Barrel length

[jon15 14]

Am thinking about cutting my barrels down to 20" on both my 243 and 308 to make it better balanced with the mod, currently 22", tend not to shoot further than 200yrds with either rifle, is this a good idea?

[barrym3 11]

Am thinking about cutting my barrels down to 20" on both my 243 and 308 to make it better balanced with the mod, currently 22", tend not to shoot further than 200yrds with either rifle, is this a good idea?

i got mine cut down but i have a silencer on mine your local gundealer will tell you how much you can take off it without affecting your accuarcy how long is your barrel from the end of the wood to the tip of the barrel

[FJager 0]

jon it is not the accuracy issue that becomes the problem, the shorter the barrel the less velocity you will get out of the cartridge, I wouldn't do it.

[Guest baldie]

The .308 will be fine, i run a 20" barrelled tactical rifle, and can still obtain good velocities out to 600 yards with it.I dont use it at a 1000 yards as the barrel is too short to keep the bullet supersonic. It wouldn,t affect you at 200 yards. The .243 is a different kettle of fish though.It would still be fine at 200 yards, but you will lose a lot of velocity, as the calibre is "overbored" . That means it is a small diameter bullet, being pushed by an unusually large amount of powder, ie, not very balanced. It works fine, but need a full length barrel to allow all the powder to burn, inside the barrel, before the bullet exits the muzzle. If you shorten the barrel, you will get powder burning outside the muzzle, hence the lost velocity.It wont make a huge difference at 200 yards, but its something to think about.The velocity loss can usually be regained by switching to a faster burning powder, if you homeload.

One word of advice though, choose a reputable gunsmith to do it.It needs recrowning properly to regain its accuracy, its not a difficult job, but you would surprised how many dont do it properly.

[jon15 14]

The .308 will be fine, i run a 20" barrelled tactical rifle, and can still obtain good velocities out to 600 yards with it.I dont use it at a 1000 yards as the barrel is too short to keep the bullet supersonic. It wouldn,t affect you at 200 yards. The .243 is a different kettle of fish though.It would still be fine at 200 yards, but you will lose a lot of velocity, as the calibre is "overbored" . That means it is a small diameter bullet, being pushed by an unusually large amount of powder, ie, not very balanced. It works fine, but need a full length barrel to allow all the powder to burn, inside the barrel, before the bullet exits the muzzle. If you shorten the barrel, you will get powder burning outside the muzzle, hence the lost velocity.It wont make a huge difference at 200 yards, but its something to think about.The velocity loss can usually be regained by switching to a faster burning powder, if you homeload.

One word of advice though, choose a reputable gunsmith to do it.It needs recrowning properly to regain its accuracy, its not a difficult job, but you would surprised how many dont do it properly.

Baldie, thanks for the advise, could i get around the problem by shooting a lighter bullet weight? At the moment i use a Federal 95g ballistic tip but have just started home loading, if i went down to a 87g v-max or even a 75g bullet would I need less powder, thus it should all burn in barrel? I use my .243 mainly for vermin but i do want to be able to knock over a Roe if i see one, so i can not go too light. Thanks Jon

[Guest baldie]

No buddy, its the opposite. Heavier bullets use less powder. To be honest, if you arent going past 200 yards, you shouldn,t really have any bother with any weight bullet in the 243, they will all still drop roe with authority.

[jon15 14]

No buddy, its the opposite. Heavier bullets use less powder. To be honest, if you arent going past 200 yards, you shouldn,t really have any bother with any weight bullet in the 243, they will all still drop roe with authority.

Thanks baldie.

[dickyboy 1]

this evening i was chatting to a gunsmith down the road.....he was an international hand pistol shooter, he was showing me photos of his 243 ackley improved pistol, 12" barrel, 4x mag scope, he used to shoot 600, 800 1000yards with it and theres a magazine article showing the pistol team losing a match against the rifle boys by 1 and yes 1 v.bull at a 1000yards they were set to win but just missed out

 

the grouping he got was incredible, absolutely awesome 3.5-4" at 1000 yards........and it was all there in black and white

 

brought it home about barrel length for me!!!!

 

all they do is rest on a sand bag..........he did say the flash at the end was big though