Anyone have experience with them? Am I retarded for wanting to put a $900 barrel on a $1100 dollar rifle before I even shoot it (and likely will never be a good enough long range shooter to be able to use the Ruger to its full potential).

They look really cool, and the company is really interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYlV5L5zgsY

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
Am I retarded for wanting to put a $900 barrel on a $1100 dollar rifle before I even shoot it

Yes

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
Am I retarded for wanting to put a $900 barrel on a $1100 dollar rifle before I even shoot it

Yes

it was rhetorical

In all reality I guess I should just shoot the damn rifle and save up for a real custom gun. I remember one of you guys saying a lot of guys are buying off the shelf remington 700s and adding shit to them to the point of it costing as much as having a rifle made.

My friend has the Summit Ti rifle its pretty amazing. Ive seen their barrels on sale for good prices in the past so look around.

If the carbon barrel is your thing you can also check out christensen arms. I have the ridgeline and Ive been very very happy with it.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
My friend has the Summit Ti rifle its pretty amazing. Ive seen their barrels on sale for good prices in the past so look around.

If the carbon barrel is your thing you can also check out christensen arms. I have the ridgeline and Ive been very very happy with it.

I was just looking at their rifles actually, holy hell the cheapest one is around $7000

It's like buying a Honda Civic, then wanting to put a blower on the engine.

Oh wait, the tires and wheels need to be upgraded.

Oh wait, the suspension won't handle the extra power.

Oh wait, the steering doesn't cut it anymore.

Oh wait, the stock is cheesy.

Oh wait, the trigger sucks. And on and on.

A true precision rifle is a complete package. Its core is a precise and trued action. A quality (and not necessarily an expensive) barrel. A good trigger. A solid stock. Assembly by a talented 'smith. Good mounts & rings. Clear glass with repeatable and accurate turrets.

You chose a path. Learn with that path. If you don't like that path, dump it all now before a single shot is fired, and start over.

that makes a lot of sense. The rifle arrives tomorrow and I'll shoot it saturday and go from there. Sorry for all the threads I've been making recently in here.

quote:

They look really cool, and the company is really interesting.

I know one of the master smiths there @Proof.

The barrels are impressive, we have been given a couple of sample 300BLK / 308s (sadly I never get one).

But at the same time, what fritz said goes. I've considered buying one for an AR, but every time realize it's overkill for what I want from the rifle and I'm better off (as a non-precision shooter) just sticking with a tried and true, reasonably priced AR barrel (usually BCM lightweight).

From what little I've seen of Proof's barrels in the field, they make decent barrels. But $900-ish for the carbon wrapped barrels? W..T..F.. Their all-steel barrels are closer to $400. That carbon wrapped barrel won't make you shot any better and won't last any longer before the throat erosion toasts it. Sure, the carbon barrel is lighter. But you bought an RPR -- not a hunting rifle, which will be humped up and down mountains in Alaska. Your rifle will be carried from your trunk to your shooting line.

Barrels from Bartlein, Krieger, Hawk Hill, Broughton, Brux, Lilja, and others go for $350-ish.

I believe your RPR is chambered in 308. After 4k, 6k, or whatever number of rounds down the tube that make it toast -- replace it with a traditional steel barrel.

fritz - don't be a fun snatcher! You had an opportunity to spend some of cmr076's dollars.

Everyone knows that when you show up at the range with an RPR at this point that it's old news, but, an RPR with a Proof barrel--now that is truly interesting.

In all seriousness, shoot the barrel you get with the rifle first. Seems like there are good ones and really good ones on the factory RPRs.

Henryrifle

quote:

Originally posted by henryrifle:
...but, an RPR with a Proof barrel--now that is truly interesting...

Quality custom actions cost $1300 to $1500 these days. In steel/precision matches, such actions will generally be mated with barrels made by the companies I listed a couple of posts up. In other words, a $1300 to $1500 action with a $350-ish barrel.

I don't know if Ruger sells an RPR action on its own. Given the cost of the whole rifle, I suspect the action alone wouldn't go for any more than $500 to $600. A $350-$400 all-steel barrel on such an action will be fairly normal. A $900 carbon-wrapped barrel on a value-line action would be....different.

This isn't quite apples to apples. Last year I had a shooter in my steel match squad who was using a Proof carbon-wrapped barrel. It was a nice rifle -- high-end action along the lines of Defiance/Surgeon/Bighorn, quality stock, high-end optics. Chambered in a 6 Creedmoor, running 105's a little over 3200 fps MV, IIRC. In other words, a hot load. He might get 1200-1500 rounds before the barrel is toast. Possibly a little more if he really chases the lands with his loads.

He wasn't a gunsmith, so someone had to chamber his barrels. Maybe $300 for the job, meaning $1200 invested in each carbon-wrapped barrel. That means his prorated barrel costs are in the $.80 to $1.00 per round ballpark. Assuming he chases the lands and accepting lower accuracy late in barrel life, his cost might drop to $.65 to $.70 per trigger pull.

Mongo can't afford such expensive barrels. The cost per shot of my last 6.5 Creedmoor barrel was $.20 for a Bartlein barrel. I have not yet retired my 308 Bartlein barrel, but I suspect its prorated cost will be in the $.11 to $.13 per shot ballpark.

Note that Proof's carbon-wrapped barrels won't be nearly so expensive per round on a 308 chambering, as compared to a 6 Creedmoor.

I own a RPR in 6.5 Creedmoor. I have close to 450 rounds through it and I will say that the factory barrel is adequate at best. Most who haven't owned a true custom will be happy with it however. I've managed to shoot several sub-half MOA groups with my hand loads, but it is inconsistent. The barrel does have the tendency to shoot flyers which was frustrating initially.

My RPR took about 240 rounds before it settled down. My plan is to shoot out the factory barrel and replace it with a Patriot Valley Hawk Hill RPR barrel.

I sort of did things the opposite of Fritz's suggestion. I've owned/own Surgeon and Defiance customs built by well respected smiths. My goal with the RPR was to buy a factory built rifle and comparable quality glass and see how competitive I could be with it.

If you truly have your heart set on a Proof barrel they have Black Friday sales every year and I've seen their barrels sell for as low as $700 in years past. Personally any after market cut rifle barrel offered by the numerous sources would be a big upgrade from factory based on my initial impressions.

quote:

Originally posted by henryrifle:


Everyone knows that when you show up at the range with an RPR at this point that it's old news, but, an RPR with a Proof barrel--now that is truly interesting.

I would LOL, for reasons already identified by OP.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
My friend has the Summit Ti rifle its pretty amazing. Ive seen their barrels on sale for good prices in the past so look around.

If the carbon barrel is your thing you can also check out christensen arms. I have the ridgeline and Ive been very very happy with it.

I was just looking at their rifles actually, holy hell the cheapest one is around $7000

Yup...its one hell of a rifle though, This friend is single and hes a doctor and he goes sheep hunting every year all over the place. For him the 7k is no big deal I guess. I was jelous but had more of a budget so I got the Christensen Arms Ridgeline for 1800.00.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
Am I retarded for wanting to put a $900 barrel on a $1100 dollar rifle before I even shoot it

Yes