Painting a rifle barrel?

[Mineralogy Mike]

Hi all,
I am starting to plan out a precision rifle build based on a short action Rem 700 in .308 but I am having trouble choosing a barrel. I see chromoly, stainless, and blued. Eventually, I'd like to paint it. Can anyone tell me if one or more of those materials don't take coatings as well as any of the others?

I also am pretty green when it comes to rifle shooting so I would probably not drop a ton of cash on getting the best of the best of the best but rather go with something in the "good" range and spend the remaining cash on ammo and hopefully some handloading equipment.

Thanks everyone!

[Bastard]

I think that you might be better off just buying a factory built rifle to learn on and upgrade over time. The problem with building something nice & trying to learn on is it is that buy the time that you have everything figured out odds are it is time to replace the barrel.

[toby]

Chromoly is the steel that they blue. If your gonna paint just get that.

[HK Dave]

I think that you might be better off just buying a factory built rifle to learn on and upgrade over time. The problem with building something nice & trying to learn on is it is that buy the time that you have everything figured out odds are it is time to replace the barrel.

This. It'll be a while before you can outshoot even a regular old modern factory rifle.

Get a factory rifle and go learn to shoot it. The custom stuff can wait.

[MongooseV8]

Stainless hands down.

[Mineralogy Mike]

... buy the time that you have everything figured out odds are it is time to replace the barrel.

I don't really know what this means. By the time I get what figured out? By the time I'm a better shooter? By the time I figure out what parts I would really want on a custom build?

If I can spend $1000 building the rifle I want to build, why would I waste time buying a $700 factory rifle only to upgrade it fairly soon and end up spending more than if I had just built the rifle I wanted in the first place?

[Hairball]

The problem with building at this juncture is that there are so many options, you are likely to change from one setup to another as you learn what works and what is a POS. Many would suggest purchasing a factory rifle. Get the basics down and determine what you like and don't like about the rifle and then build your first one accordingly. Some will buy a factory rifle, scrap the whole thing except the action and then build from there. You may quickly find out that 700 here or 1000 dollars there is just part of the game. Budgets and builds never seem to go together as the budget appears to grow throughout the building process. Just when you think you have it right, you find something else you want to buy.

[paratroop]

I imagine you want it scoped too, right? Make sure you save a little money for the glass.

[tacticalcity]

Stainless is a better material for accuracy because the rifling is going to be cleaner. However, it doesn't tend to hold paint very well. You'll get lots of scratches right down to the metal, and because it is stainless it will be more noticable than some other matierals. But that is just part of the deal with a precision rifle. The improved rifling consistency is worth it.

I do agree with some of the others that you would probably be better served with a Remington 700 SPS Varmint .308, Remington 700 SPS Tactical .308 or Remington 700 ACC-SD .308 rifle that you can upgrade over time as you have the money. It will get you on the range faster, with less out of pocket cost. If you really get into it, great - poor more money into it. If it ends up in the back of the safe, then at least you're not $5K into it.

[elsolo]

Why start with a factory rifle?
1.) You don't know what you need, you are just guessing at what you think you might want. Get some experience, then you will be better informed when spending your money

2.) You can't out shoot a factory rifle yet because you are new. I don't care how gifted you think you are, you will get better with experience.

3.) You will "burn out" your first barrel before you figure things out, why spend a boatload of money on a custom barrel when it will be used up before you are good enough to need it

4.) Custom anything is a money loser. Buy stock, use it, sell it for near what you paid. You will get much better return on investment than a custom rifle that will sell for pennies on the dollar.

5.) You might decide it's just not your thing. Many people do exactly that, get into precision or long range shooting then get bored with it rather quickly.

[hermosabeach]

OP
You said that you are fairly new to rifle shooting

I think one of the above comments is about the difficulty in shooting up to the accuracy of a rifle.

Let's say the 26" Remington factory varmit gun can shoot a 4" group at 500 yards.

It might take you 5,000 rounds of practice to get your rifle skill to where you can shoot a 6" group at 500 yards. Many never can learn how to shoot the 4 1/2" group the rifle is capaable of achieving.

After 5-7k of good ammo, it is time for a new barrel

Or after about 2,500 rounds of the Bi Metal ammo


Match ammo is somewhere around $1/ round pre panic prices.
I have no idea what it costs now.

Put the money you would spend on refinishing into good loading gear, optics and other equipment if you are serious about shooting a bolt gun well

[Mineralogy Mike]

OP
You said that you are fairly new to rifle shooting

I think one of the above comments is about the difficulty in shooting up to the accuracy of a rifle.

Let's say the 26" Remington factory varmit gun can shoot a 4" group at 500 yards.

It might take you 5,000 rounds of practice to get your rifle skill to where you can shoot a 6" group at 500 yards. Many never can learn how to shoot the 4 1/2" group the rifle is capaable of achieving.

After 5-7k of good ammo, it is time for a new barrel

Or after about 2,500 rounds of the Bi Metal ammo


Match ammo is somewhere around $1/ round pre panic prices.
I have no idea what it costs now.

Put the money you would spend on refinishing into good loading gear, optics and other equipment if you are serious about shooting a bolt gun well

Uh. Wow. I mean, I know I am going to have to practice a lot to get good. But that's a lot of practice. Gotta pay to play though, right? Thanks for the clarification

So how do some of you guys feel about a Savage 10FP-SR for a first centerfire rifle?

[NorCalFocus]

A quality heavy barrel Savage/Remington/Tikka would all be good choices to start off with.

[baih777]

these are good starter rifles for precision shooting.

http://www.riflegear.com/p-1813-remington-700-police-308win.aspx

http://www.riflegear.com/p-1630-remington-model-700-ss-5-r-mil-spec-308-win-24.aspx

[Mineralogy Mike]

these are good starter rifles for precision shooting.

http://www.riflegear.com/p-1813-remington-700-police-308win.aspx

http://www.riflegear.com/p-1630-remi...08-win-24.aspx

That's funny you suggested the 700P. That's the rifle I had planned to copy. Maybe it doesn't exactly live up to the definition of "precision" like I thought but if I can hit a plate at 300 yards I'll be more than excited. I would buy a 700P outright but it's hard for me to come across that much money at one time without putting it on a credit card. That's why I was thinking of building one over the next year or so as funds allowed.

Thanks for the suggestions and info, everyone!