Barrel contours????

skeetlee

New member
What is the difference in the barrel contours between a heavy varmint and a palma. I know they are shaped different but what i would like to know is, What barrel do you want ? What advantages or disadvantages does one have over the other. I just ordered a krieger barrel from Bruno for a 6.5 creedmoor build and i went with the #17 heavy barrel, but they also had a palm barrel in the same muzzle diameter and weight. Why one over the other?
 
easy question, as I use to shoot Palma; which consist of 800-900-1000 yards prone open sights- In the day it was bolt action only, but service shooters would also shoot with M14s. The common factor is both are 308, which is the standard- other calibers need not apply. Palma rifles meet strict standards, weight, barrel contour, length, .... Also the bullets must meet standards which was the 155. not sure if that has changed in the years. The standard caliber is a 308 or 7.62 NATO. not the 3006 which is also a 308 cailber.

So not sure what they are talking about a 6.5 Palma barrel- unless things have changed. jhg
 
I probably didnt word this right. They offered a light medium and heavy palma contour. the diameter of the bore is 6.5mm that's my choice. I just wanted to know if one type of contour(palma) performed differently than another contour(heavy varmint).
The only thing i can figure after reading your post GySgt is that the palma contours are cut the way they are so sights can be applied or used with the barrel. Lee
 
Skeet-
If you go to Hart or something similars web site, they give different diminisons of their barrel contours. I beleive a Palma contour is just a straight taper and a varmint is like a Rem. varmint contour.

Pyscodog
 
I understand that part of it, but why would you want one over the other? are there any differences in harmonics or barrel whip?
 
6.5 creedmoor, huh? Swwet. I have been wanting one also. Was gonna do 260 AI. Now not sure. Thinking a DPMS or Stag in 6.5.......
 
To answer your other question, although I am not as familiar with Krieger contours like I am with some other mfg.'s, the main difference between the 2 should be the length of the barrel shank.......
 
Most Palma barrels use the MTU (Marksmanship Training Unit) profile which is a straight taper from several inches in front of the chamber to the muzzle.

Jack
 
Just went to the Krieger site to check it out. That "several inches" is twice as long on the Palma as on the heavy varmint. Longer shank........
 
Benchrest contours are Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint, to be more confusing.

The difference being the amount of "straight" in the shank of the barrel, then a straight taper or contour.

You have to look at the drawing of the various tapers and examine the A,B,C, D, E, and F dimensions to figure out if it is a straight taper or contoured like the Rem Varmint or Sendero contours.
 
Ok. I completely understand the difference from a design point of view. what i dont understand is why they are made differently. In what circumstance would you choose a palm design over a heavy varmint? Is there any performance difference between the two designs? example- a sport er barrel has more barrel whip than a rem varmint. they also heat up faster than a varmint barrel. whats the difference when comparing the palma and heavy varmint, or is there any difference other than shape? Lee
 
There are light Palma, medium Palma and standard Palma countours also, just to confuse you more. I doubt you would see any difference performance wise between the Heavy Varmint and Palma contours. You choose the profile determining how you want the rifle to balance out. Heavy Varmint is designed to balance a BR rifle, Palma contours are optimized for unsupported prone shooting.
One of the best Palma shooters uses a Light Palma countour, so its mainly how you point the gun and not so much barrel thickness.

 
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Most barrel contours are for looks. The curves look nice. Think high dollar sporting rifles for the last 100 years.
Recently the BR crowd and the MTU people have come up with contours that are a bit more accurate.

And more weight is always better. That is why all competition puts weight limits. Put as much of the available weight into the barrel as possible.

Jack
 
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