Cutting down a 20” 6.5CM MWS barrel for suppressor

[SoundFx]

Hi Gents,

Was hoping for some advice. I have a 20” 6.5 barrel that I’d like to shorten a bit. How short could I go with this barrel and still have decent reliability unsuppressed? It’ll be shot suppressed almost exclusively. I was thinking 18” would be fine, but might even go shorter if it would be better. Cans will be either a Nomad or an Energetic Armament Vox.

Also, is there a go-to shop that would be ideal for this work? A place that isn’t backlogged six months but still would do a great job?

Many thanks in advance. Looking forward to getting this setup going.
-Sfx

 

[NukeMMC]

Assuming rifle length gas, you could go to 16". Figure on losing about 25fps for every inch you cut, though.
Go below 16" and you'll need a Form 1 or a pistol brace.
As for a shop to do it, if they are good, they're busy. Patience is a virtue.

 

[SoundFx]

Thank you for the reply. I wasn’t thinking going the sbr route with this. Just kinda wanted to see if there had been some experiences where folks had cut down the typically-overgassed LMT barrel to a length that provided good suppressed performance while still maintaining acceptable unsuppressed reliability. Like a “sweet spot” in terms of length. It is indeed a rifle length gas system.

Guessing that 18” probably the most common, but am open to perhaps a 17.5” or something if someone had done it and found it to be even better.

In any case, I do appreciate the reply. Thank you

 

[CrabsandFootball]

Why? you are giving away free velocity for nothing. You may think it looks cool but you are reducing range, increasing drop, decreasing wind resistance and decreasing energy on target...............all the reasons to go with a 6.5CM in the first place.

 

[Luke G]

Unless most of your shooting is over 1000 yards I would personally do 16 if you are running a suppressor more often than not. From what I have heard the MWS barrels are pretty over gassed so I doubt you will have any issues going that short.

I currently have a 18” 6.5 creedmoor that I run suppressed 90% of the time and I wish I went with a 16. With my 18 inch I go transonic around 1250 yards, same load with a 24 inch barrel goes transonic around 1370 yards so not losing too much. If most of your shooting is 1000 yards and in I wouldn’t worry about going too short.

Most shops should be able to do the job as long as they know how to get the mws gas block off.

 

[SoundFx]

Why? you are giving away free velocity for nothing. You may think it looks cool but you are reducing range, increasing drop, decreasing wind resistance and decreasing energy on target...............all the reasons to go with a 6.5CM in the first place.

Understandable question. Reason is that years ago I divested myself of .308. My AI's are all in 6.5CM and that's just what I shoot in place of .308. Plus, I'm not a good large frame gas gun shooter. I kinda suck at it. This setup will be for 1k yards and in. One of my AIAT barrels is 18", and I love it. The velocity difference is negligible for my purposes.

If I want more range in the future, I'll just buy another LMT barrel (if they ever show up again!).

 

[GUNNER10]

While I am generally a fan of shorter barrels, especially in areas in which find a max range shots are not likely to be taken, for example, in the Hills of WV, I think you may be in uncharted territory here . I spoke with one of the LMT reps a while back and they said they were working on a shorter 6.5 barrel but had no potential release dates, not sure what ever came of that, I know Kac is playing around with some shorter 6.5's as well.

If was going to have my 6.5 barrel cut back I would probably send it to Dave Wilson, He seems to do a lot of LMT barrel work

 

[SoundFx]

While I am generally a fan of shorter barrels, especially in areas in which find a max range shots are not likely to be taken, for example, in the Hills of WV, I think you may be in uncharted territory here . I spoke with one of the LMT reps a while back and they said they were working on a shorter 6.5 barrel but had no potential release dates, not sure what ever came of that, I know Kac is playing around with some shorter 6.5's as well.

If was going to have my 6.5 barrel cut back I would probably send it to Dave Wilson, He seems to do a lot of LMT barrel work

Excellent info. Thank you for that. I’ll try and contact Dave Wilson and see if he’s got a suggestion. I too had read about KAC experimenting with short 6.5’s but haven’t seen a conclusion of how it worked out. I’ll report back here if Dave relays some advice.
Thanks again,
Sfx