Best barrel length for varmit Ar-15 .223

[ruger223]

Wondering what the best barrel length was for a ar-15 .223 for varmit hunting. Any real gain fro jumping from 20" bbl to 24" bbl? only about $50.00 diff in price with DPMS but worth the extra money

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

My BM Varmiter is 24" and this seam to give it good balanced, but never crono it. I would go for the24" just to squeze out every passibal FPS I,could.

 

[TargetTerror]

I recently asked this questions elsewhere, and the best answer I got was between 30-50fps/inch, and closer to the 30-40fps end of that spectrum. Run the numbers through some ballistic calculators and see if that makes a difference you care about.

General consensus is that if you are shooting up to 600 yards, a good 20 incher should be fine. Beyond 600 yards, you might get some gain from the longer barrels. But bottom line is the .223 doesn't take as much advantage of longer barrels as larger/magnum class cartridges.

Someone please correct me if the above is wrong - I'd like to know myself.

 

[kwelz]

18-20 would be my Max. I don't think you get any real practical benefit going past 20.

 

[jpwilly]

I picked 20" and with a Heavy bbl that's plenty of weight! My DPMS rifle shoots really good with 50gr VMAX loads!