Scout Rifle Barrel Length

[HoosierQ]

Scout rifles seem like a great idea and there are some fine ones out there. My question is about barrel length.

Scout rifles are supposed to be fairly powerful...by definition. So they are commonly .308, 7mm-08, .243 etc. They are also supposed to be light and handy so they tend to have 16 inch barrels.

What does a barrel length like that do to these rounds in terms of performance, muzzle flash, that sort of thing? Is there an optimum chambering for a 16 inch barrel or is it just a matter of slowing down the bullet a bit?

 

[jmr40]

Most scout rifles that I am aware of use 18 -20" barrels. The .308 does pretty well at that length and I would think the 7mm-08 would not suffer too much. Not sure about .243.

 

[El Tejon]

With most cartridges in this configuration, it is a distinction without difference. For example, noted gun teacher Clint Smith has cut several long rifle barrles back and recorded the difference. At 300 yards, the target will not notice.

The long barrel silliness is a holdover from blackpowder days and longer sight radius and muzzle velocity was critical. How many times in the gun shop have you heard that long barrels are "far more ackawrit"? Or, long barrels "shoot a lot harder din them short barrels." Outside of speciality weapons, a distinction without difference.

Quality of the barrel controls far more than how long the tube is. Muzzle blast can be a function of ammunition. Just need to train at night to see what works best for you.

 

[james_bond]

Well Brother Jeff Cooper's Steyer Scout is .308 and has a 19 inch barrel.

The folks at Springfield said this refering to their SOCOM 16 that's barrel is 8 inches shorter than the standard M1A's 22 inch barrel.

"We're only losing about 150 feet per second with the heavy bullet loads, and 200 feet per second with the light bullets," according to Springfield's engineering department.

I think 16 to 20 inches is best more than 20 is starting to get too long to still be the light and handy rifle originaly seeked.

 

[H2O MAN]

18.0" is just fine for 7.62 NATO /.308, I would not go shorter without some tweaking.

 

[woof]

I recently saw on gunbroker a Ruger 77 new, laminated stock, stainless, 16.5 inch barrel in .260 Rem. To me that would be a super platform for a scout rifle, and it was only $619.

 

[Art Eatman]

Cooper's idea of a Scout rifle was for a package: Part of it was an overall length of one meter. For the average-build person's stock length, this means a barrel of approximately 19", give or take a little. The .308 is a military cartridge, which was part of Cooper's deal as well. And, it was designed to give near-equal performance to the .30-'06, so it fits his deal. Another parameter was that it weigh some seven pounds, with scope, sling and ammo.

As far as barrel lengths in general: For years the advertised factory muzzle velocities were based on the use in testing of 26" barrels. If you start cutting back from this length, it has been found that such cartridges as the .264/7mm and .300 magnums lose about 100 ft/sec/inch. Cartridges similar in case dimensions to the '06 lose roughly 75 ft/sec/inch. For the .308-type of dimensions, it's more like 40 ft/sec/inch. This has been tested numerous times, and the results are pretty much the same...

Art