What is your choice for number of groves in a custom barrel?

Lessee, the last barrel I bought for .30 was a 3 groove.

I'd planned for a steady diet of MV's well over 3000 fps and figured the extra steel in the lands would help with resisting the wear and tear...

Results? Dunno, no bore scope but to date groups are hangin' in there...

13.

3 groove Lilja. But they all work

I have 4 groove Kriegers along with Obermyers and Rocks with 5. All shoot great. I have been told cut rifled barrels last longer.

I'd be more worried about quality of barrel and smiths skills putting it together than number of grooves.

I guess opinions differ on this topic..........to me I WILL NEVER own another FHUQKING 3 groove as long as I live, there is no upside to a 3 groove only downside.

All my benchrest barrels are 4 groove but most of my rifles have 5 or 6 groove barrels

What do you think the downside of three groove is?

I've been very happy with anything between 4-6.

Curious on this myself.

How many 3 groove barrels have you owned and in what calibers ? I am also interested in your Opinion regarding the downside to a 3 groove . Spell-check may have helped on that one cute word .

I would rather have 4 or 6 grove myself

I've got several 3G 17-20 cal barrels and they all shoot extremely well. I know for a fact a multi national champion 1000 yd BR shooter has a 3G barrel on his rifle as we speak and another good 1000BR shooter i know told me once that the worst barrel he ever had was a 5R.
I've shot 3,4,5 and 6 all shoot for what my LR hunting intended purposes, like I said I'd worry more about quality and smith skills.

I've had and still have a number of three groove barrels on hunting/varmint rigs as well as my .30 cal Benchrest guns. In fact, they offer benefits in certain situations. Currently, my three grooves are in 22BR, 6BR (two) and .30 cals. from Lilja and PacNor.

The two mediocre Benchrest barrels I've had were 4 and 5 groove...one button and one cut rifled from two different makers.

Good shootin' -Al

4 groove Krieger for the win!

I have two 3 groove barrels. one is a 7 mag by PacNor and the other is a Lilja 25-284. Both shoot as well as any other groove configuration.
I don't necessarily think they have any more mojo but they do seem to clean easier.....

Fewer corners.

I just ask the 'smith if he has a preference anymore. I'm far from a benchrest shooter, so it would probably never matter, realistically, to my rifles and shooting ability.

I only use 2 smiths now, one being Shaen and the other local. Local smith is no fan of 5s for some reason, says he prefers 4 or 6...has built a lot of winning BR rifles.

I've had 2 custom barrels that didn't shoot to my liking, one being a 3 groove and the other a 5. Seriously doubt that had a thing to do with it though.

I personally don't even think about it anymore.

I have owned 7 3 groove barrel's, 4 were 22 cal.....2 were 1-14"twist and 2 were 1-8"twist

Had 2 6mm barrels both were 1-8" twist and one 338 barrel 1-10" twist

All were Pac-Nor except the 338 barrel that is of unknown origin (built by Bill Shehane but he does not remember barrel maker).

All 4 1-8" twist (22cal and 6mm) blew up bullets from the very start. NEVER had a Hornady A-Max 22 or 6mm EVER make it to target................only bullets that would stand up to the 3 groove were 22 and 6mm MatchKings.
None of the 4 barrels made it to the 1000 round mark................as for the 338 barrel it gave up the ghost at 600 rounds.................only one of the 7 I have left is a 1-14" 222Rem, still shoots awesome with 1500 rounds down the tube

I've used most all land and groove situations, and think that a good barrel is a good barrel. I have yet to see scientific proof of any being better. Short range BR is 95% 4 groove. I would say in RF Br that the button ratchet4 groove barrels have a strangle hold.

The 3 groove barrels are very hard on thin jacket bullets. I agree there is no upside to them.
I have a 12 groove barrel that went for ever and shot great. I mostly get 5 groove now

got these in for the 300 Razor & 300 Headhunter builds, all 5R , 30 cal 5R cut rifled barrels seem to love the long arse, heavy, high bc copper bullets

these two 32" Rock Creek tubes are also 5R with a bit faster twist at 7.2 tw

...,,

this 32" 1:7 tw 8mm barrel has 6 grooves, just right for the 256 gr Cutting Edge MTH bullets

...

I remember the arguments that arose over the two groove vs four groove barrels on the 03 & 03A3 barrels. Many thought the four groove were better, others argued the two groove was better for cast bullets. I was not convinced one way or the other.

I was planning on a re-bore on a 30-06 to a 35-06, just because it was less money than a four groove.

This thread is the first I’ve read any opinion regarding a three groove being worse than a four or five groove.

I know that the marlin micro groove barrels shot jacketed bullets well but not cast. They eventually offered Ballard style
Rifling to shoot cast. More grooves are easier on bullets. Seems like Shilen used to have 8 groove but i could be mistaken

Never noticed a difference between 3, 4, 5, or 6, but my 3 groove barrels are all on calibers for which I do not shoot thin jacketed bullets. It seems to be a fairly common experience that 3 groove barrels in smaller calibers at higher twist rates are pretty hard on thin bullet jackets.