Savage axis 223 HB vs. regular 223 barrel--?

Fat barrels of good quality are usually more accurate. However, the trade off is weight. If you are going to hump the hills looking for evil yotes, you will have to take that into consideration. I like fat barrels myself.
 
My hunting buddy owns a sporter barrel Savage Axis 223. It's the older model without the Accu Trigger. It is one of the most accurate out of the box rifles I have ever seen. I don't see any advantage as far as a coyote hunting rifle goes, to have a heavier barrel. If you were using it to clear out prarie dog towns, then the heavy barrel model would be better in my opinion.

Robert
 
There is no use for a heavy barrel outside of poking holes in paper. It's not that they don't have advantages but that their advantages pale in comparison to their downsides for hunting. The increased weight does reduce recoil and it makes groups more consistent as the barrel heats up. For hunting however 99% of the time you are carrying or aiming the rifle so the weight only hurts during those times. The rate of fire is also usually so low that you don't need to be concerned about heat warping the barrel at all.

I guess if you live next to a place that you can shoot Prarie dogs all day long it could be beneficial but I still can't imagine that the regular profile barrel wouldn't be up to the task either.

These are opinnions but I think the logic behind them is pretty sound.
 
The heavier barrels can be a pain to carry depending on your physical ability and the actual weight bbl your'e talking about. But they also tend to hold steadier in the field positions due to the weight.
 
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