Custom barrels...some "faster" than others?
 

Planning on buying either a Ruger M77 Hawkeye or a Rem. CDL around spring and eventually will be upgrading to a custom barrel.
I've heard great things about most all of them. Shillen, Krieger, Hart, ect.
In a conversation with one of the other HN members, he mentioned that his Hart custom barrel was "very fast", and I've read how one rifle with a Shillen barrel (just for instance) might not give you as much velocity as the same rifle fitted with a Krieger barrell (again, just for instance).
Has anyone had a significant increase or decrease in crono'd velocity after going from a factory barrell to a custom one? Or going from one brand of custom barrell to another?

Any input would be appreciated.

Schoolcraft

Some probably are, some may even be slower. But all of my custom barrels are finished so much nicer in the bore.

I have a factory .204 Ruger barrel 1-12 twist 23" and a max load of RL10-x will launch a 32 gr. bullet at 4090 fps avg.

Same load in a Shilen .204 Ruger barrel, same length, same twist 4105 fps avg.

Faster yes but not enough to get all nuts up about.

I would think that most custom barrels would be as fast if not faster than a factory barrel just from tighter tolerences, but has anyone seen a difference between different custom barrel makers?
I mean, does one brand of custom barrell seem to always be a little faster than another brand?

Yeah it seems the Broughton 5c has been showing quicker then normal speeds...

Isn't Shilens "rachet" rifling kinda the same too?

I have had Shilen, Pac Nor, Apex, Benchmark, and Krieger. None were fast. I am not a huge believer in fast barrels, I just think sometimes guys can load to higher pressure without seeing any pressure signs.

I guess there is one exception. If the groove dimater is say ..0005", then the barrel might be fast.

As a benchrest shooter for 30+ years and owner of many many barrels I can tell you that there is some truth in velocity changes between barrels, to be honest about it not much but I've seen the same loads shoot as much as 50 fps difference with all things being equal.. the new gain twist barrels I've yet to mess much with but they seem to show some gain listening to the shooter on the line.. in the hunting world it not even worth talking about such slight differences to be honest about it.. a lung or heart won't tell the difference between hits with 50fps difference... barrels today are for the most part outstanding... Krieger, Bartlien and Broughton seem to be the honest going the competition circuit these days.. but they are all great.. who does the chamber work and the tolerances of the reamer seem to affect and have an effect more so than the barrel manufacturer.. a chamber cut with a reamer that has been worn slightly will really tighten up the chamber and you'll see some major velocity increases..EITHER way just make sure you break it in correctly, clean it and it'll last forever on a hunting rifle..especially a big game rifle..how many shots do we actually shoot at game anyway.

While it's nice to say that I have a custom barrel. Shoot the gun, see if the accuracy potential is up to your expectations. Is spending the money for a custom barrel worth the extra 50 or so fps. I say no but It's your money.

I believe button rifled barrels are slightly faster than cut rifled barrels assuming the barrels are equally finished or lapped equally smooth.

I think it is because the button rifiling process starts at the chamber end and pulls toward the muzzle end. As the button is pulled thru it orients the tiny metal particles to face toward the muzzle. This slightly reduces drag kind of like putting in golf with the grain of the grass or against the grain of the grass.

The down side of button rifling is that it can stress the metal particulary in lightweight barrels.

i dont think its the direction in which the barrel is rifled, as im fairly sure krieger cuts from chamber to muzzle, and still tends to be a bit slower then most others.

honestly i dont think theres much difference between brands using the same process. i use a broughton 5c barrel on my 6.5 wsm. its 26 inches long measuring from the throat and i run about 100 fps faster then my friends 6.5 wsm of the same setup except with a krieger barrel. i cant really explain why its so much more faster, but my barrel is marked 6.5/270 wsm where as his is marked 6.5/300 wsm but as im told there shouldnt be any difference in velocity between the two. but ive talked to other guys with 6.5 wsm's that where using push button barrels and the difference was only about 35 fps