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Truckn14269, I think all Ruger centerfire barrels are hammer forged these days. All the grooves are made at the same time. Contact Ruger and ask them how often they change the tools that make their barrels.
Years ago, when many commercial rifle barrels were rifled with a broach cutting all the grooves at the same time, those made when the broach was worn down had smaller groove diameters and shot bullets the most accurate. If the mandrel used in hammer forging barrels gets smaller after all that hammering the blank onto it, they also should make more accurate barrels than when new.
Given a choice, I would take the last barrel rifled with either method before replacing the rifling tools used. Best accuracy has always happened when the bullet's a bit larger in diameter than the barrel's groove diameter; even a whole lot larger is better than a tiny bit smaller.
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