Shortening 22rf barrel - enough twists?

[mealiejimmy 1]

Hi all,

Been lurking for a while but have finally decided to register.

I have an old Voere model 2115 semi auto with a 16 1/2" barrel which I'm thinking about having shortened to 13" make it easier to use from a vehicle.

I've read plenty of posts on here and other forums that all the powder in a 22 cartridge is burned within the first 10" of the barrel, so 13" should be OK for velocity.

However when I was discussing this with a much more knowlegable shooter than me, he said that shortening the barrel would mean a loss in accuracy because the reduction of the total twist in the barrel would be result in less bullet spin and therefore less accuracy.

This is news to me and I'm a bit skeptical

I believe the Voere has a 1 in 15 twist barrel which seems par for the course for most 22rf rifles

Any comment from all the experts on this forum would be greatly appreciated

 

Cheers

 

Mealiejimmy

[GRAM71 29]

hi mate, the minimum you can reduce the barrel to is 12", i've heard from reliable sources that 14" is the optimum minimum length.

hope this helps,

gram.

[zx10mike 137]

i would buy a 12 or 14" if rimfire magic sell 12s and anschutz sells 14 thats good enough for me.might make a difference if your shootin long range but out to 100 i'd chance it.i took 4" off my 204 and lost a bit of speed through the crono but accoracy was spot on.

[Chriseden 5]

Youll be ok to go down to 12 easy and you wont loose any accuracy if anything it should get slightly better as long as its crowned properly the shorter the barrel the stiffer it wil be. Stiff barrels are generally more accurate because they will vibrate less as the bullet travels down them its why target and "sniper" rifles have heavy barrels on them.

As for the number of twists, I dont know much about that. But I do know that you will have more than enough still

[danw 1,748]

reducing the length of the barrel has no affect on the twist rate, if the rifling turns the bullet at a rate of 1 turn in 15 inches it will still turn at that rate whether the barrel is 20 inches long or 12 inches long

[matt_hooks 188]

A 3" pistol barrel with a 1 in 15 twist will still get a bullet spinning. As long as the bullet engages properly with the rifling, then no matter how short the barrel the bullet will have the spin. The only problem with very short barrels is getting sufficient acceleration. You may well have burned all the powder, but it's still expanding and has more energy to give right out to 16 or 17 inches, maybe further. The increase in velocity per inch will decrease as the barrel gets longer, but it will be there.

 

That said, if you are bunny bashing at normal ranges then you won't notice the reduction in velocity, and the accuracy will be as good. I have the same gun and it shoots lovely tight groups out to 100 yards and cycles everything I throw at it, but prefers winchester super x 40gr subs for accuracy. The only pain with it is finding magazines. I got lucky and found one in the local gunsmiths shop, he had forgotten what rifle it was for but I recognised it straight away. That cost me £30. New they are more like £50, and the only UK supplier is a not very reputable company who I'm loath to give my money to.

 

Voere themselves are brilliant for customer service. I managed to snap the bolt return spring when I stripped mine down to clean. I emailed them and they sent me a brand new spring completely free of charge, from Germany!

[mealiejimmy 1]

Thanks for all the replies and in particular to Matt_Hooks - you've managed to put my mind at rest.

You're right about the Voere, I've had it for about 25 years now and has given me no problems whatsoever. I use 40gr Winchester subs and since I started using them it's never failed to cycle correctly.

I got really lucky today when a friend of a friend heard I was asking about shortening the Voere. He called me to tell me he had 3 magazines, a complete trigger assembly, bolt and firing pin and only wanted £45 for the lot.

After biting his arm off I got the bits home and replaced the trigger assembly.

There must have een a design change to the trigger assembly during lifespan of the rifle, because the new trigger is much smoother than my original.

 

Thanks again for your help

 

mealiejimmy

[Clare 33]

give these guys a ring http://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk/

[matt_hooks 188]

I got really lucky today when a friend of a friend heard I was asking about shortening the Voere. He called me to tell me he had 3 magazines, a complete trigger assembly, bolt and firing pin and only wanted £45 for the lot.

After biting his arm off I got the bits home and replaced the trigger assembly.

 

 

mealiejimmy

 

You can go off people you know!