I have a Remington Sportsman 78 in 308 Win. I installed a Timney trigger, mounted a Nightforce SHV 3-10, and bedded it in a B&C Alaskan stock.

I have a few loads that shoot well in this rifle. From the occasional 0.75” groups with ELD-M, to 1.25” groups with various 150-165 grain hunting bullets. Currently, I am shooting out to 325 yards, and can manage 3-5” groups at that range. Would like to see a little more accuracy.

I bought a suppressor (Silencerco Hybrid 46) a few months back, and should have it in hand Dec-Feb time frame. It will cost me $125 to have a local gun smith cut the barrel down from 22” to 20” and thread the barrel for the suppressor.

I have also been looking at replacement barrel costs. The Remage barrels look like a good option and instead of spending the $125 on the factory barrel; I could use that towards the cost of a new barrel and do some of the work myself. I have a friend with a Savage wrench as well as headspace gauges. I would only need the gunsmith to remove the factory barrel and maybe true up the action.

I use this rifle for out west for elk hunting, and in the future for informal long range shooting.

Spend the $125 on the current barrel and hope that accuracy improves, or spend a little more and get a new barrel?

For a regular barrel, I have been looking at Douglas, for a remage, I have been looking at RaggedHole. What are some other barrels I should be looking at? Total budget is in the $300-500ish range but would like to keep costs down as much as possible.

just remember if he "trues up" the action by re cutting the threads, the action will them be oversized for standard barrels.

I don't think anything you plan on will improve accuracy I would save the money and plan on a new barrel, A good shilen or cirterion from northland with the remage option will give you a much better shot at the accuracy improvement you seek. You can get tools you need to remove the current barrel and remount a new barrel yourself for about the $125 you have budgeted
However if that gun were mine I would consider leaving it alone and using it as is. Accuracy you describe seems adequate.

Cut and thread (and it will also be re-crowned) may make it shoot better and may not it will change harmonics as will hanging a can on it. You will not know until you try and some loads shoot better through a can. $125 is not bad for a CCand T job and should it still not please you you can sell a used threaded barrel easier.....Good luck and good shooting whichever way you choose to go...

Thanks all. I think I am going to get this barrel cut and threaded. Going to be taking it to Idaho for elk in October and don't want to make any changes to it until that hunt is over.