Barrel Weight Question

[Sailormilan2]

Does anyone know if there is a difference in weight between an Adams & Bennett barrel and a Commercial Mauser barrel, given the same caliber? A&B barrels are heavier at the muzzle, but have a shorter chamber area.

I am considering building up a 458 Win Mag, and was considering using an A&B barrel. However, I found a commercial barrel for less money. But if the Interarms/CD/Rem 798 profile is much lighter than tha of the A&B barrels, I don't think I will want it. I don't want to beat myself do death. I already know it will be a thumper, and I don't want to make it worse.

Right now my only choice is to pull a barrel off an already built rifle and weigh it, for the commercial barrel weight. I have a spare 30-06 A&B barrel laying around.

[Surplus]

Does anyone know if there is a difference in weight between an Adams & Bennett barrel and a Commercial Mauser barrel, given the same caliber? A&B barrels are heavier at the muzzle, but have a shorter chamber area.

I am considering building up a 458 Win Mag, and was considering using an A&B barrel. However, I found a commercial barrel for less money. But if the Interarms/CD/Rem 798 profile is much lighter than tha of the A&B barrels, I don't think I will want it. I don't want to beat myself do death. I already know it will be a thumper, and I don't want to make it worse.

Right now my only choice is to pull a barrel off an already built rifle and weigh it, for the commercial barrel weight. I have a spare 30-06 A&B barrel laying around.

 

Depends on the contour that you choose a sporter is thinner than a bull barrel or a bench rest barel

You can go to their web site and see the measurements of the different contours and get an idea

which one will be heavier

 

Surplus

[Sailormilan2]

Well, comparing a A&B F34 "sporter" to a commercially made barrel. I have a spare 30-06 A&B barrel, but I don't have a spare commercially made factory Mauser to weigh. I guess I will just have to pull one off my newest build and weigh them both and see what happens.

The 458 WM A&B barrel is built on their F44 contour, and I was wondering how that compares to a factory 458 WM barrel.

 

Edited:

I broke down and weighed two barrels. One A&B F34 30-06 barrel, and one Interarms standard barrel in 300 WM. Interarms barrel is 1/2" shorter than the A&B barrel, and of course, since it is 300 WM will have a slightly larger chamber. However, the weight difference is very surprising. Interarms barrel weighed in at 2 lbs 5 oz. The A&B weighed in at 3 lbs 1 oz. The difference in length is due to a slightly shorter chamber area(my fault, trying to time it so that the sights came up vertical) on the Interarms barrel. However, the length difference should not amount to more than 1 oz or so.

I may have to pass on the commercial 458 barrel I was looking at and go for the A&B barrel for my magnum. Give me more weight out front.

[gun nutty]

You can get lighter after-market barrels even from A&B.

 

http://www.midwayusa.com/Content/Legacy/barrel_barrel_blank.htm

 

I'm seeing an F14 contour listed... Is that close in dimensions to the Mark X?

 

The Mark X barrels have historically been softer than their commercial counterparts. A lighter barrel could also mean a less rigid barrel.

 

You'd need a Mark X with a .458 barrel to perform a valid comparison against the F44.

 

Look at:

 

http://www.ershawbarrels.com/scb-contours-and-weights.php

 

Shaw won't sell you a .45 barrel unless it's their #3 or higher (3, 3.5, 5). For the slimmer barrels, Shaw feels that there isn't enough meat left for either rigidity or safety.

 

I'm not sure what Shaw uses as "standard" for barrel weights. 30 caliber? A #3 barrel in .30 caliber will weight more than a #3 barrel in .45 caliber. Look at:

 

Volume of a cylinder = pi X radius squared X height = 3.14159 X r X r X h

 

v308 = 3.14159 * 0.154 * 0.154 * 24 = 1.788144 in^3

 

v458 = 3.14159 * 0.229 * 0.229 * 24 = 3.953958 in^3

 

Difference in Volume = v458 - v308 = 2.165814 in^3

 

Density of Steel = 490 lbs/ft^3 = (490 lbs/ft^3)X(1 ft^3)/(1728 in^3) = 0.283565 lbs/in^3

 

Weight of difference = 0.283565 lbs/in^3 X 2.165814 in^3 = 0.6141 lbs = 9.8 oz.

 

If my numbers are right, for a given contour contour, a 24" 0.308 barrel will weight 9.8 oz more than the same length 0.458 barrel.

 

You can cut a little weight by setting the barrel back. If you look at the Shaw table, a #3 contour starts its first taper at 2.750 inches, while the #1.5 starts at 2.250 inches. You can chop .5 inches off the barrel shank, setting the barrel back for a sportier contour.

[Sailormilan2]

A commercial Interarms MkX sporter barrel has a unthreaded chamber length of about 1.5", and a muzzle diameter of about .555". An Adams and Bennett barrel has an unthreaded chamber area of about .75", and muzzle diameter of .659". At least on my barrels. So, while the A&B barrel has less meat in the chamber area, it has a larger diameter barrel. So, it does weigh more.

[donmarkey]

Even if the weight is the the same (don't know without weighing) the A+B will feel heavier as the weight is more forward and the commercial barrel you have keeps the weight closer to the center of the action. So the feel will be totaling different. Hard to compare without shooter but IMO the A+B are too muzzle heavy and throw the balance all out unless you use a heavy stock.

Don

[lemski4]

Yes the A&B barrels are a little heavier than most others. I myself do not mind a rifle a little heavier than normal, as long as it balances correctly.