I'm going to be building either a 6.5 Creed or 260 hunting rifle, not a heavy target rig. Already got the Tikka action. Need to decide on a barrel and if I want to use the Bell and Carlson stock I already have or order a McMillan. 21-22" barrel that's just a little heavier than a sporter contour. Everything I'm finding is 26" or 28" blanks. How much does it cost to chop to 22" and re-crown? I'd settle for a varmint contour if I could get it fluted. But flutes usually run to the within an inch or so of the end? Do I have to special order a 22" blank if I want it fluted? How does that work?

We can do the rebarrel any contour you want, but is sounds like you are wanting to do the work yourself minus the fluting?

The blanks are that long so that the end user can have a long barrel if he wants it. But you decide exactly how short you want to cut it down. The barrel blanks has to be crowned anyway. So no matter what the smith has to center the shank, turn down to O.D., thread and chamber. Then he's got to take the barrel out of the jaws and flip it around and start all over centering so that he can cut it to length and crown it. This is the same time he would thread the muzzle if you want him to. Threading for suppressor only is easier than for a brake, because the brake has to be in his hand and he has to time the brake to the threads. Lots of 26" and 28" blanks get lots of barrel cut off their ends depending on how long you want the finished barrel to be.

You can get some contours already straight fluted, and depending on who you are buying the barrel from you can have them measure to where the flutes stop so you will know the minimum barrel length you can finish to. Or you can buy the contour you want and send it to Horizon or to Kampfield and have them flute it, telling them how long the finished barrel will be.

The only thing limiting you is your imiagination.

280AI is a good choice IMO if you reload.

6.5 Grendel bolt action will most likely be the next build for me. But I have a couple nice rifles in different performance levels already.

Bam. Use Lapua brass. It'll last you longer than the barrel does if you load enough of em. By buddy is lights out with that gun of his. Dang

Keep em coming guys. This is great info.

6.5-284 is a great round just get it in a standard action not a short action. I also would not recomend if you do mot reload.

I do reload if that helps. I don't know much about the 6.5-284 yet though.

It's accurate for everything and it'll put the smack down on em. Do some reading on it. You won't find much negative other than bullet, powder and brass hoarders.

But I'm just going off of someone else's info. He has this gun. One bad mamma jamma
http://www.slickguns.com/search/apachesolr_search/011356181558?solrsort=fs_rating%20asc

When I got my first custom I thought it would be the only one I would ever build and I went with 7mm-08.

my recommendation? Get whatever the #$&%* you want! Every single one of us has either a pet cartridge or one we always wanted but for some reason never had the opportunity to own. I'm sure you have something in mind, we all do

No sir, I can not, nor want to, do any of the work myself.

I thought I read somewhere....that if your barrel isn't fluted by the barrel maker, it voids any warranty.

My Remington 5r Milspec 308 with 24" bull barrel is heavier than I like to carry spot and stalk. Not sure if chopping to 22" and fluting would be enough weight saved. My SF Sendero wasn't really TOO heavy, but didn't balance very well with the 26" barrel. Either an unfluted magnum contour or fluted varmint is probably what I'll end up with. Chad @ Dallas reloads will be my ammo source since I don't roll my own yet.

Thats no problem. Fluting might for some but we pretty much use exclusively Benchmark barrels and I have never heard that. I would consider that more of a smith warranty if something was wrong once the barrel was finished. If you chop and flute your short one I would think 8-10 oz. Sounds like you need a 22inch barrel that is bout .685-.720 at 22 and then fluted. My personal gun is .800 then spiral fluted really heavy with only 3 huge flutes looks like triangle that twists. Will post pics later.

Another vote for the 280AI... if I could only have one rifle. But you have others, so I would say get whatever tickles your fancy. The 6.5-06 is also very intriguing to me...

For the 6.5-284 to shine it needs to be done on a long action if not you'll have a 260 that uses more powder.

270 WSM works in a short action, with a quick bolt throw and half a pound or so less weight.

For hunting smaller deer up close, just load up with starting loads from the reloading manual, and then you'll have 270 Winchester velocity.

Max loads closely approach 270 Weatherby performance, starting loads emulate 270 Winchester, and all in a short action that is lighter and faster to operate than a long action.

Be sure the barrel is 24" long, a few inches longer if you don't mind waving it around.

A 24" barrel with a short action makes the gun the same length as a long action with a 22" barrel.

Versatile, powerful, and it's not such a bad kicker. I'd go with 270 WSM, but that's just me.

You'll look at 270 Winchester guys and say, "Why would I go with a heavier gun with a longer bolt throw so I can have 200-300 fps less velocity with the same bullets?

Why indeed.

** 270 Winchester owners: Just skip past this post, I obviously do not know what I'm talking about.

while I agree with you, the only problem I would have with this chambering is it has only been around a few years and over the past 15 years or so I've been noticing most deer hunters going with lower powered loads and most elk/moose/bear hunters going with 30 caliber rounds so I would be hesitant to spend that much on a custom gun in not 100% sure I'll be able to find ammo off the shelf for 15 years from now.

7-08, .308, or .30-'06. You can load down the '06 to have minimal recoil and still kill deer, using a 125 gr bullet, or you can load a Berger 185 Hunting VLD and shoot just fine at 1,000 yards, for fun. I wouldn't recommend shooting an animal that far, but it could be done. Factory ammo available everywhere except church for the '06 (and it's probably available in the church parking lot). .308 can use cheap Lake City surplus cases, which are plenty accurate and it will also shoot for fun out to 1,000 yards, with the right long-range bullet. Ditto for the 7-08, but brass and loads are not quite as plentiful as the others, although no sweat on either. Any of these can be fairly cheaply accurized by bedding the action and lapping the factory barrel, and likely shoot under 0.65" for 5 shots with good rest, scope, and handloads.
Jim

I would use 270 WSM on elk without hesitation, but probably not on moose and definitely not on the large bears.

A .338 Winchester Mag would be a good cartridge for the bigger stuff. The 325 WSM would handle those, too.

The Remington SAUM cartridges seem to be on the way out, the WSM cartridges appear to be here to stay.

I'm very intrigued with the 270wsm but already have a 300wsm that I'm going to get rebarreled soon most likely to either another 300wsm or a 270wsm. I'm hesitant to have more than one WSM in case the round does lose popularity in the future.

With all the 7mm choices I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone would intentionally build a .277" anything, much less a WSM.

Well I don't have a 7mm yet so it'll be high on my list.

Both will drift less in the wind, maintain more velocity, and hit harder than a 270.

But again, a full house load of 300 Win Mag and a 205 gr or heavier can hunt anything. Same as the 180 gr out of a 7 Rem Mag.

I have a custom being built now that should be the last one I need. After a lot of going back and forth I decided on the 7MM Long Range Magnum.

I do like the 270 WSM with the 150 LR accubonds. Have had good luck killing deer out to 850