Flute barrel or shorten?

[SqHunter]

All else being equal, if you had to do something drastic to reduce weight, would you prefer to flute a barrel or shorten it? This is a Lilja No. 4 in .22 LR. It is on a 40x hunter rifle that I am debating on converting into a squirrel gun. Have too much money in the barreled action to just rebarrel it at this point.... Unless of course one of you have a Lilja No. 1 you would want to trade for it

[Emietenkorte]

What is the current length?

[SqHunter]

24 inches.

I'm thinking I might pull the barrel and triggrr and sell them to find a start over. I don't think I can cut enough weight with the current barrel.

Anybody interested in a No. 4 lilja or bix n andy 2 stage trigger?

[Heavybarrell]

Maybe the barrel. how much?

[SqHunter]

I don't know to be honest.

Sending PM.

[375Short]

I guess my first thought is what length do you want your hunting barrel to be? If you are going to use a gunsmith to do the work both your options will be a couple hundred bucks’ish. The better option is probably pull and sell the barrel you don’t want and order exactly what you do want. Loather Walther and several other barrel business folks are responsive and flexible on setting a barrel up ready for you to install yourself. Barrels set up with a nut are easy to install and forever leave the owner with the ability to adjust head space if needed or switch to other barrels set up in similar fashion if desired. If you need to add a barrel vice and nut wrench to your tool box they aren’t very expensive, much less than the gunsmith work and you are all set for future projects. You will likely need to do a little one time stock work to make room for the nut.

More importantly make it to Raton July 2025, we missed you this year.

[SqHunter]

The barrel is currently 24". I wanted it to remain that length, always dreamed of a 40x sporter as a squirrel gun. However, I have to admit to randomly day dreaming of a suppressor and some sort of space age chassis stock So I was conflicted on what to do.

For once, better sense has prevailed. I think I will just try to sell it and then take a nap.

[Merlin]

My #4 made weight at 20.5" With a Pharr (I think) stock.

[SqHunter]

My #4 made weight at 20.5" With a Pharr (I think) stock.

This one should make Hunter weight for silhouette, but it does not make the 7.5 lb weight I was looking for in a squirrel rifle. If I can't sell it I will likely have the barrel turned to about 0.6 at the muzzle. It is 0.73 now if I remember right. If I can loose 6 oz from the barrel I can get the other savings by using a carbon fiber stock. The ones I have been looking at run about 25 oz.

It would have been much simpler to just have bought a Cooper Jackson Squirrel rifle, but they are hard to come by and expensive.

[Grantmac]

Lighter scope just for squirrels?

[SqHunter]

Lighter scope just for squirrels?

I bought an older Leupold 3x9x40 AO scope just for it, but it didn't cut weight as much as I thought. My vision is too poor to go much smaller.

I measured the barrel diameter tonight and I no longer believe it is a No. 4. The muzzle is 0.64 at 22.5 from reliever. I don't think they can flute one this small, so cutting it to 18" is about my only option

[stsbuyer]

Be careful cutting a Lilja barrel. I did one from 25" down to 20" gun still shot well but suffered fist shot flyers. Lilja finish laps the barrel and leave a tite spot ant the muzzle end. If you cut the barrel behind that it may cause problems.
Paul

[SqHunter]

Be careful cutting a Lilja barrel. I did one from 25" down to 20" gun still shot well but suffered fist shot flyers. Lilja finish laps the barrel and leave a tite spot ant the muzzle end. If you cut the barrel behind that it may cause problems.
Paul

That is unfortunate news. I suspected as much, but don't have a lot of options. There is not enough shank left to cut it from the chamber end.