I own a Remington Model 700 BDL. I am looking to buy a heavy barrel for it but am not sure what barrel to buy. I dont know the difference between a sporter taper barrel and a varmint taper. I assume that both are a lighter barrel than a bull barrel, but I dont know which is the best for me to buy. I also want to know what the difference is between my factory barrel and both the sporter and varmint taper barrels? Could anyone help me?

Check out Lilja, Hart, orbarrels. They have all the contours listed in thier webpages. I'm pretty sure the Sporter is lighter then the Varmint.

Rem.'s varmit bbl is fairly heavy and nearly a bull bbl... The Rem. varimiters i've been around have shot VERY good and were very accurate...

DM

Everyone of the mfg are little different. I do know just because they say they are putting a remington varmint taper doesn't mean it will fit perfectly in your stock. I had a PSS, and krieger said to put a remington varmint taper on it. My stock had to have some material removed near the action. All of them should have a chart on thier websites.

Check some of the barrel manufacturer websites. They havecharts giving measurements on their tapers. Most number them 1-7. 1 being the lightest.Number 5 isthe typical heavy/varmint contour. Most companies have Rem700, standard & varmint/PSStapers that closely match the factory contours.
But like Bigcountry said, it won't be an exact copy. It will have to be fitted to the receiver, headspaced,and the stock will need some fitting and bedding.
good luck

A barrel's outside contour is less important to me than how the rifling is formed inside the bore. Most all factory barrels are hammer forged and are not made with the tight tolerances that many custom barrels are.Theyare also quite rough compared to a custom hand lapped, button or cut rifled barrel. Go to Lilja's site and check out the video he has comparing the inside of a factory Remington barrel to one of his own. It's pretty interesting.You'll find it at www.riflebarrels.com

In most contour designations (Krieger, Doulglas, and Shilen) the #5 is the heavy sporter contour. It runs about .710 at the muzzle. A remington varmint barrel is normally .830".I personally like the #5. It usually results in a total rifle weight of about 10 pounds - which is not too heavy to carry a little, but heavy enough to be real steady at the moment of truth.

Also try www.ershawbarrels.com. They list all of their contours online also.