300 win mag barrel length?

[benchmstr]

todd hodnett recommends never going beyond 20" on a rifle including 300 win mag and 338 lapua.

Now, I respect the hell out of hodnett and he has a lot of experience..but I am having a hard time convincing myself to chop my 300 down to 20"...I only run it suppressed

So what's y'all's opinion on this?

Bench

 

[Huckleberry75]

I understand the thought process behind shorter bbls, b/c you can always add a couple clicks of elevation. Personally, I prefer longer tubes to help get velocity up without having to lean on the catridge too much. A lot of it is personal preference. I have some 20" and some 26" bbls, and thought about a 30" on my 300wm, but to me, they each have their place. I am not sure that there is a "right answer" to this one. Just whatever you are comfortable with. You can always chop it down if you aren't happy with a long tube, but its a bitch to get the locktite to hold the extra length back on after you have whittled it down.

 

[Alpine 338]

You will have just as many varying opinions as there are varying lengths of barrels.

My opinion... Why give up free velocity by cutting down a barrel, unless you have a specific requirement for a short barrel i.e. close quarter deployment, size/weight restrictions, or you know your engagement range will never exceed performance of a shorter barrel. If the later reason, then why not just stick with a 5.56 or 308, unless you need barrier penetration?

I personally would never go under 24" for a 300WM barrel because you're just giving up the performance you wanted to achieve with the magnum cartridge.

I have four 300WM rifles, and a fifth in parts waiting to be built, and they all have 26-27" barrels. They all have Surefire brakes where I can run suppressed. If I was going to dedicate a 300WM rifle to run suppressed 100% of the time, then it would be a 24" barrel.

 

[mdmp5]

todd hodnett recommends never going beyond 20" on a rifle including 300 win mag and 338 lapua.

Now, I respect the hell out of hodnett and he has a lot of experience..but I am having a hard time convincing myself to chop my 300 down to 20"...I only run it suppressed

So what's y'all's opinion on this?

Bench

I had to read your post a few times before I understood what you were saying. So this guy doesn't think a barrel should ever be longer regardless of caliber? I do agree that a 20" barrel is very nice to have for purposes of weight and mobility, and looks cool too. However, you really are bleeding some velocity at that length with slow burning powders. Personally, i would amend his statement to say 24". I just don't see the point of shooting a 338 if you cannot get the bullets to a competitive velocity with the smaller calibers. In addition to velocity loss, at 20", you could run into some pressure issues if you decide to throw a suppressor on a 338. There actually was a thread here somewhere that showed a guy's 338 Thunderbeast can gutted because he was shooting too short of a barrel. The blast cleaned out the entire contents of the can down range, and all that was left was the tube screwed onto the barrel.

 

[GhostFace]

22 inches would be as short as I would go with a WM but that's me....

 

[Bob L Swagger]

Im very happy with:

24" MTU Krieger 5R 1:10
75gr. H-1000
Norma Brass
Fed 215M
Berger 230 OTM
2810 fps.

 

[benchmstr]

I had to read your post a few times before I understood what you were saying. So this guy doesn't think a barrel should ever be longer regardless of caliber? I do agree that a 20" barrel is very nice to have for purposes of weight and mobility, and looks cool too. However, you really are bleeding some velocity at that length with slow burning powders. Personally, i would amend his statement to say 24". I just don't see the point of shooting a 338 if you cannot get the bullets to a competitive velocity with the smaller calibers. In addition to velocity loss, at 20", you could run into some pressure issues if you decide to throw a suppressor on a 338. There actually was a thread here somewhere that showed a guy's 338 Thunderbeast can gutted because he was shooting too short of a barrel. The blast cleaned out the entire contents of the can down range, and all that was left was the tube screwed onto the barrel.

That was my original thought also.

But! Hodnett(this guy) has a lot of rounds down extremely long range professionally for a long time..and for the exception of about 4 people on this board forgot more about precision shooting than we will ever know.

So I'm at a crossroad..might settle at 22"

Bench

 

[dangerdan87]

I'm running a 26 incher

 

[gyz77]

I run a 24" GAP 300WM and would love a 20" barrel on it. I'm a Shortly kinda guy! I run 16" 308's. Even my 308 bolt gun is a 16" Surgeon. Shoots lights out. I like my barrels like I like my women, Short!! I'm not sure if like the 20" on the WM just so to burning the barrel up so fast! If I had Hodnetts money and stash of gear then I'd be shooting 20" barrels! I'm just looking for a lightweight stock right now!! Damn AICS kills me to drag through the bush!!

 

[sakobob]

Im very happy with:

24" MTU Krieger 5R 1:10
75gr. H-1000
Norma Brass
Fed 215M
Berger 230 OTM
2810 fps.

damn thats a fast barrel!

 

[SUIScide]

Your thirty caliber suppressor may be okay for 300wm, but with a barrel length requirement to make sure muzzle pressure is low enough. I have a 22 suppressor that's rated okay for 22-250 as long as the barrel is at least 20" (May have been 18" but I'd never have a 22-250 with an 18" barrel just like I'd never haver a 300wm barrel less than 24"

 

[PatrickChewing]

I personally would never go under 24" for a 300WM barrel because you're just giving up the performance you wanted to achieve with the magnum cartridge.

Yep

 

[1slow01z71]

If youre going to go 20" on a 300WM why not go with a caliber that can make better use of the 20" of barrel like a 6.5. That's an awful lot of powder and recoil for relatively little gain over other calibers that make better use of the real estate youre giving it.

 

[mdmp5]

That was my original thought also.

But! Hodnett(this guy) has a lot of rounds down extremely long range professionally for a long time..and for the exception of about 4 people on this board forgot more about precision shooting than we will ever know.

So I'm at a crossroad..might settle at 22"

Bench

I think Rescigno makes his 300 win mags with 22" barrels (you might want to check with him on this). The velocity changes are not very drastic in a window of lengths according to an experiment done by him. I think from lengths of 26" down to 22", the velocity drop is somewhere around 100 fps or less. But below 22" is where you could see a steeper drop.

 

[MOOSE39465]

24 inch would be the shortest I would run. With the proper barrel you could still see great velocities with that short barrel. Some barrels are just faster then others.