What are the benefits of having a bull barrel over a regular barrel?

Would you hunt deer with a rifle that has a bull barrel?

Bull barrels don't heat up as fast and I have hunted with one but only out of a stand.

There is almost no benefit to having a bull barrel in a deer rifle. There are some schools of thought that believe the bull barrel's extra stiffness makes it inherently more accurate, but it is not true accuracy is virtually the same all things being equal.

The bull barrel has 3 primary benefits.

1) The barrels extra stiffness resists heap warpage induced by firing multiple shots in a short period of time. Heat warpage will cause POA to drift, sometimes erratically.

2) The extra mass of the bull barrel is a much larger heat sink and there is a larger surface area. These properties allow a bull barrel to soak up a lot more shots fired w/ out getting hot enough to experience POA drift and to cool down relatively quickly.

3) The extra mass in the bull barrel greatly aids in accuracy by making it easier to hold steady and by reducing the rifles recoil. Both of these factors contribute greatly to improved accurate shot placement but have little to do w/ the Rifle's inherent accuracy.

Finally, bull barrel rifles often have features that assist w/ accurate shot placement - Wide forestocks made for shooting off a rest instead of being comfortable to carry, upgraded triggers, improved bedding systems, etc.

The extra weight, reduced recoil, better triggers (depending on make) may improve accuracy slightly in a stand with a fixed rest, but most modern hunting rifles are easily capable of shooting 1.5MOA out of the box w/ factory ammunition. In most cases that accuracy far exceeds the capabilities of the shooter at long range.

David

I prefer a cow barrel.

Canazes9 summed it up quite well. I have deer hunted with Bull Barrel firles in the past but I sold them, accurate though they were I got tired of the extra weight. When hunting I carry the gun a lot more than I shoot it, a lighter rifle is a lot easier to carry around.

I like varmint weight barrels when I know I won't be carrying them a lot. I just like the stability they provide. That being said, they are far from being a requirement for almost any type of hunting situation. Way more animals are taken every year by sporter weight barrels than heavy weights. It's all a matter of personal preference.

Some point of impact difference is not created by barrel heat but by barrel harmonics. Most people agree that bull barrels tend to have both less change in direction and more predictable vibrations each shot, so tend to have more predictable point of impact each shot (although still modified by heat).

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4136491 has some good discussion, other sources, and a video that shows what it's about pretty well (you might want to fast forward about a third of the way - it's a BOSS commercial).

"The forced deformations from the high pressure gas and recoil cause the muzzle to change where it is pointing at the target when the bullet exits the muzzle."
http://varmintal.com/amode.htm

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/05/13/fascinating-new-benchrest-rifle/

Canazes9,

Don't you mean POI to shift instead of POA? (point of impact vs. point of aim)

The first shot is worth all the rest. Deer hunting; I don't believe a bull (or cow) barrel is necessary. Your cold bore shot is what is most important, and everyone's goal is one shot = dead deer, hog, coyote, etc. My two bolt guns are .22-250 with a bull barrel, and a .308 with a heavy fluted barrel.

The 22-250 has now seen the prarie dog fields and a heavy barrel is absolutely necessary if you want to keep shooting when sporter barrels are too hot to keep going. The .308 is my target, competition, hunting rifle. It is heavier than what is needed to deer hunt with. Especially when there is walking to be done. It'll be carried several miles this week.

But I load for it, shoot it quite a bit, and am comforted in knowing that I've got a rifle that will impact a shot where I need it to. That is worth the extra weight when carrying it.

The next rifle will be another .22-250 with a heavy fluted barrel. Fluting increases surface area thereby increasing cooling effect. I am on the side that it DOES NOT INCREASE BARREL STIFFNESS. Removing stock cannot strengthen a piece of steel.

So the heavy fluted barrel is my top pick for barrel style. Different strokes for different folks is all.

I have both on my RR AR's. They both shoot the same out to 200 yrds. The bull barrel does a little better farther out but not by much.

Fireman

Yes POI, not POA - I got sloppy ww/ my post.

TT,

Yes some folks believe that the stiffer barrel will produce reduce better harmonics and thereby improve accuracy. However, there is also a lot of evidence that it the stiffness is not important, just the repeatability of the harmonics. Repeatability is not really affected in a single shot cold bore situation - only multiple shots w/ heat induced barrel wqrpage.

Later today I'll try and dig some more info up on this.

Regards,

David

I believe there's some truth to this as well.

That helps illustrate why when finding "the" long range load occurs when the barrel is flexed upward and paused prior to decending back down thereby allowing the bullet to leave the barrel at its most stable position within the wave.

(Yes barrels flex when a round is fired)

I take my heavy barrells all day long for stand hunting and some walking. There are just to many long range specialist tha use heavy barrel's for some reason.

One shot only applications make for very little difference once each rifle is tuned appropriately.

I actually hunt with three guns. A standard weight barrel when a variety of situations may develop; A bull barrel 26in rifle when long range is expected, or precision is needed, especially from a blind or stable platform and where I don't have to carry the thing.... a semi-auto compact carbine for quicker action shots.

Hunting my primary stand in west texas this year, where I can hunt deer at 100 to coyotes at 1000+ out the other window, I'll have the big savage. But that blind has a garage under it where the four wheeler parks, literally.

Hunting the river stand where we don't take vehicles the last half mile, and it has terrain changes, the shorter carbine or lighter standard weight rifle will get the call.

In my case, the standard weight barrel is also stainless, so it gets some bad weather duty as well.

I have had to turn down shots with both, holding the 26in Savage as pigs run by me, and holding the 16 inch carbine looking at Muy Grande on top of a South Texas bluff at 400m.....

Most DEER hunters will never appreciate the difference in a bull or heavy barrel in hunting conditions.

Like said above the bull barrel wont heat up as fast. The major thing I think is that it cuts down on recoil.

That said, I have a rem 700 sendero and it shoots great, but I hate the stock, it is not fitted at all, no cheek piece, it doesnt fit well, I want to get a different stock for it someday.

matt

If I changed stocks, I'd want an adjustable stock; custom stocks tend to be hard to use in multiple stances. I actually keep pretty basic stocks on mine, to allow for some adaptability.

I use to carry a bull barrell all over the country side when I was varmit hunting and they have their advantages as stated but the big disadvantage is weight.

If you hunt a stand and your walk to the stand isnt far then go with a bull barrel, they are a lot easier to hold on target.

hard to beat a bull barrel rifle when just stand hunting. it really keeps the rifle from moving as much when lining up the crosshairs.

My daughters all shoot a rifle with a bull barrel. Mainly because of the reduced recoil. The gun is a Ruger M77 6mm. One of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned. It shoots sub-MOA with factory ammo.