We recently hijacked M3rt's thread about his brand new 10/22 when we started discussing the accuracy differences between KIDD's fluted match barrels and their new Ultra-Lightweight barrels.
With my curiosity piqued I decided to put the two barrels in a head-to-head competition to see which one comes out on top. With my two favorite full-KIDD rifles in hand, a bucketfull of Wolf Match .22, and some homemade targets off I went to Eagle Peak to enjoy a beautiful day putting tiny holes into paper. This is the result of that informal test.
First off let's look at the two rifles in question. Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics... I spent all my damn money on these two guns
The one on the top sports a KIDD Supergrade Receiver, 20" Fluted Match Barrel capped by one of their compensators, KIDD's sweet two-stage trigger (12 oz. first stage, 12 oz. second stage), one of their scalloped precision bolts, spring and guide rod. The whole thing is topped off by a Leupold VX-2 and set inside a Boyd's Classic stock. It weighs in at 6.85 pounds dry.
The one below is a KIDD Classic Reciever, 16.5" Ultra-Lightweight Barrel, KIDD's crisp single-stage trigger (1.5 lb. pull weight), one of their matte silver precision bolts, spring and guide rod. It's topped off by a Simmons .22 Mag scope with adjustable objective and sitting inside a Hogue overmolded stock. This little gem weighs in at a wonderful 5.25 pounds dry.
Two very different rifles but each accurate as hell... far more accurate than yours truly. In fact, I am the weakest link to the true capabilities of both these guns. I love buying great hardware but the "software" is bargain bin The test was held on the bench at 25 yards, with five shots on each of 10 one-inch squares. Here are the results of the shoot:
First up is the fluted match barrel. It comes in at 0.272", 0.275", 0.331", 0.416", 0.477", 0.409", 0.228", 0.428", 0.399", and 0.296" for an average group size of 0.3531". To this day I still marvel at how light and crisp KIDD's two-stage triggers are. You have to shoot it to believe it.
Next up is the lightweight barrel... groups come in at 0.551", 0.239", 0.315", 0.236", 0.404", 0.559", 0.362", 0.335", 0.640", and 0.333" for an average group size of 0.3974". KIDD's single-stage trigger takes a little more getting used to but it breaks so cleanly that it's easy to get off consistently good shots. As much as I love two-stage triggers I will always have a warm soft spot for perfect single-stage bang switches.
The results surprised me. Not that I had much doubt that the longer, heavier fluted match barrel would win out but by the small margin it would do so against the shorter lightweight barrel. In conclusion, the fluted match barrel just barely edges out the ultra-lightweight barrel but only by a scant 0.0443 inches! Maybe in the hands of a much better shooter than myself the gap would be wider but from my perspective you can't go wrong with either choice.
Not bad at all especially when you consider that the lightweight KIDD is so much more enjoyable to shoot offhand...
Anyway I hope this little test was interesting to y'all. It was definitely interesting to me.
With my curiosity piqued I decided to put the two barrels in a head-to-head competition to see which one comes out on top. With my two favorite full-KIDD rifles in hand, a bucketfull of Wolf Match .22, and some homemade targets off I went to Eagle Peak to enjoy a beautiful day putting tiny holes into paper. This is the result of that informal test.
First off let's look at the two rifles in question. Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics... I spent all my damn money on these two guns
The one on the top sports a KIDD Supergrade Receiver, 20" Fluted Match Barrel capped by one of their compensators, KIDD's sweet two-stage trigger (12 oz. first stage, 12 oz. second stage), one of their scalloped precision bolts, spring and guide rod. The whole thing is topped off by a Leupold VX-2 and set inside a Boyd's Classic stock. It weighs in at 6.85 pounds dry.
The one below is a KIDD Classic Reciever, 16.5" Ultra-Lightweight Barrel, KIDD's crisp single-stage trigger (1.5 lb. pull weight), one of their matte silver precision bolts, spring and guide rod. It's topped off by a Simmons .22 Mag scope with adjustable objective and sitting inside a Hogue overmolded stock. This little gem weighs in at a wonderful 5.25 pounds dry.
Two very different rifles but each accurate as hell... far more accurate than yours truly. In fact, I am the weakest link to the true capabilities of both these guns. I love buying great hardware but the "software" is bargain bin
The test was held on the bench at 25 yards, with five shots on each of 10 one-inch squares. Here are the results of the shoot:First up is the fluted match barrel. It comes in at 0.272", 0.275", 0.331", 0.416", 0.477", 0.409", 0.228", 0.428", 0.399", and 0.296" for an average group size of 0.3531". To this day I still marvel at how light and crisp KIDD's two-stage triggers are. You have to shoot it to believe it.
Next up is the lightweight barrel... groups come in at 0.551", 0.239", 0.315", 0.236", 0.404", 0.559", 0.362", 0.335", 0.640", and 0.333" for an average group size of 0.3974". KIDD's single-stage trigger takes a little more getting used to but it breaks so cleanly that it's easy to get off consistently good shots. As much as I love two-stage triggers I will always have a warm soft spot for perfect single-stage bang switches.
The results surprised me. Not that I had much doubt that the longer, heavier fluted match barrel would win out but by the small margin it would do so against the shorter lightweight barrel. In conclusion, the fluted match barrel just barely edges out the ultra-lightweight barrel but only by a scant 0.0443 inches! Maybe in the hands of a much better shooter than myself the gap would be wider but from my perspective you can't go wrong with either choice.
Not bad at all especially when you consider that the lightweight KIDD is so much more enjoyable to shoot offhand...
Anyway I hope this little test was interesting to y'all. It was definitely interesting to me.
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