Bartlein Barrel - SS, 7mm, B#12 Heavy Palma, 9 Twist, 31'' Blank, 4 Groove

Delve into the world of Bartlein Barrels and unlock the secrets to optimizing your firearm's performance. Explore how various factors, such as barrel contours, rifling types, and more, impact your shooting experience.

Barrel Contours:

Do contours affect the barrel weight? Yes, barrel contours indeed influence weight. Heavier contours provide advantages, especially when your barrel heats up during extended shooting sessions. They resist barrel movement and wandering, ensuring consistent accuracy.

Do heavier contours shoot better than lighter contours? Heavier barrels often lead to improved shooting performance due to their stability and recoil-handling capabilities. Shooters experience less fatigue, enabling them to fire more rounds accurately over extended periods.

Does contour affect how a barrel shoots? Absolutely. A heavier gun with the right contour typically shoots better. However, Bartlein Barrels has seen lighter contours perform exceptionally well, challenging the belief that weight is the sole determinant of shooting performance.

Should suppressors be put on any barrel contour? No, suppressors tend to work better on heavier barrel contours. The added weight of a suppressor affects the harmonic vibrations of the barrel. We recommend using suppressors on barrels no smaller than a medium palma contour.

Single Point Cut Rifling:

Why is single point cut rifling better than button rifling? Single point cut rifling, the hallmark of Bartlein Barrels, avoids inducing stress into the barrel blank. Unlike button rifling, it ensures bore sizes remain consistent, even with smaller contours. Threaded muzzles also benefit from this method, avoiding bore opening issues that can affect accuracy.

Barrel Fluting:

Why is fluting a barrel important? Barrel fluting offers several advantages, including weight reduction, enhanced barrel cooling through increased surface area, and an aesthetic appeal that many customers love. However, excessive fluting can introduce harmonic and vibration issues that may affect accuracy.

Do we have a minimum depth for fluting? Yes, excessive fluting can lead to harmonic and vibration issues. If you can't add fluting while browsing, it indicates that the contour is too shallow for effective fluting.

Does fluting make the barrel stiffer? Fluting typically reduces the stiffness of a barrel. It's essential to consider how you measure stiffness. In most cases, a fluted barrel is less stiff compared to an identical unfluted one.

Rifling Types:

What style rifling should I get? Bartlein Barrels offers three rifling types: 4-groove, 5R, and Conventional-5. The style or number of grooves does not significantly affect accuracy or barrel life, as confirmed by feedback from ammunition and bullet manufacturers using test barrels.

Additional benefits of 5R rifling: 5R rifling helps prevent bullet failure by offering gentler angles on the sides of the lands compared to conventional rifling. This deformation reduction during bullet jump enhances performance. In late 2019, ammunition and bullet makers confirmed improved bullet flight due to 5R rifling.

Exceptions: While 5R rifling is generally advantageous, short jacket 6mm bullets used by short-range bench shooters (typically in 65-68gr bullets) may not perform as well with 5R rifling, leading to group size issues.