Is a bull barrel practical for hunting?

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

New member
Does anyone find a bull barrel to be practical for hunting? I personally like a heavier rifle, but is the weight a drawback, and does the added accuracy really help? I'm sure if your shooting elk or mountain goats at 500 yards every advantage helps, but is it that much of an advantage? I usually just start with an accurate rifle and fine tune the little things.

I'm asking just so anyone thinking of buying a fat pipe for their gun has some idea of whether its necessary or not.

I've got a ballistic calc on my phone tied into gps for weather conditions elevation wind and temp. All I have to do is judge distance and calibrate it to my ammo. It even reads my angle.

I also advocate learning the basics of breathing and good rifle posture and holding.

How far does a shot have to be for you to feel you need a bull barrel.
 
I enjoy hunting with my bull barrel. I don't know if its practical for me. I have shot similar rifles without a BB and some shot as good or better and some shot far worse. With that being said I don't know how much it is actually helping me. Most of my hunting is done in the winter so I don't have to worry about my barrel heating up fast. I guess the bottom line for me is that I enjoy shooting it, it is accurate and it looks good.
 
I have a Ruger 220 Swift with a bull barrel and though it is great fun to shoot off the bench, I hate carrying out in the field.
 
It is easier for me to hold a rifle with a heavier barrel steady. I just hate carrying the thing, and since no-one wants to carry it for me, I use lighter rifles.
 
I believe in knowing the basics and using ballistic data as much as possible, if you can hit a tennis ball at 200 yards you're doing something right. I believe in accurate people not accurate rifles. But like any tool, having a fine piece of machinery only helps the person using it if they do their part.

I'm a good shot, but my groups could always be tighter, but its just not practical for me to have more accuracy.

Thanks for the replies. I try to ask all the questions that someone new to firearms or isn't experienced might want to know, and questions I think everyone has had at some point.
 
The only thing I don't like about a Bull Barrel is, when carrying them on a sling on the shoulder, the weight seems to always take it way down, and bring the Buttstock up and in front of you, so unless you grip the sling tightly, they just keep riding down, even my 10/22 does this. So, for "close walk" varminting, I don't mind the weight, for "long walk" varminting, or Deer hunting, I'll take a Sporter weight or Featherweight.
Can't beat the looks or COOLNESS of a Bull Barrel though anyway you cut it.
 
For varmint hunting I like a heavy barrel around .8"-1" at the muzzle. On big game rifles I'm taking more of a liking to a "magnum" contour somewhere in the range of .6" at the muzzle.
 
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The Big Sleep said:
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I'm a good shot, but my groups could always be tighter, but its just not practical for me to have more accuracy.

I need all the help I can get,and my groups also could be tighter. I think it very practical to have all the accuracy you can squeeze out of any firearm. thats my 2 cents
cracker
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If you are planning on taking more then 5 shots in rapid succession from one location a BB is not worth the carry. Especailly if you are coyote hunting and carrying that rifle several miles.
 
I do alot of steroids so it really isn't an issue.
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Balance is another way to judge a rifle.

A very long bull barrel which are generally found with overbore cartridges can be so weight forward as to be a distraction on a pair of shooting sticks. Carrying a rifle like that would certainly add to the weight shift mentioned by an earlier poster.

Take a typical .223 ........

Here you have a cartridge that uses faster powders and has a smaller volume compared to it's bore size. In that case a shorter barrel is quite useful because the velocity gains from a longer barrel are less.

So what cartridge you are considering makes a big difference.

Everything else equal, I have never packed around a bull barrel very much ...... like everyone else .... I like to shoot them and for a truck gun or house gun or a go fetch it when trouble brews ..... the bull barrels are grand.

But a thin barrel has it's own draw backs as well.

First, they do heat up quickly ..... in a hunting setting (discounting prarrie dog hunts) you would rarely shoot enough to heat one though.

Second, you've go barrel vibrations giving you larger groups.

Third, and this one is probably the most overlooked but more important of the problems ...... the thin tubes are light enough that the rifle is not as stable .... ie. they don't stay on target as well as even a medium taper barrel.

My current tractor gun is a CZ 527 American in .223 and it has a fairly light sporter barrel. Those are graced with factory single set triggers and even on "set" .... this very light rifle is not too stable on a sand bag.

The barrel contour I like the best was my old factory 788 in .22-250 ..... a medium contour!

I could pack that rifle quite a ways and not get too fatigued.

I could put it on sticks, a bipod or in a butterfly bag and DOGS DIED!


Make mine a medium

Three 44s
 
Weight of the rifle is the only issue I see with using a bull barrel. 60 years ago, hunting woodchucks in PA, I used a 25-06 with a bull barrel. That's when I was younger and strong, so weight wasn't a consideration for me. It is today.
 
Originally Posted By: Martyn4802Weight of the rifle is the only issue I see with using a bull barrel. 60 years ago, hunting woodchucks in PA, I used a 25-06 with a bull barrel. That's when I was younger and strong, so weight wasn't a consideration for me. It is today.

The weight of a 26" bull barrel would be an asset in helping tame some of the recoil from a 25-06, when shooting over a colony...
 



I have gotten to the point that I never buy or use a heavy barrel.

Age, and its accompanying infirmity
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, is an issue, but I've also gained the wisdom that standard weight barrels always balance better. Better balance equates to a higher percentage of kills in the field. Besides that, I'm more likely to walk further afield with an eight-pound rifle than a ten-pound rifle.

Literally all of my custom rifles now wear 2½ to three-contour barrel. The heaviest I have, and it's only because of a manufacturer's quirk, is a Krieger with a four-contour shank that tapers to a three-contour muzzle.

When shooting prairie dogs, I cool my barrel with an ice-cube taken from the Coleman cooler. It took many years for me to realize that rubbing a barrel with ice cools MUCH better than pouring ice-water over a barrel. Why??? I dunno, but it does.

In the big game field, which is my prime love, bull barrels simply slow you down and hinder the hunter. Happiness is to be found somewhere around three-contour.

Steve Timm

 


Originally Posted By: Ackman How much weight is "practical" for you to carry? Nobody knows that but you.

Ackman,

You're exactly correct, my friend. We all have our own experiences and limitations.

I have a friend who works at Leupold. He's not enormously experienced in the hunting field, but has perhaps killed more than most. Anyway, the man prefers a rifle that weighs over twelve-pounds.

It strains my milk to handle one of his rifles and I simply cannot imagine carrying it in the field. But, of course, the man spends an hour or two every day in the gym and swims an incredible number of laps every other day.

Me? I'm a weenie when it comes to such rifles. But then, I've carried out more elk and hiked more canyons than any sane fella would have. Heavy rifles simply wear me down and the fact that I'm pushing 67 years upon this earth doesn't help much either.
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But you are totally and absolutely right. Nobody but YOU knows what is "practial" for you. And I would submit that practical rifle weight changes during our lifetime. Sadly, the human body has a tendency to wear out and what was a practical weight when a fella is 45 becomes gradually more and more impractical at later ages.

Steve Timm
 
I elk hunt the mountains of CO with a Remington Sendero. Fullup that baby has some heft to it no doubt. But as has been mentioned every year it appears to be a little less comfortable to carry and every year a fullup 8 lb. rifle is alot more appealing.
 
Originally Posted By: Steve Timm


I have gotten to the point that I never buy or use a heavy barrel.

Age, and its accompanying infirmity
scared.gif
, is an issue, but I've also gained the wisdom that standard weight barrels always balance better. Better balance equates to a higher percentage of kills in the field. Besides that, I'm more likely to walk further afield with an eight-pound rifle than a ten-pound rifle.

Literally all of my custom rifles now wear 2½ to three-contour barrel. The heaviest I have, and it's only because of a manufacturer's quirk, is a Krieger with a four-contour shank that tapers to a three-contour muzzle.

When shooting prairie dogs, I cool my barrel with an ice-cube taken from the Coleman cooler. It took many years for me to realize that rubbing a barrel with ice cools MUCH better than pouring ice-water over a barrel. Why??? I dunno, but it does.

In the big game field, which is my prime love, bull barrels simply slow you down and hinder the hunter. Happiness is to be found somewhere around three-contour.

Steve Timm


Right on!! Good posting!!
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