[Jimro]

HiBC raises some points that I agree with, but I'd like to raise some other points that make you think about things differently.

Here are the questions to really ask yourself:

If a stressed barrel doesn't shoot as well as a stress relieved barrel, how can Tikka make an accurate rifle with a hammer forged barrel? Stress relieved and double stress relieved sound like really great buzzwords for barrel makers, but you can also get amazing accuracy from highly stressed hammer forged barrels.

If cutting into the outer diameter of the barrel changes the bore dimensions, will that matter enough to decrease accuracy for your purposes? AR barrels have often used taper pins that get pounded in there plenty good, and still produce good accuracy.

And one of those, "everyone knows chrome lined barrels are less accurate." fallacies, but the FN SPR A1 came with a chrome lined barrel, same twist rate as the M240B machine gun barrels also made at the FN factory, and that system has produced excellent results with the accordant long barrel life.

And lastly, are you a good enough shot to tell the difference between a .75 MOA barrel and a .50 MOA barrel?

The finished rifle has a purpose in your mind, primarily target shooting with some field work. I doubt that you are a good enough shooter to outshoot the fluted F54 barrel, I know that I am not, at least from field positions.

Jimro