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[madang55]

I have a Howa 6.5 Creed, heavy barrel, B&C stock, Great to shoot, accurate as all get out. But.....this puppy is not a field carry rifle. Way too heavy. Can the barrel be removed and turned down to a more user friendly weight. By the right person of course.. Its either that or re barrel it, re-barrel to a 220 Swift or sell it off.

[bladeracer]

I have a Howa 6.5 Creed, heavy barrel, B&C stock, Great to shoot, accurate as all get out. But.....this puppy is not a field carry rifle. Way too heavy. Can the barrel be removed and turned down to a more user friendly weight. By the right person of course.. Its either that or re barrel it, re-barrel to a 220 Swift or sell it off.

Maybe talk to T-Bone or Alan Swan. But I would think the time involved in turning a barrel down it would likely be similar to simply rebarrelling with the profile you prefer, and you still have your barrel to sell or use for something else. Of course, it would be cheaper to sell the rifle and buy one with a lighter barrel profile. It might even be cheaper to keep the rifle and just buy another lighter one.

[Oldbloke]

I have a Howa 6.5 Creed, heavy barrel, B&C stock, Great to shoot, accurate as all get out. But.....this puppy is not a field carry rifle. Way too heavy. Can the barrel be removed and turned down to a more user friendly weight. By the right person of course.. Its either that or re barrel it, re-barrel to a 220 Swift or sell it off.

Maybe talk to T-Bone or Alan Swan. But I would think the time involved in turning a barrel down it would likely be similar to simply rebarrelling with the profile you prefer, and you still have your barrel to sell or use for something else. Of course, it would be cheaper to sell the rifle and buy one with a lighter barrel profile. It might even be cheaper to keep the rifle and just buy another lighter one.

That's what I would do.

[JohnV]

I would not recommend re-profiling a good shooting barrel . It can cause unwanted bore spec changes and screw up the fine accuracy when profiled a second time .
Get a steel bar that weighs around 25lb a weight lifting bar will do . Train with it and carry it around . After a couple of months the gun feels like a feather . When I was a younger man I carried a heavy barrel Sako for all my hunting . After the M60 in the Military the Sako was nothing . I would be inclined to keep it and buy a second lighter gun in another cartridge like 6.5 x 55 .
Then you have an accurate 6.5 varmint gun and a handy 6.5 stalking rifle ( Not Sambar legal as Blade pointed out ) , that can use the same diameter bullet .

[bladeracer]

I would not recommend re-profiling a good shooting barrel . It can cause unwanted bore spec changes and screw up the fine accuracy when profiled a second time .
Get a steel bar that weighs around 25lb a weight lifting bar will do . Train with it and carry it around . After a couple of months the gun feels like a feather . When I was a younger man I carried a heavy barrel Sako for all my hunting . After the M60 in the Military the Sako was nothing . I would be inclined to keep it and buy a second lighter gun in another cartridge like 6.5 x 55 .
Then you have an accurate 6.5 varmint gun and a handy 6.5 stalking rifle Sambar legal , that can use the same diameter bullet .

I posted a few months back a weight training device that is essentially an M16 grip that you can attach to the steel bar of your choice.
https://enoughgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18020

Unfortunately, no 6.5mm chambering is Sambar-legal in Victoria, and the other states don't have minimum requirements for deer.

[SCJ429]

You could shorten the barrel, you might loose a few fps but it would be much lighter.
Why would you consider a 220 Swift chambering? What about a 22 BRA? 22 Creedmoor? 22 X 47 Lapua?

[madang55]

Ahh!! Shorten the barrel, Maybe.....hmmm. Wonder how much weight that would take off..
Wouldn't need to be a lot as that would bring the C of G back a bit as well.
And who suggested I start weight training at nearly 70?
I could sell it off and buy another, but the resale price is a bit iffy...
Or, I could sell a couple and buy something else. ...make room in the safes..etc.
I have emailed Swann, waiting on a reply re re-profiling the barrel or replacing.
As for the weird 22 cals, not really into those and a lot of time before commercially available components will be available I think.

[SCJ429]

22 BRA would have you buy 6mmBR Norma brass, neck it down to 224 and shoot it. Not hard to do. If the Ackley Improved bit worries you then chamber it in straight 22 BR. It would have 90% of the performance of the 220 Swift. Swift brass would be harder to find than BR brass.
Easiest thing to do is dock your barrel a couple of inches and see what you think. Not enough, chop off a couple more.

[in2anity]

Here's my story around profiling down a barrel. I had a No4-223 conversion built with a Remington Varmint contour match barrel. Fullwood center bedded. It shot as a target rifle should:

Fullwood + Remington Varmint contour

thumbnail_IMG_3147.jpg (86.75 KiB) Viewed 1129 times

50m w. central sight

thumbnail_IMG_1321.png (418.19 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Perfection personified from the prone position; heavy like a TR gun. But, far too front heavy for standing offhand position; I never scored into the 90s with it from standing. Was not at all a good 3-position gun.

So I decided to throw more cash at it, and convert it to the L39-style configuration, which involved reducing weight from the timber and barrel. I had it turned down to around a #1400 contour aka "heavy sporter". The gun shed around 400grams, but most importantly the balance fulcrum is now where it should be; near the magazine, so it balances beautifully from offhand. Made all the difference to my offhand scores.

Final form; L39 configuration

thumbnail_DSCN2974.jpg (89.42 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Nonetheless, after this change I shot it badly from prone, which puzzled me. I started wondering if accuracy had gone out the window since making the barrel lighter; in fact in frustration, that's what i emotionally concluded. Yet many of the old-timers were soothing me toward "perhaps not, it's 223, bench it and find out".

So that's exactly what I did. For the first and last time in its life, I temporarily put the Artic Fox no drill scope mount on it, added a nice scope, and shot it over double bags. Lo and behold, this was the outcome:

50m, doubled bags + scope

thumbnail_IMG_1334.jpg (89.78 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Since this clarified my confidence around the gun, I have been practicing more on it, and am shooting it well from prone once again. Turned out the problem was me, from the changed dynamics of a lighter feel. Gun must be driven more now, more focus on good markmanship fundementals. It's all tradeoffs.

TLDR: for 3p shooting or perhaps even TR, the gun groups the same after a weight reduction in the barrel. The shooter? Yeah maybe not so much; muscle memory has to be relearned for the different dynamics.

[bladeracer]

Ahh!! Shorten the barrel, Maybe.....hmmm. Wonder how much weight that would take off..

Not much, but it might be enough perhaps.

100mm of 22mm steel barrel weighs about 270gm

I'd be surprised if your muzzle is actually 22mm diameter, if it's smaller then the weight saved would be even less.

Likewise, the difference between a 22" barrel that is 22mm full-length and a 22" barrel that is tapered from 22mm down to 16mm over 16" of its length is around 300gm lighter. It's not a huge difference overall. You can probably save more weight by swapping to a polymer stock, aluminium rail and rings, lighter scope or iron sights, etc. Actually, I just weighed a 10rd AICS mag with eight rounds of 7mm-08 in it and it's 280gm - just leave the magazine out until you have a target and you've knocked off the same amount of weight as shortening the muzzle.

I find it's not the weight of the rifle that is the issue (my 7mm-08 is a 4.8kg rifle - or 5kg if I take a bipod), for me it's the embuggerance of carrying the thing in difficult terrain. I use a single-point sling so it hangs down my front, hands-free, and the weight is carried by my shoulders and back rather than my arms. In fact, I often rest my hands and arms on the rifle to support those as well. I can crawl on all fours under bushes without the rifle dragging in the dirt. I have gone for longish walks with some rifles without slings, and with conventional slings, and it really is hard work in comparison. I usually have paracord on me so I've fashioned single-point slings at times when I get sick of having to carry the thing, or keep it in place on my back. So maybe it's not the actual weight that's the issue, maybe you just need a more effective way to carry the weight.

[JohnV]

I would not recommend re-profiling a good shooting barrel . It can cause unwanted bore spec changes and screw up the fine accuracy when profiled a second time .
Get a steel bar that weighs around 25lb a weight lifting bar will do . Train with it and carry it around . After a couple of months the gun feels like a feather . When I was a younger man I carried a heavy barrel Sako for all my hunting . After the M60 in the Military the Sako was nothing . I would be inclined to keep it and buy a second lighter gun in another cartridge like 6.5 x 55 .
Then you have an accurate 6.5 varmint gun and a handy 6.5 stalking rifle Sambar legal , that can use the same diameter bullet .

I posted a few months back a weight training device that is essentially an M16 grip that you can attach to the steel bar of your choice.
https://enoughgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18020


Unfortunately, no 6.5mm chambering is Sambar-legal in Victoria, and the other states don't have minimum requirements for deer.

Oh yeah your right my mistake I was thinking 7mm .