I am building a light weight, Remington 700. I plan to shoot 75 grain Gold Dots. I am considering a Pacnor 1 in 8 twist, 22 inch lightweight barrel, which number of grooves do you guys prefer and why? 3, 4, 5?

223 Remington

PM Renegade50. He shoots 75gr gold dots exclusively and has a few pac-nor barrels.

Probably a 3 groove. Less fouling too.


I’d ask Pacnor.

I'd do 3 groove 1:7" twist.

Didn’t Pac Nor burn down??? I thought they were folding…

Just googled it. Glad to see they rebuilt…

I'd do the 5 groove. Kirby Allen determined some years ago thatc3 Grove shoots out faster than more grooves

Up & running

They built me two new barrels this year...

20 Vartarg 10 twist/3 groove--Savage pre fit

20 Practical 10 twist 3 groove--Savage pre fit

Great products & very accurate barrels--L O N G lead time

Some bullets may have thinner jackets the 3 groove may affect

Remember having a 6XC---8 twist/3 groove...would spin the jackets off a 75 V max within 100 yds

Switched over to the 87 V max......problem solved....helluva LR p/dog rig

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/3-grove-vs-5-groove.79348/

Bob Whitley knows WTF he's talking about.

Pac Nor offers a Polygonal

Never built one but always had an interest

My H&K pistols have polygonal rifling

They are more accurate than me

https://pac-nor.com/barrels/

I have a 3 groove 8 twist pacnor 223 ai. It shoots well but if given a choice I lean towards 5r. Some say 3 grooves hold up longer with less fire cracking etc but I've seen 3 grooves become hard on jackets pretty early. I think the wider lands get a little rough and start chewing up jackets. I've known some guys that used to run fast twist 3 groove Lilja's but found they were poofing thin skined bullets early on. I think you'd be fine either way with a 223.

Bb

Why Pacnor? Think Krieger or Brux...

Bartlein for me.

Think lightweight and that pretty well rules those two out unless you want your gunsmith to turn to your preferred contour.



See above.

——————

Rock Creek and Benchmark will make you a small contour stainless barrel that is cut rifled, though.

They did have a bad fire. But they are back up and running. I just got my 25/222 back from them. Been too dang cold to get to the range with it yet.

What action?

Left handed mini Mauser. I sent them two actions a couple years back. They had the 25/222 ready to ship and the 222 just a day or two from shipping. The fire happened the next day. They refunded my money plus the cost of the actions. They were super to deal with.

I sent this one to them and when I got it back it had been incorrectly chambered. The tech used a 223 head space gauge with the 25/222 reamer and ran the reamer in until it would close on the 223 go gauge. Of course my first shot the case came out not looking as it should. I sent it back. They turned it around in three weeks. Including cerakoting. Mistakes happen with any company. Their customer service is first rate. I have three of their barrels and will have more as funds permit.

They did my .338-06 AI prefit for the Savage. I have three other barrels by them, if I do another it will be them again.

Fairly sure this does not pertain to your specific goal. Yet for what it is worth I ordered a drop in barrel for a CZ 527 chambered in 6mm ARC. This was ordered as a 7.5 twist 5 groove. Barrel face had a extractor relief that was bored a bit shallow. Otherwise all was fine. Id encourage you to call them to allow then to understand your intentions some of there barrels tend to shoot a bit faster for the same amount of propellant.

My 6mm Arc requires about a grain less powder to achieve max velocity / max pressure. In their new rifling I was told they have changed the angle of their lands a few degrees. the benefit of the change makes for easier cleaning. I can attest my 6mm Arc cleans up very well.

Whatever you get, Pac-Nor will give you a great barrel..

I've used them many times over the last 20+ years and only ONE dud - which they replaced pronto (any turd can leave the bowl) and paid me to reinstall... I have nothing but good to say about P-N..

available reamers on the shelf...options.....bead blast matte finish for one at no extra charge

I provided the -0- free bore new 20 Practical reamer to them early in their recent start up this year

They kept it and took my $160 cost off from my project

Never got a bad P-N tube

Exactly 💯

Yessss!

Krieger, Bartlein , Brux ,Rock Creek will make whatever contour you want within safety margins. They’ll match your current contour barrel also.

I'd just stick with a standard 4 groove. The 3 and 5 grooves are the fad of the month, and I've got some 5 groove, but I've yet to see that any of them do anything better than the 4 grooves that have been standard for years. The vast majority of benchrest barrels are 4 groove, if the others were better they'd be shooting them.

I just sent off a Ruger No. 1 to them to get barreled in 6mm CM. I am going with a 5 groove.

Wish you were still in the business, Lee. I've got a 6x45 I want a faster twist barrel on.

Worst barrel I ever owned was a Pacnor. The gunsmith and Pacnor pointed fingers at each other. Pacnor conceded and offered to replace it under warranty and install it. Very generous... Problem is, the new barrel was a turd too. Everything was tried on that gun, stocks, scopes mounts, loads...didn't want to shoot. Then I gave up, parted it out, and tossed action into the safe for 6 years. Got a wild hair to try one more time. Ordered someone else's barrel on Black Friday last year and replaced barrel myself (Savage.) This gun shoots unreal now. It is my best shooting, least finicky gun in the safe.

Pacnor's allure in the past was their price. Kind of competed with Douglas in my opinion. Now they are the same price as a cut barrel, so why bother?

Last 4 other builds wear Kriegers, they all shoot too... Just Sayin'

They made the barrel for my lightweight .223 AI (props to Scott and Larry for pushing the AI, it’s a hoot) and I chambered it. They barreled several rifles for me before I got set up to do it myself and always did good work. Glad to hear they are back up and running!

This’ll be from left field, but consider having them thread the muzzle for a brake .... a brake on a .223?! I threaded the muzzle on my AI and made my own brake that’s sort of a copy of the Holland. The reason isn’t to tame the *vicious* .223 recoil; it’s to make it so I can see my hits/misses at longer ranges, and boy does it work! The rifle hardly moves.

I went fast twist, for the 75 AMAX, but I don’t recall the number of lands/grooves.

Good luck!