Several years ago I built a 6.5/284 for long range shooting. It has a Criterion match grade bull barrel. It doesn’t get shot much anymore and I thought about having the barrel turned down and restocking the rifle to actually hunt with. Has anyone ever done this? Will it maintain its accuracy or is it a crap shoot? Round count on the barrel is mid 400s so she has some life left.

Will it lose accuracy? Yes.
Will it be enough to even measure? Probably not.
I prefer rifles that I actually like, and enjoy hunting with. If it's a safe queen, then you got nothing to lose IMO. 👍

I think accuracy could be a crap shoot. I don't know how much it will cost to turn that much material off a barrel but it might be easier to just get another barrel.

I’d be tempted to sell the whole gun and start from scratch before I replaced/re-contoured the barrel and replaced the stock. Guess it would really depend on the action and how much $ you had tied up in it and the trigger.

By the time you spent money to do this you could have rebarreled it

X2

I neglected to mention the machining work won’t cost me anything.

If the shop has a 5 axis machine have them leave it "heavy" just let them flute it. That would be .

If the machining work won’t cost you? I’d guess that as long as it’s under oil bath or such, to stay cool, then turning it down shouldn’t hurt anything if it’s done right. It’s what the barrel maker would do, anyway.

I'd sell it before machining it. Sure it might work but your betting a known shooter vs an unknown one.

I’d sell it or rebarrel before I went down this toad. Seems like more trouble than its worth.

If the machine work won't cost you anything, I'd turn it down.
Barrel removal and reinstall is easy.
Just make sure the crown is dressed up after turning and it should be good to go.
It will have more whip than the heavy contour, but you can re zero for that.

Thanks. To be continued..... I’ll let you know what I do.

I would turn it down to a more hunting friendly contour, say .700 at the muzzle, cut that thing down to about 20 inch's long, and have a lot of fun slinging lead. I know people are going to say longer barrel, more speed. I can tell you now that I have a 6.5 saum that shoots 130 grain game changers at over 3000 fps, and is a tack driver. It is an 18 in. carbon six barrel that i rechambered from 6.5 creed to 6.5 saum. It is fun, light, and will smoke a deer at 600 yards with no problem.