that helps. Looks like you’re starting with good stuff.
