Rifle barrel length question

[halesb]

Check out this article about Tac Ops....

Cutting a .308 barrel down to 18 inches resulted in losing a whopping 32 fps.

http://www.tacticaloperations.com/SWATbarrel/

 

[lefteyedom]

I shorten a 30.06 barrel from 26" to 20" and it has a much better balance. The Chrony says it cost about 100 fps. Well worth the trade.

Now to muddy waters my M40 clone 308 has a 26" target barrel. I have shot so far this year, Mulie, a whitetail and a antelope with it.

The 308 works well with a 20" barrel, out to about 400 yards it is great deer rifle.

A 308 with a 20" barrel it is still producing 300 savage ballistic.

Cut the barrel down to 20 1/4 and have your gunsmith cut a deep target crown. .

 

[dubbleA]

Recently cut the 26" barrels back on a Salvage and Remington to 20 inches. I lost 60-70 fps in doing so, no big deal. The 308 Win is an effecient cartridge that does ok with shorter tubes. In my case is does improve balance and are much handier. Really comes down to a personal choice.

 

[Legionnaire]

I voted 20". That length works fine on my Model Seven. But that's a sporter-weight barrel. If I were planning on long-range targets, I'd stick with a 24" or even 26" barrel.

 

[P.B.Walsh]

I think that I will go with the 20.25" barrel and have a .25" deep target crown.

Thanks to all,
P.B.Walsh

 

[Redneck with a 40]

I have a Remmy 700 SPS Tac with the 20" bull barrel, .308, I'm losing about 80 fps compared to a 24" barrel. I can still push 168 SMK's to 2650 fps, which is fast enough out to 500 yards. I really like this rifle, I wouldn't go any shorter than 20". 22" might be ideal.

 

[jbech123]

I've watched a friend shoot his 18" 308. I don't know what kind of velocity he's losing; however, that rifle has significant bullet drop and loss of accuracy after, about, 150 yards.

something else is very wrong with either the gun or shooter. While you will get more muzzle blast and recoil with an 18" barrel, you lose 200 fps max(most likely less) and no degrade in accuracy. As mentioned elsewhere, if anything additional stiffness would help accuracy.