I was looking at several posts here and one of them was about .204 varmint barrels. I bought a Tikka T3 Lite and I'm sure it doesn't have a varmint barrel but it looked a bit "thick" at the muzzle. So I got out several firearms and measured the barrel diameters at the muzzle and discovered the following:
Ruger M77 Ultralight .243 = .507" dia - .243" = .264" / 2 = .132" wall thickness at muzzle
Weatherby Vanguard .30-06 = .620" dia - .308" = .312" / 2 = .156" wall thickness at muzzle
Tikka T3 Lite .204 = .634" dia - .204" = .430" / 2 = .215" wall thickness at muzzle
Is this typical for .204 barrels or did Sako make it a bit thicker because it has a free floating barrel? Thanks.
Is this typical for .204 rifles?
- Trent
- Senior Member
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:26 am
- .204 Ruger Guns: Remington 700 SPS Varminter
- Location: Columbus, GA
Re: Is this typical for .204 rifles?
Most barrels manufactures produce barrels with a specific outer contour (dia). The wall thickness is just a byproduct of the bullet diameter. Generally.
Because of the small diameter of the .204 generally the wall thicknesses will be greater.
Because of the small diameter of the .204 generally the wall thicknesses will be greater.
Re: Is this typical for .204 rifles?
Trent wrote:Because of the small diameter of the .204 generally the wall thicknesses will be greater.
That was my initial thought as well and would make sense if all muzzles were the same size. But of these three rifles, the smallest caliber has largest muzzle diameter and makes me think there's some other reason.