Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 5R rifling benefits?

reading an old article from the smith at GA Precision mentioning his 5R Rock 22" 308 Win barrels were getting more velocity than the Rem. factory 26" barrels
-anyone with any info. on this?
-would Rock barrels be any different for velocity than Rem. TC or other 5R barrels?

I haven't noticed any higher velocities, but they seem to be a little easier to clean, and Rock Creek tubes shoot awesome!

Fowl less and easier to clean IME

I only have one 5R, a factory Remington. With seventy rounds through it so far it's looking really good. Montana Extreme solvent hasn't shown me a blue patch yet. Pretty accurate too.

That settles that!

I've rocks that are great. The people at kreiger told me it didn't matter?

thanks for the info. seems like no great velocity difference

krieger just started offering 5r barrels. I have one on my 243 ai at my gunsmiths recomendation. it is the best barrel I have owned, its better than the other kriegers I have owned 5 total. copper fouling is just about NONE, in fact I have never seen more than an ever so slight faint blue on any patch. gun has about 225 rounds or so through it. it also shoots amazing, again better than my other kreigers in the accuracy department. its %r for me from now on, if its offered.

I have seen a couple benefit's of the 5R or 5C but not necessarily in a 308 Win.
They really shine with the fast twist in big cases for bore size.
just a couple examples: in a 22-250AI 1-8" twist you can shoot 80grVLD Berger's or hornady A-Max for the life of the barrel with a 5 groove, substitute a 3 groove and you will get bullet blow-up several hundred rounds sooner.
In a 6mm-284 I used a Pac-Nor 3-groove and never had a 105gr A-Max EVER!!!!! make it to target without blow-up so I had to shoot the 107gr SMK (Great bullet too). switched to a 5 groove Broughton and it shot the 105gr A-Max the 105grVLD Berger without a blow-up ever and had twice the barrel life of a 3 groove Pac-Nor.

Dont know about velocity but a true 5R rifling is a single point cut rifling like Rock or Krieger, Remington uses a 5 groove hammer forged counterfeit replica............not really a 5R at all but that is what they call it. still better than a 3 groove POS though

Doesn't 5R have more to do with the profile of the rifling than the method used to produce it?

Yep...it's a canted profile!

Well no.
Ever heard of a man named Boots Obermeyer ?
He states "5R is the form of rifling I developed. These barrels have 5 grooves,and the lands have angular sides that are single point cut rifled".
Others have tried to copy the design to one extent or another, Tim North of Broughton barrels makes a similar product that is button rifled that they call a 5C. Shilen has a similar product that they call "Ratchet rifling" that is also button rifled. Krieger and a few others got permission from Boots to use the term 5R and they are all cut rifled.
Remington uses a 5R "TYPE" hammer forged counterfeit barrel.

For example:I have a $50 bill in my pocket, I can print one on my computer that looks pretty close...It is a $50 TYPE bill but is a counterfeit and does not work nearly as well as a real $50 bill.

I lifted this directly from Obermeyer's site FAQ section:



The part highlighted in red pertains to the rifling form: five grooves and lands with angular sides. I know Boots cut rifles them, and I know his barrels are contenders to be called "the best", but it looks like Boots himself describes 5R as a geometry rather than a production method.

As to how well they work, counterfeit or whatever, I doubt anyone would expect a factory produced barrel made by any means to hang with an Obermeyer.

Apparently you want to twist thing's to look the way you want them to look, go ahead.

The Russians had the 5R developed long before Boots borrowed it from them.

Yes the russians had the 5R type. Boots borrowed it and as I recall changed the geometry a bit of course, so as I recall its a combo of an idea there for Boots.

About 10 years ago or so I was talking with the Remington people about 5R rifling. They were claiming that 5R barrels were lasting twice to three times the average barrel.

anything thats less invasive to the bullet vs the barrel steel, in theory will give you less pressure.

But I've found that less invasive, like shallow grooves/lands like button, vs cut, the button has a shorter life span.

2-3 times the life of a 308 would go from 4-5000 to almost 15,000. Thats hard to believe. BUT makes me happy my Rock is a 5R