[MikePGS]

Hello. In a couple of months, I'm going to be moving to South Carolina and am thinking about taking up hunting again. I want to use a rifle, and I'm thinking of either a .243, 7mm-08 or a .308. Looking at ammunition on Federal's site, they said that it was all tested out of a 24 inch barrel. Is this the ideal barrel length to use, or would something a bit shorter (say 22, or 20 even) but sufficient? I doubt there will be many long range shots, since the parts of SC i've been in have had pretty dense woods. Thanks in advance, Mike

[Triple S]

I hunt the low country of SC and love my Remington 7mm-08 with 22" Barrel (Mountain Rifle LSS) for all around deer hunting. It has been a great choice and has not let me down yet! Unless you are looking for a "beanfield" rifle, the light to mid-weight 20-22" barrels will do everything you need it to in SC. In fact, the shorter barrels might come in more handy when you get in the thick stuff!

[ArmedBear]

In fact, the shorter barrels might come in more handy when you get in the thick stuff!

Yeah. I have a 24" .30-06. It's a good-looking walnut rifle; it's heavy, though. It's a PITA in heavy brush. I will probably get a 20" short action rifle one of these days, 22" max. But out in the open, the heavy 24" is a nice offhand shooter.

If you plan to walk around with the gun in thick vegetation, or even where you have to duck under stuff now and again, I'd keep it to 20". The small velocity loss in a short-action round like a .308 will be far outweighed by the convenience of carrying the thing.:)

[mossberg]

Remington 760 with an 18 inch barrel. (It's a carbine, I don't worry about length because it's a factory job)

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

The best balance in terms of overall tradeoffs between velocity, handiness, weight, etc., is usually in the 21" to 22" range, for most bottlenecked centerfire rounds. Or shorter for "woods" guns and/or straight-walled big-bore rounds, 18-20". I generally prefer the following:

1. Benchrest longrange precision rifles: 26-30"
2. Magnum hunting rifles (7mm remmag, .300 win mag, etc.): 24"
3. Standard bottlenecked round hunting rifles (large capacity brass, such as .270 or .30-06 or .243 win, etc.): 21 or 22"
4. Centerfire woods rifles such as leverguns, straight-walled big bore rifles, pistol caliber rifles, and smallcase cartridge rifles (.22 hornet to .30-30 win to .45-70): Anywhere from 16"-22", but preferably 18-20" Basically, if it recoils a lot in this category, I want 22" for the extra weight (.45-70). Moderate recoil, I want 18-20" (.30-30 or .44 mag), and light recoil (.357 mag), 16-18".
5. Magnum rimfires: .22 mag and .17 hummer: Prefer 19", but anywhere from 18" to 21"
6. Standard rimfires (.22lr or .17 mach 2): Prefer 16". Unless I'm going for stealth/suppression, in which case I want 16" with a suppressor, or a 24" barrel with BB caps or CB caps or Aguila Super Colibris.
7. "EBRs" - I prefer (or would prefer if owned): 20" for 5.56, 20-22" for .308, and 18" for 6.8 spc or 6.5 grendel.

I have a couple/few rifles.

[MCgunner]

My M7 in .308 has a 20" barrel. I like it, good velocity, very accurate, and handy as hell. .308 is very efficient with shorter barrels.

[Funderb]

I went hunting in the land of no deer once. My mosins barrel is 900 feet long, and that is probably why all the deer ran away.
:p

I'd say that nothing under 20" will perform well enough for your liking in 7mm-06 or .308 shorter barrels work for .243 I've heard. But I am lenghtist and all. I just like the long ones that I can pole vault with.

[Bartkowski]

If the gun is just for hunting, a 20" barrel is great. With a .308 the velocity loss between 20" and 24" is very small(around 100fps).

[koja48]

Shoulda just whacked 'em on the melon with the barrel . . . in thick country, I'd opt for 18" to 22" . . . for open range, I prefer a longer tube.

[Husker1911]

My old .308 Remington Mohawk 600 has 18 1/2". I might try a 20", if I had my druthers. This rifle is nails on wooded river-bottom ground, for fast, accurate shots.

[jmr40]

With the cartridges you are thinking about 20-22" should be plenty. As a general rule the more powder a case holds the longer barrel needed to burn it.

[GunTech]

Barrel length is overrated. I shoot my 20 inch 40X out to 1000 yards, and it gets their just fine. The difference a couple hundred feet per second makes is highly overrated, and shorter barrels tend to be stiffer.

For a hunting rifle, I'd look for weight balance and 'handiness'. Most hunters aren't shooting much past 300 yards anyway

http://guntech.com/40x/40x-brake-1.jpg

[GunTech]

BTW, barrel length and powder burned are mostly unrelated. Most of the powder is burned before the bullet leaves the case. The rest burns in the first couple of inches of barrel. The longer barrel allows the expanding incandescent gas to act on the bullet for a longer time is all.

[frogomatic]

20" of 35 Whelen. It's pretty thick where I hunt, and shots are always within 75 yards. The short barrel makes it handy in the brush, and 250 grains of .358 is a real showstopper on deer. And if I miss, well, I figure I have a chance of deafening them and/or incinerating them with the muzzle blast. fun stuff!

+1 to Guntech. If powder is burning in the barrel, it is erroding metal. ALL the powder must be burnt inside the cartridge to preserve barrel life. Powder burn rate must be matched to the length and volume of the cartridge. Too slow a powder in too short a case and you'll burn your barrel out very quickly. Short and Super short magnums are hard on barrels, and it's because all the powder doesn't burn inside the cartridge.

Barrel length will affect velocity to a point. More barrel give the expanding gasses more time to push on the bullet, thereby increasing it velocity. However, the gains/losses in velocity per inch of barrel are fairly small, and whatever is on the recieving end is not going to know the difference.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

GunTech, what is your 40x chambered in?

[GunTech]

7.62x51.

[Hook686]

Out here in California I use a scoped 6mm Remington Ruger M77, 22" barrel. In the woods back East I'd think a shorter barrel, maqybe even 16-1/2", 30-30 lever gun might be a better choice.

[Art Eatman]

Personal opinion, but the difference between 20" and 22" isn't worth worrying about.

Lessee: My '06 has a 26" barrel, and I've had no problems hunting the "jungles" of the river bottom along the Appalachicola below Blountstown, Florida. My .243 has a 19" barrel, and it's always been ruinacious on Bambi--albeit a bit on the loud side--and a helluva fireball at night when shooting coyotes. :)

My current preference is a Rem 700 Ti in 7mm08, with a 22" barrel. Handles nicely, balances well. The "balances well" is probably as important as any other factor...

FWIW, Art

[MCgunner]

With the cartridges you are thinking about 20-22" should be plenty. As a general rule the more powder a case holds the longer barrel needed to burn it.

Well, sorta, more to do with burn rate of the powder. But, larger cases tend to use bulky, slow powders. What makes the .308 so efficient is the faster powders it burns, less wasted in the air in front of the barrel.

My 7 mag has a 24" tube, needs more like 26" IMHO. Weatherby puts 26" tubes on their belted magnums. My .257 Roberts is about right with its 24" tube. Most .30-06 case sized rounds shoot a 22" barrel and could benefit a bit from 24". The major manufacturers always seem to built the gun about 2" shorter than is probably optimum, but hey, it makes for a handier hunting rifle and I doubt the deer is going to be able to tell you what length the barrel was.

[one-shot-one]

very handy accurate as any other longer rifle that i have shot.
groups nicely with factory 150's or handloaded 165's ahead of H380 or 748 powder.
the deer don't seem to notice the velocity drop one bit.:neener:

[nathan]

My 25 06 in Rem BDL is 24 inches long . Its a bit long to my taste but hey its very accurate with 100 gr NOsler BT so I dont complain. I do prefer a 22inch long though in all my rifles.

[stevereno1]

I like a 24" barrel. My weatherby vanguard 7mm. rem. mag. has over 60 deer on it.

[Inspector3711]

Rem 700 LV SF .223 22" barrel
Interarms Mark X .25-06 24" barrel

Both are quite accurate.

[pbrktrt]

my Vanguard in .270 Win wears a 24" barrel & i wouldn't want it any shorter. it works quite well at that length.

[GunTech]

I just started a new build on a hunter/light tactical in 260 rem. I am going with a 20" Lilja #5 fluted. I expect to be able to pound the 1K gong with no problem Should be packable, handy and still accurate enough if a touch heavy.

The more I hunt, the more convinced I am that for most situations, shorter is better However, the short barrel is louder.

[Nathanael_Greene]

My .243 has a 19" barrel, and it's always been ruinacious on Bambi--albeit a bit on the loud side--and a helluva fireball at night when shooting coyotes.

I can imagine. I've got a .30-06 Remington Woodsmaster carbine (18"); at night, it'll give you religion. Way cool, despite the ringing in the ears.

Anyway, anyone ever considered a Marlin 30-30 with a 20" barrell?

[MCgunner]

Wanna get your ears rung? Fire a 12" contender in .30-30 with a compensator out of a box blind. :eek: I never made THAT mistake again! My muffs go with me. :D