Heat-Treating Barrels

Keep Your Shots From Walking

- John Barsness

One of the most persistent notions among rifle shooters is that centerfire barrels tend to “walk” as they heat up after multiple shots, resulting in scattered groups, especially lightweight barrels. A couple of years ago I discovered an older friend of mine, also named John, belonged to this group.

John decided to buy a New Ultra Light Arms rifle as a present to himself so he could keep hiking around after deer and elk, despite the hills and mountains becoming increasingly steeper each year. He bought the NULA after discovering how well the three Eileen and I own balanced, because like many hunters, his experience with light big-game rifles involved shorter, thinner barrels, resulting in very muzzle-light balance.

Instead, NULAs weigh less because the actions and synthetic stocks are very light, so they can be fitted with standard barrels. Ours have 24-inch No. 2 contour Douglas barrels with muzzles measuring .600 inch in diameter, yet weigh well under 7 pounds with a typical 12-ounce hunting scope. (Melvin Forbes, owner of NULA, uses Douglas as his standard brand, partly because Douglas is located in Charles Town, West Virginia, an easy drive from the NULA shop in Morgantown, but also because they shoot well.)

John decided on the 7x57 Mauser, because like many older hunters he is not fond of recoil, and as an avid handloader, he knew the old round would work fine on elk with the right bullets. However, after the first range session, he mentioned being disappointed in the accuracy, since three-shot groups rarely measured less than about 1.5 inches, no matter the load.