10-23-2017, 01:55 AM
StoneHendge Wrote:All the talk of 224 Valkyrie has stirred suppressed emotions. My 22 Nosler rested quietly in the corner of the safe. A fine rifle with a fine barrel that has been rendered useless by a craptastic case design and craptastic quality brass. So I'm done with it. If someday someone else ventures to put their cherished name and reputation on a 22 Nosler case head I may get back into the game - but not before. Nosler marketed the 22 Noslef as an easy barrel swap - no need to even buy a new bolt! Well guess what guys, that makes it just as easy to convert it to 223. So Nozzie will soon be ordered a 20" 223 barrel - likely either a BA or BHW.
Cotemporaneously, the 24" bull barrel on my trusty 223 bench beast has finally started to fade. I probably shoot this rifle more than anything since ammo is so cheap and easy to make and there is virtually no recoil. I usually bring 3 rifles to the range and the 24" 223 probably makes the trip 75% of the time and gets 70-100 rounds put through it. If I don't bring it, it's usually because it's time to make more ammo. It's still shooting sub MOA but groups have widened. So doing the 20" 223 will effectively replace the 24"
Which leaves only one thing that can be done with what remains - screw on a 24" or so heavy contour 6mm Grendel barrel! All the talk of 224V made me look long and hard at the ballistics and 105s out of a long 6mm Grrrrrrr approach 6.5 CM 130 grain ballistics. What's not to like about that - especially when all you need to do is buy a barrel!
So having scoured the worldwide web, the only options I could fine are:
ARP, but they do 20" max and probably won't have any until next year
BHW can do a 243 LBC (and a 24" bull barrel at that). Yeah, they call it LBC because they're not allowed to use Grendel, but it does make me a tad wary. Is BHW hand lapped?
McGowen will do a 6mm Grrrrrrr with an HBAR contour up to 26". Built to order, on sale and a hand lapped barrel for under $300. Don't hear too much about them these days and they seem to have gone through a rough patch a few years back with some bad reviews. Issues seem to have been rectified.
The Kreme de la Kreme would be an (up to 28") Krieger Varmatch contour. They could do everything but chamber it. I would need to find somebody competent to do such (and I wouldn't know where to start and what it should cost), but that makes me a tad nervous if there's a problem (i.e. Gunsmith blames it on barrel; Krieger blames it on gunsmith)
Any others out there that I am missing? This will be a bench/mat beast. Practice practice practice.The only hunting it will see is popping prairie dogs from aside my truck. A few months wait is no biggie - the 223 barrel is fading but she ain't done yet.
How much does a reamer cost? Screw arp. Call mark at pf, and get the krieger.