best short-barrel cartridge in a .308-length rifle?

[jason41987]

anyway.. the reason i was asking is for something like a scout rifle with a shorter barrel

sam1911, you say that the more powerful cartridge will have more power out of a shorter barrel... but, what if i didnt want the full power of a .308 for example... what about something like a .300 savage?... shorter case, less powder, isnt as powerful as a .308 fired from the same length barrel, but will a shorter case such as this produce closer to the maximum of what the cartridge can produce?.... meaning, would the be a lower percentage of velocity decrease using the same bullets, and all else being the same?

 

[Sam1911]

Well, I think that's a fine way to look at it, though I don't know if I'd go for something so unusual as a .300 Savage. There's something to be said for building a rifle that is simple to feed.

But as others have pointed out, no, not all cartridges lose quite so much velocity per inch of barrel shortened. My basic understanding is that the more "overbore" a cartridge is (the more powder you put behind a smaller bullet) the more important that long barrel is to getting the velocity out of it you hope to achieve.

But, sure, if you start out on the slow end, and then you cut the barrel shorter than standard, you lose velocity -- maybe not at the same RATE of loss as you'd see from that .300 Wthby mag, but still a loss.

The truth is that surely there is some "sweet spot" of efficiency (if you want to call it that) where a cartridge of a certain capacity retains the most velocity with the shortest barrel in a given caliber. Without a lot of experimentation I don't know how you'd find that sweet spot for sure, and you have to ask if it's worth the cost and effort to discover that sweet spot. After all, you're talking about a couple hundred fps one way or the other, right?

 

[jason41987]

for a shorter cartridge in a .308 length action.. what would you choose if not a .300 savage?.. .300 savage also seemed nice because yuo could use REALLY long bullets and not exceed the COAL of 2.800 in the action/magazines, and can be made from .30-06 brass

 

[TonyAngel]

Why not just stick with the .308?

 

[Offfhand]

Think .260 Rem and you'll be on the right track.