Im chopping my barrels... length?

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I am having my 223 and 308 barrels chopped to fit a 4-5" suppressor.

My use is 90% 300 yards and 10% 600 yards. And 100% with suppressor.
223 has 1-8 twist..

I was considering 16"... but 18" seems more the norm around here.

Dont know why I have aversion against 17".. :)
 
I like 20" barrels for my .308s and .223s in bolt guns.
I know folks like to go as short as 16 for the 308 but I figure since it's the fat, slow kid on the team I'd just as soon help it out a bit.
I would definitely consider 18 for the .223 though. Hard to argue with the success of the mk12 running an 18 inch barrel. I sort of fall back on the whole thing where the 5.56 was designed around a 20 inch barrel.
 
I just spent a month agonizing over whether to cut my .308 to 16” or 18”... then I just said fuck it and put a 20” Proof CF on. I couldn’t stomach giving up more velocity. I think 20” plus a can is still plenty short.
 
What's more important, the extra couple inches of portability, or the extra fps on target? If you're gonna be in confined areas with not so tough targets, cut away. Probably won't hurt as much with the .308 anyhow as it will carry more energy downrange. The 5.56/223 though, that's pretty velocity dependent...

My .223 bolt gun has a 16" barrel, but I know I ain't shooting at anything over 300. Most likely not over 200. Not with that one. It's only 1/9 twist and can't shoot heavy bullets anyway. I chose the smaller size, and weight knowing I'd be limited in engagement distance.
 
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I am doing a rem700 223 1:12 twist and need to decide on a length also. Was thinking 16.5 as one should still get 3200 with 40's and 30 somethings will be higher. Mines just for fun and gophers
 
What's more important, the extra couple inches of portability, or the extra fps on target? If you're gonna be in confined areas with not so tough targets, cut away. Probably won't hurt as much with the .308 anyhow as it will carry more energy downrange. The 5.56/223 though, that's pretty velocity dependent...

My .223 bolt gun has a 16" barrel, but I know I ain't shooting at anything over 300. Most likely not over 200. Not with that one. It's only 1/9 twist and can't shoot heavy bullets anyway. I chose the smaller size, and weight knowing I'd be limited in engagement distance.

I had a .223 with 1:9 twist barrel 16.5" long. I used the 69 TMK. They were awesome on varmints and I could easily hit targets at 600 yards. I killed a coyote at 615 yards with it.
 
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As I've started shooting everything with a can, I've come to strongly prefer shorter barrels. The handling is massively improved and for hunting rifles, I don't find that I've had to give up much that matters. As you stretch range out to the extremes where 100 fps becomes the difference between dropping into the transonic zone or not, or if you're competitive in PRS type shooting, longer barrels have an advantage that matters. For normal hunting or general purpose use or whacking steel 90% within 300yds and 10% out to 600 yds....?

Here are what my working loads for some of my shorter rifles have chrono'd at:

20" 6.5 CM:
127gr LRX @2,850 fps
140gr BT @ 2,700 fps
142gr ABLR @ 2,730 fps

20" .308 Win:
178gr ELDx @ 2,595 fps

18.5" .308 Win:
150gr IL @ ~2,750 fps

16" .308 Win:
168gr BT @ 2,600 fps
178gr Amax @ 2,510

18.5" .30-06:
165gr SBT @ ~2,800 fps
180gr AB @ 2,690 fps
190gr ABLR @ 2,635 fps

16" 6.5 Grendel:
120gr GD @ 2,420 fps
123gr SST @ 2,430 fps
129gr IL @ 2,330 fps

If I was competitively shooting at 600yds, I wouldn't choose a .308 of any length, but mostly inside of that range, and predominately for fun, I'm not sure what the 16"-18" barrel lengths won't accomplish.
 
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I am having my 223 and 308 barrels chopped to fit a 4-5" suppressor.

My use is 90% 300 yards and 10% 600 yards. And 100% with suppressor.
223 has 1-8 twist..

I was considering 16"... but 18" seems more the norm around here.

Dont know why I have aversion against 17".. :)
This might help a little I've been cutting barrels short for a very longgg time...

Mike R.
 
One thing to note is that .308 tends to lend its self better to shorter barrels. It doesn't rely on velocity as much for its energy, and due to its larger surface area for the gas to work on, the gas imparts more force. This means it gets up to speed quicker.

So a 6.5cm will give up more than a .308 as you chop, and a 6cm will give up more than a 6.5

Edit: just to clarify, say you go from 22 to 20 inches, or whatever. The .308 will loose less velocity than a 6 will.
 
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As I've started shooting everything with a can, I've come to strongly prefer shorter barrels. The handling of massively improved and for hunting rifles, I don't find that I've had to give up much that matters. As you stretch range out to the extremes where 100 fps becomes the difference between dropping into the transonic zone or not, or if you're competitive in PRS type shooting, longer barrels have an advantage that matters. For normal hunting or general purpose use or whacking steel 90% within 300yds and 10% out to 600 yds....?

Here are what my working loads for some of my shorter rifles have chrono'd at:

20" 6.5 CM:
127gr LRX @2,850 fps
140gr BT @ 2,700 fps
142gr ABLR @ 2,730 fps

20" .308 Win:
178gr ELDx @ 2,595 fps

18.5" .308 Win:
150gr IL @ ~2,750 fps

16" .308 Win:
168gr BT @ 2,600 fps
178gr Amax @ 2,510

18.5" .30-06:
165gr SBT @ ~2,800 fps
180gr AB @ 2,690 fps
190gr ABLR @ 2,635 fps

16" 6.5 Grendel:
120gr GD @ 2,420 fps
123gr SST @ 2,430 fps
129gr IL @ 2,330 fps

If I was competitively shooting at 600yds, I wouldn't choose a .308 of any length, but mostly inside of that range, and predominately for fun, I'm not sure what the 16"-18" barrel lengths won't accomplish.
Wow, thats some good velocity for your 6.5 for a 20" barrel. I'm running a 20" on my Tikka CTR and with the brass pretty damn full of H4350 I'm only getting 2700fps for 129ABLR's and 130 Gamechangers. What powder are you using? Thanks.
 
For some reason or other, I really can't get behind cutting barrels down.

My view is, if thy barrel length offends thee, don't cut it off; get a new one in the preferred length and mount it up.

The thing about bright ideas is that they often dim away to nothing all too quickly. The day may come when you want that old barrel back the way it was; and once cut, it's gone for good.

So much easier, and maybe practical, too, to have both configurations onhand.

When you ditch a barrel configuration, you also ditch all that load development work you put into it.

Greg
 
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The thing about bright ideas is that they often dim away to nothing all too quickly. The day may come when you want that old barrel back the way it was; and once cut, it's gone for good.
Goes to show everyone has a different outlook. I have judy chopped every rifle I've ever purchased, and have never had any regrets.

Aside from gun games (that I don't play,) average Joe Bubba gets all the work done 600 yards and in. Can't help anyone on the 223, but you can murder any animal you'd like with a 16" 308, especially if it's 90% at 300 yards.
 
Wow, thats some good velocity for your 6.5 for a 20" barrel. I'm running a 20" on my Tikka CTR and with the brass pretty damn full of H4350 I'm only getting 2700fps for 129ABLR's and 130 Gamechangers. What powder are you using? Thanks.

Reloder 16, 43.5gr under the 127grLRX, 42.2 under the 140gr BT, and 43 under the 142gr ABLR. I used to use H4350, until it all disappeared the first time, but in general I get better velocities and the same accuracy now out of RL16.

I chronoed some of the same ammo out of my 18" Sig Cross, and got the following velocities:

127gr LRX @ 2,742 fps
142gr ABLR @ 2,680 fps

It shot well on the Sig, different barrels and barrel lengths, interesting that the Sig was ~100 fps slower with the 127gr, but only ~50 fps slower with the 142gr.

RL26 gave me crazy velocities, without apparent pressure signs, but has been basically gone for a few years. I'm working up some 6.5 StaBall loads now, and it looks to be similar to RL16, but maybe a hair slower.
 
Reloder 16, 43.5gr under the 127grLRX, 42.2 under the 140gr BT, and 43 under the 142gr ABLR. I used to use H4350, until it all disappeared the first time, but in general I get better velocities and the same accuracy now out of RL16.

I chronoed some of the same ammo out of my 18" Sig Cross, and got the following velocities:

127gr LRX @ 2,742 fps
142gr ABLR @ 2,680 fps

It shot well on the Sig, different barrels and barrel lengths, interesting that the Sig was ~100 fps slower with the 127gr, but only ~50 fps slower with the 142gr.

RL26 gave me crazy velocities, without apparent pressure signs, but has been basically gone for a few years. I'm working up some 6.5 StaBall loads now, and it looks to be similar to RL16, but maybe a hair slower.
Right on. I've got a ton of RL26 and StaBall 6.5. 4 pounds of RL16 and about 3 pounds of H4350 so I've got some to play with. I might have to try the RL16 instead of H4350 for my 6.5. But I'd like to get good velocity from the StaBall cuz I've got 9 pounds of it. I'm also using that stuff in my 280AI for some 140TTSX's. Getting good velocity with those. Haven't settled on a node yet though.
 
Wow, thats some good velocity for your 6.5 for a 20" barrel. I'm running a 20" on my Tikka CTR and with the brass pretty damn full of H4350 I'm only getting 2700fps for 129ABLR's and 130 Gamechangers. What powder are you using? Thanks.
Ive got a 24" CTR, he's putting up the same numbers I am. A 140 ELDM and 140 gold dot both kicken around 2700fps +/-

Im rebarreling to a fluted 20" IBI 5R barrel eventually and doubt I loose anything velocity wise over the factory barrel
 
Ive got a 24" CTR, he's putting up the same numbers I am. A 140 ELDM and 140 gold dot both kicken around 2700fps +/-

Im rebarreling to a fluted 20" IBI 5R barrel eventually and doubt I loose anything velocity wise over the factory barrel
Yeah, Tikka's have pretty slow barrels from everything I've heard about them. I get exquisite accuracy out of it though. I tried running Berger 140 Elite Hunters and I could only get 2500fps out of them. I went with the 129ABLR's for hunting and they work very well. I just wont' shoot at anything with them past 400 meters. They get fairly anemic past there energy wise.
 
Yeah, Tikka's have pretty slow barrels from everything I've heard about them. I get exquisite accuracy out of it though. I tried running Berger 140 Elite Hunters and I could only get 2500fps out of them. I went with the 129ABLR's for hunting and they work very well. I just wont' shoot at anything with them past 400 meters. They get fairly anemic past there energy wise.
Oh ya most days it shoots better than me, can do little bugholes at 100yds pretty easy, im sure it could hold an inpressive group at 600yds but the best i can do is keep it on the lower right quadrant of a 16" plate
 

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Oh ya most days it shoots better than me, can do little bugholes at 100yds pretty easy, im sure it could hold an inpressive group at 600yds but the best i can do is keep it on the lower right quadrant of a 16" plate
Absolutely. My Tikka has shot everything I've fed it under an MOA, most under 1/2 MOA. Except for the 95 gr VMAX's. It doesn't like those. I reload 129ABLR's and 130 Gamechangers for it and those will handle anything I need to shoot with it.
 

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Absolutely. My Tikka has shot everything I've fed it under an MOA, most under 1/2 MOA. Except for the 95 gr VMAX's. It doesn't like those. I reload 129ABLR's and 130 Gamechangers for it and those will handle anything I need to shoot with it.
Im almost to the point I'm gonna shove whatever bullet I can find into a case lol. Definitely a pretty anemic speed on those 140s though. Some quick math I did up a while back pretty much convinced me that realistically anything that is shot at inside of 600yds can be done as easily with a 120 grain bullet zippin along or with a 140 grain movin a couple 100 fps slower. But those are just number crunching theoretics.

How are you liking the magpul bipod? Ive been looking at replacing my caldwell cheapo with one and maybe for a couple AR10 uppers?
 

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I am having my 223 and 308 barrels chopped to fit a 4-5" suppressor.

My use is 90% 300 yards and 10% 600 yards. And 100% with suppressor.
223 has 1-8 twist..

I was considering 16"... but 18" seems more the norm around here.

Dont know why I have aversion against 17".. :)
Based on the proven performance of the TacOps rifles in 308 and the article on the 700P tune-up TacOps did, I had my Remington 700 SPS-V's barrel cut down to 20". But even more important than cutting the length was setting back the barrel and re-chamber with an M852 for the finisher. Guy who did it said he removed a full 1/4" from the barrel back end to get rid of enough of the Remington chamber to be able to rough the new one in concentric to the bore. He said the original was 0.006" out. Before, that barrel shot about 3/4 moa at best, with 168s and 175s. After, it was a sub-1/2moa rifle. And yes, it was a standard Remington 1:12" Varmint-weight barrel.
 
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Im almost to the point I'm gonna shove whatever bullet I can find into a case lol. Definitely a pretty anemic speed on those 140s though. Some quick math I did up a while back pretty much convinced me that realistically anything that is shot at inside of 600yds can be done as easily with a 120 grain bullet zippin along or with a 140 grain movin a couple 100 fps slower. But those are just number crunching theoretics.

How are you liking the magpul bipod? Ive been looking at replacing my caldwell cheapo with one and maybe for a couple AR10 uppers?
I'm liking the magpul bipod a lot. I haven't abused it or used it really hard but it's holding up very well. I have it on a Midwest Industries QD mount so I swap it between this rifle, a Bergara Premier 300PRC, and a MK12 SPR build I did. It works very well with all of them. Yeah, your calculations are about right. Until like 600 yards the 140's don't make up for the extra speed you get with 129's and 130's out the gate. The deer I shot a few months ago with it didn't know the difference between a 129 and a 140. It died on the spot.
 
Check this if you haven't seen it...




I set a rifle up for my son with a 16.5 inch 6.5CM

I ended up shooting a buck with it about 70 yards away....factory 129grain American Whitetail Interlock.......good exit....blood trail and deer barely ran. I haven't extended the range yet but I will soon.

If you run suppressors.....you will LOVE shorty barrels. I am hooked! I have a 26 inch 6.5cm on my bolt gun and with a 9 inch can on it even though it's in an APO folder chassis it's a bit much for hunting.

I have a .223.barrel I had @toygunner chop like he did on my son's 6.5CM that I'll be swapping on soon.

If you get in and out of ATV's, stands, blinds and huts......having a short barrel is a MUST in my book. My 26 inch 6.5cm with 9 inch can is literally too big to use in one of our shooting huts (18 inch SPR style AR15 with same 9 inch can is barely usable)

My son's rig got me so hooked on short barrels I went REALLY unconventional on the barrel for my AR10 I'm building........16 inch Wilson Combat 6.5CM. I am getting into hunting at night, have reloading stuff for 6.5CM and wanted to try something different. I also have a law gen3 folder for this AR10 build to help with being compact.

I say try a 16 inch out and see how you like it. If you reload there's all sorts of ways to get some speed back.

At the distances you listed.......don't think any more about it....go for the shorty 👍👍😎
 
Check this if you haven't seen it...




I set a rifle up for my son with a 16.5 inch 6.5CM

I ended up shooting a buck with it about 70 yards away....factory 129grain American Whitetail Interlock.......good exit....blood trail and deer barely ran. I haven't extended the range yet but I will soon.

If you run suppressors.....you will LOVE shorty barrels. I am hooked! I have a 26 inch 6.5cm on my bolt gun and with a 9 inch can on it even though it's in an APO folder chassis it's a bit much for hunting.

I have a .223.barrel I had @toygunner chop like he did on my son's 6.5CM that I'll be swapping on soon.

If you get in and out of ATV's, stands, blinds and huts......having a short barrel is a MUST in my book. My 26 inch 6.5cm with 9 inch can is literally too big to use in one of our shooting huts (18 inch SPR style AR15 with same 9 inch can is barely usable)

My son's rig got me so hooked on short barrels I went REALLY unconventional on the barrel for my AR10 I'm building........16 inch Wilson Combat 6.5CM. I am getting into hunting at night, have reloading stuff for 6.5CM and wanted to try something different. I also have a law gen3 folder for this AR10 build to help with being compact.

I say try a 16 inch out and see how you like it. If you reload there's all sorts of ways to get some speed back.

At the distances you listed.......don't think any more about it....go for the shorty 👍👍😎

I used a faxon big gunner 16" 6.5CM barrel in the upper I built. Its a 5R barrel and it averaged about 150fps slower from my 24" tikka across a few different loads. I really like the setup with an OSS 762 QD hangin off it. Pretty comfortable and easy to shoot. That Faxon barrel isnt a tack driver though, but still useable and seems to have a perceived (not measured or documented) accuracy increase with a can hangin on it. Short barrels are where its at unless a purpose built rifle has to have a longer barrel.
 
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Short barrel rifles are nice, they're maneuverable and are potentially every bit as accurate as a longer barreled rifle however you sacrifice some energy with the loss of velocity. I've got a 20" 6.5 and i really wish I could get some more speed out of it but its just not a fast barrel. It's plenty accurate though. But it does limit the effective range for ethical hunting with it.
 
Short barrel rifles are nice, they're maneuverable and are potentially every bit as accurate as a longer barreled rifle however you sacrifice some energy with the loss of velocity. I've got a 20" 6.5 and i really wish I could get some more speed out of it but its just not a fast barrel. It's plenty accurate though. But it does limit the effective range for ethical hunting with it.

Depends on how far out you're wanting to shoot game I guess, but I've never found a shorter barrel to be my limiting factor. That said, I'm not a long range hunter, the longest shots I've made on game (not counting PDs) was 375 yds on an elk with a 20" 6.5 CM, and 320 yds on an elk with an 18.5" 30-06, pretty much everything else has been under 300 yds.

Played with 6.5 Staball some more last weekend with 140gr Gold Dots. More work to be done (maybe also on my weak bipod fu), but I think Staball is going to work out well, with GDs anyway, didn't care for 142gr ABLRs.
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Are you jumping out of planes or setting hides up inside of houses? Do you have trouble manuvering inside armored vechicles or getting in and out of a bird.

Zero reason to cuck the velocity on a bolt gun.

No, but I run suppressors on everything. The difference in handling when hunting, from cutting the overall length down is way more noticeable and value added to me than 150 fps.
 
I hunt the mountains out here in the west and virtually no one uses a can. Its added weight and length not to mention more recoil that a quality brake shooting large cals at big game.

Hunt the east out of treestands. Again no real advantage to hunting with a can unless you are doing predator hunting.
 
I'm picturing half these guys here with 32" barrels and loading to absolute max pressures because they're scared of leaving any velocity at all on the table.

In reality as long as you have enough velocity at impact for your bullet to perform properly there's no real loss having to dial an extra couple of clicks of elevation for a slower bullet from a shorter barrel, and as many who are brave enough to take the plunge have discovered the handling characteristics and "shootability" of the rifle really do improve.
 
Thats just silly hyperbole.

Most here know the pressure and velocity curves for various barrel lengths. Up to the point of diminishing returns its silly to hamstring a gun by stealing velocity.

Hunting is UKD shooting. Want to increase your hit probability? Shoot a flatter round. Want to increase likelyhood of a quick/clean kill? Shot placement and energy.

Lobbing mortars is not going to increase your hit probability, especially in less than optimal conditions or where you make a poor shot.

These are things that should not have to be explained.
 
I hunt the mountains out here in the west and virtually no one uses a can. Its added weight and length not to mention more recoil that a quality brake shooting large cals at big game.

Hunt the east out of treestands. Again no real advantage to hunting with a can unless you are doing predator hunting.

If you've tried it and don't like it, don't use one. I've hunted both east and west as well, with and without cans, and all my hunting is with cans now. The benefits to me are that they preserve my hearing, disturb game less, don't ring my bell at the shot and allow me to stay on game through the impact and also hear good impacts clearly. Brakes are terrible for hunting, one mistake in leaving out your ear pro and you've done significant damage, I don't even use them much at the range anymore.

Also, if you're concerned about weight use a light can, my Kimber Montana is 7lb 1oz with scope, sling and Ti can. My X-Bolt was heavier at a little under 9 lbs all up. Both have been fine for me hunting my preferred areas in WY where I usually average 7-12 miles a day.
 
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Thats just silly hyperbole.

Most here know the pressure and velocity curves for various barrel lengths. Up to the point of diminishing returns its silly to hamstring a gun by stealing velocity.

Hunting is UKD shooting. Want to increase your hit probability? Shoot a flatter round. Want to increase likelyhood of a quick/clean kill? Shot placement and energy.

Lobbing mortars is not going to increase your hit probability, especially in less than optimal conditions or where you make a poor shot.

These are things that should not have to be explained.

What's that about silly hyperbole? Lol. So now no one uses range finders or cans? Can't say that's been my experience, I've never had a single longer range shot where a normal .308-ish trajectory would have been a handicap at all, where I didn't have time to use my range finder.
 
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Thats just silly hyperbole.

Most here know the pressure and velocity curves for various barrel lengths. Up to the point of diminishing returns its silly to hamstring a gun by stealing velocity.

Hunting is UKD shooting. Want to increase your hit probability? Shoot a flatter round. Want to increase likelyhood of a quick/clean kill? Shot placement and energy.

Lobbing mortars is not going to increase your hit probability, especially in less than optimal conditions or where you make a poor shot.

These are things that should not have to be explained.
Talk about silly hyperbole. Consider a 6.5Creed shooting a 129 ABLR at 2850fps, a perfectly reasonably load. Now take the same bullet and shoot it from a 16" barrel and you're gonna see about 2700fps. We've got a deer 400 yards away and we're zeroed for 100 yards. This is a reasonable distance and a totally normal zero. (I'm not cherry picking some fringe case stuff here, this is all totally normal stuff)

"Lobbing mortars" as you put it is actually a difference of .2 mils of elevation and .1 mil of wind in a 10mph crosswind. If you prefer to think in inches you're seeing about 4 inches extra drop at 400 yards and not even 1 inch more wind drift.
 
Talk about silly hyperbole. Consider a 6.5Creed shooting a 129 ABLR at 2850fps, a perfectly reasonably load. Now take the same bullet and shoot it from a 16" barrel and you're gonna see about 2700fps. We've got a deer 400 yards away and we're zeroed for 100 yards. This is a reasonable distance and a totally normal zero. (I'm not cherry picking some fringe case stuff here, this is all totally normal stuff)

"Lobbing mortars" as you put it is actually a difference of .2 mils of elevation and .1 mil of wind in a 10mph crosswind. If you prefer to think in inches you're seeing about 4 inches extra drop at 400 yards and not even 1 inch more wind drift.
Your numbers are off. Im sending a 130 hybrid at just shy of 3025 out of a 24" 6.5cm with RL26.

Use better powders......slower powder = greater velocity drop from shorter barrels. Use shitty weak powders and you see less difference.

300fps is a huge difference at longer ranges.
 
Your numbers are off. Im sending a 130 hybrid at just shy of 3025 out of a 24" 6.5cm with RL26.

Use better powders......slower powder = greater velocity drop from shorter barrels. Use shitty weak powders and you see less difference.

300fps is a huge difference at longer ranges.
Obviously (though it seems the obvious easily escapes you based on a number of your posts) that load would be similarly faster in the short barrel compared to my generic load I gave for comparison purposes. Your load would surely be much faster than 2700 out of a shorter barrel, so your "300fps" number you made up is totally invalid.

On a side note, other than continuing this discussion with you purely for the entertainment factor I think it's crystal-clear that everyone here knows you're just flailing around spouting ridiculous stuff and nothing you're saying is being taken seriously.