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What is your experience and ideas on 5R barrels?

I have Broughton 5C and Rock, Obermeyer and Bartlein 5R. Not a complaint about any of them. All shoot great and clean easy.

"5R" is simply a feel good Moniker,to satiate Window Lickers.

Hint.................

If the 5R is available in the twist I want I get them. Clean easily and some say slightly higher velocity but not sure how you could verify this. If you are pushing the velocity envelope of a bullet the 5R may be easier on the bullet than say a three lug barrel.

Someone is guessing and badly. Congratulations?!?

Bless your heart.

Hint.............

Nothing wrong with a 5R barrel. Had one of Boots 25 years ago. Several Bart's now. I'm kinda partial to 3 gr too.
Best barrel I've had was a 6 groove Chanlynn. Second was a 4 groove Brux.
They are all good..some better than others. Number of grooves is a head game

BT/DT and have all the T-shirts,along with 5C...amongst others.

Hint...............

You need a 4gr Shilen Ratchet to complete the journey!

I like my 5R barrels, but I like my 4 groove and 6 groove ones too. I haven't tried a 3 groove and those seem to be the ones that give guys trouble so I'll probably skip them. Do I think a 5R is better than a standard 4 groove by the same maker? No, but I don' t think it's any worse either. They're all good and I'd worry about the barrel maker and gunsmith that chambers it long before I'd worry about 5 vs. 4 vs. 6 groove.

3 groove Pac-Nors and Lilja's are stellar. Have both in 6 mm. Probably a Lilja 3 gr nowdays is my go to barrel. No problems here.They shoot

I like the Pac-Nor polygonal rifled barrels. They are exceptionally accurate, easy to clean and for me have given excellent service.

Pac-Nor 1:10" twist Remington Varmint Contour 24" Super-Match S.S. barrel with Vais muzzle brake, .308 Winchester, Remington 700 S.A. using Pac-Nor Rem-Nut barrel nut, 10 shots @ 100 yards, eight shots through upper hole:



Pac-Nor polygonal rifled 1:9" twist 24" Savage Varmint Contour Super-Match S.S. barrel, .223 Remington chamber, on Savage Precision Target Action. 10 Shots @ 100 yards:



Pac-Nor polygonal rifled 1:8.5" twist 24" Savage Varmint Contour Super-Match S.S. barrel, .204 Ruger, on Savage Precision Target Action, using Berger 50 grain HPBT bullet (now discontinued) that required a slightly faster 1:8" twist. 10 shots @ 100 yards:



The limiting factor seems to be my marksmanship, although in varmint calibers the ground squirrels have few complaints.

Overall quality and consistency is what is truly important.
5 grooves with radius cutting is just fine, but it's not actually better then other types of geometry if the quality is the same.
I have installed a lot of them and all were good. None were "better" then all the standard types I have used of equal quality. I personally do not have any rifles with 5R rifling, but if I did I am sure I'd be happy.

As of right now, the rifles I have that shoot the tightest groups are all put together with "unimpressive" (to many) barrels.

My 375H&H shoots under 5/8" and had an ER Shaw barrel in it. Barrel cost me under $135
One of my AR15s shoots about 5/8" too and has an ER Shaw in it. Barrel cost me about $135
My 8X57 has a pre-war military barrel in it, and I get 1/2" and under from it. This barrel was free.
My 25-06 has a clearance sale $29 barrel from Midway when they sold them under the Adams and Bennett brand. This rifle shoots 3 round into 5/16 and I have done it several times.
One of my 270s has a Shilen in it and shoots under 7/16 with it's best loads. Bought it from Brownells when it was about $175.
My oldest 270 is on it's 3rd barrel and now it has an ER Shaw in it which shoots 130 grain loads to about 7/16". I put that barrel in the rifle about 20 years ago and at the time it cost me under $100

The 5R barrel I put into a man's 308 last month is an Obermeyer, and it does as well as most of the rifle I have listed above but for the 25-06 and the 8X57. And it's very close to them too.

So there is nothing at all wrong with it, but it's not some deep magic either. Quality is key, not gimmicks.

I built a 6.5-06 on a Mauser action with a Shilen 8" twist #3 barrel 5R

I built a 7mmRM on a Rem 700 action with a Benchmark #5 7mm 9" twist 5R

I built a 300WM on a Sav 110 action with a Shilen select match 13" twist 308 #3 5R

I am currently building a 7mmSTW on a Defiance action with a Bartlein 7mm/.284 1:9 Twist, 26" Finished, #3 Fluted Barrel 5R

I can find no difference with a 5R barrel, as my standards are too low and/or my target practice testing technique or barrel inspection and cleaning technique are too poor to detect a difference.

It was ~ 19 years ago when I realized my ladder testing was not reproducible. That does not mean others cannot benefit from their ladder testing. And likewise other shooters might be able to detect a 5R difference.

Shilen does not make a 5R. They do have a 4 groove Ratchet.
Obermeyer made excellent barrels and a lot of 5R barrels. Customers pressured their barrel makers to make them. At one time Bartlein said they will make them but couldn't document any advantage. They make them to keep from loosing sales.
A good barrel is a good barrel!

Don't think you can any longer get a Boot's barrel...sad

You are right sir.
That was a batch of 4R barrels I got from the barrelman in 2013.

You were lucky. He ended up taking a lot of folks money and didn't deliver. Shilen was kind enough to fill the orders of the screwed people.
Yes, Boots had a stroke.