Gain Twist barrels

[gerry]

The on again off again 35 Whelen project is now fully underway, visiting DrMike and seeing his fine collection plus visiting a couple of big gun stores allowed me to handle a bunch of different makes of guns. When it all came down to it the gun I like the best for how it fits and feels is the Remington 700 SPS so that will be my choice unless some other great deal comes along that is too good to pass up. The SPS stock is comfortable and could be used as is, at a later time a McMillan edge could be put on.
Two Canadian barrel makers seem to be highly thought of, Ted Gaillard and Ron Smith, Gaillard doesn't make anything bigger than 338 so that leaves Ron Smith. He can make any kind of barrel I would want but mentioned a gain twist that starts out at around 1 in 26 and at the muzzle would end up being 1 in 12 or 14. He said it would be just as accurate as a standard 1 in 12 or 14 twist but have a better pressure curve if I understood him correctly. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Will probably go with a stainless Remington magnum contour, maybe one of you guys with a 35 Whelen CDL can let me know what you have on your factory guns. No turning back now on the new 35 Whelen.

 

[Rem Jim]

The on again off again 35 Whelen project is now fully underway, visiting DrMike and seeing his fine collection plus visiting a couple of big gun stores allowed me to handle a bunch of different makes of guns. When it all came down to it the gun I like the best for how it fits and feels is the Remington 700 SPS so that will be my choice unless some other great deal comes along that is too good to pass up. The SPS stock is comfortable and could be used as is, at a later time a McMillan edge could be put on.
Two Canadian barrel makers seem to be highly thought of, Ted Gaillard and Ron Smith, Gaillard doesn't make anything bigger than 338 so that leaves Ron Smith. He can make any kind of barrel I would want but mentioned a gain twist that starts out at around 1 in 26 and at the muzzle would end up being 1 in 12 or 14. He said it would be just as accurate as a standard 1 in 12 or 14 twist but have a better pressure curve if I understood him correctly. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Will probably go with a stainless Remington magnum contour, maybe one of you guys with a 35 Whelen CDL can let me know what you have on your factory guns. No turning back now on the new 35 Whelen.

I am glad to see you are going to use the Rem M700 action for your 35 Whelen build and a Canadian barrel maker- Ron Smith is highly thought of and from what i can find out in my research for my build of a 338 Federal he manufactures a excellent barrel- i like that gain twist idea and might try it myself. Like you say the factory stock will do till a McMillan Edge can be purchased - it will take longer to get the stock then to get the metal work done anyhow ! All sounds great - keep us informed on your build !

Cheers RJ

 

[DrMike]

Gerry,

I've shot some of Ron Smith's work, and they can shoot very good. If you go that direction, you will want to discuss what bullets you intend to shoot as the twist determines what you will be shooting. The gain twist does not excite me, but that doesn't mean they have no validity.

 

[gerry]

Jim and Mike,
I'm not sure about the gain twist either but it is an option worth looking at. If I undersand you correctly DrMike, are you saying a standard twist would handle a variety of different bullet weights better? It would be nice to use a Canadian barrel and it seems both Gaillard and Smith barrels are thought of as highly as any U.S barrel maker. Ordering directly from them cuts out a middle man as well and the prices can be quite reasonable.

 

[DrMike]

Gaillard barrels are excellent barrels that will compete favourably with any made in North America. I've shot quite a few of them, and all shot acceptably. The Ron Smith barrels I've shot were quite good. There are some advantages to picking one of these barrels. If you look around, you may find a Bevan King barrel which never got screwed onto to rifle, and his barrels are excellent.

 

[gerry]

Gaillard barrels are excellent barrels that will compete favourably with any made in North America. I've shot quite a few of them, and all shot acceptably. The Ron Smith barrels I've shot were quite good. There are some advantages to picking one of these barrels. If you look around, you may find a Bevan King barrel which never got screwed onto to rifle, and his barrels are excellent.

Thought about Bevan King as well, too bad he retired, was happy with the barrel I had of his. I quess a Canadian can be patriotic too, would be nice to have a Canadian barrel

 

[Polaris]

Gain twist, there's something I haven't heard about for a long time! Old ideas come back up sometimes. The Italians made Carcanos (don't remember if it was the 91 carcano or the later 7.35mm rifle or both) with gain-twist rifling. They were trying to stabilize early heavy bullets with a very high SD. Turned out they were just more expensive to produce without any appreciable gain in performance.

The Germans also experimented with gain twist on early 9-14mm extra-high velocity anti-tank rifles to take on the first iron coffins on the battlefield. I believe they were fielding an effective rifle in the 12mm range by the end of the first war that gave the Tommies a very hard time.

Interested to hear what you come up with. Don't know what you'd gain with a .35 bore. As I understand it this technology is most applicable to bullets with an extremely high SD.

 

[gerry]

I really don't know much about it, it seems some guys really like it. I may just end up with a standard twist barrel but it is good to check all the options out.