OCD check who has odd length barrel?

[Anchor Zero Six]

So I know what I should do but my OCD is is not letting me do it. Have an AI AE with that 1 lb mushroom head brake on the end and I cant stand it. Since the barrel is stepped down and in the white where the brake goes choices are limited in options.

Can have entire barreled action recoated maybe in a color beside black and add a smaller brake.

Can cut barrel back and re-thread with normal thread pitch and here is the issue. could cut the 24" (6.5CM btw) to 23" and be fine but the notion of not having an even number length just seems weird. 22" on a 6.5 seems like a waste so 23" makes more sense on paper at least.

Is it just me or does stuff like this bother anyone else?

If I could find the AI single chamber brake I wouldnt be having this issue...

 

[Bradu]

I have a couple 16.5" barrels and a 17" barrel. You aren't giving up much if you do go to the 22" barrel over a 23" so I wouldn't worry either way.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Figure about 20-25 fps which isnt anything to be concerned with...its the odd number thing. Like when you sort jelly beans by color and some jerk throws an odd one in.

 

[wareagle700]

I've had a 25" .260 and currently have a 17" 308. I like the odd numbers.

 

[Pusher591]

I always run odd lengths. 17.5" 23" and 25". I do this because I usually run brakes and after threading and blending of the brake they come out to an even overall length.

 

[MJB13SRT8]

for the last 10 years all my 300wm have had 27" barrels on them.

Montrose

 

[JMGlasgow]

My Creedmoor has a 23" barrel. I couldn't decide on 24" or 22", so I compromised on 23". Still get just over 2800fps too.

 

[PistoleroJesse]

You are wasting time if you spent more than 10 minutes on deciding if you want it lighter or faster by thinking cosmetics.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Cosmetics has little to nothing to do with it other than there being white metal and a very sharp right angle at shoulder that begs to be gouged.

This was more of a fun post to see how many folks only think in terms of 16,18,20,22,24,26,28.

I feel if you are willing to go 23 might as well shave a few more oz to go to 22.

 

[Niles Coyote]

Just to throw a wrench into your conundrum, there is a benchrest article floating around that espouses the ideal length for best group size is 21.75"...

 

[samb300]

I did this exact same thing with my factory 24" 308 barrel. It was either 23.25" to cut off the minimum bare metal from the factory brake, or go down to 21" (or less) to get past the wrench flats. I know everyone likes shorty 308s, but since my 308 barrel will be my practice barrel, I went with 23.25" in order to keep the length/weight/balance as close as possible to my 6.5x47L match barrel (which is 24"). It didn't make sense to me to have a short (and "handy" LOL) 308 barrel that didn't balance the same on barricades or positional shooting as my match barrel.

 

[bogeybrown]

My Creedmoor has a 23" barrel. I couldn't decide on 24" or 22", so I compromised on 23". Still get just over 2800fps too.

This shit right here. When I was having this conversation with Marc at Spartan we went back and forth between 22" and 24" to the point it was funny, so we finally said fuckit and went with 23"

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

This shit right here. When I was having this conversation with Marc at Spartan we went back and forth between 22" and 24" to the point it was funny, so we finally said fuckit and went with 23"

LOL yep thats where I'm at with it but as absolutely dumb as it sounds the idea of having an odd length barrel feels dirty and wrong and not in a good way.

 

[dirthead1]

25" Krieger on my 7MM Rem Mag. If I were to do a custom 6.5 CM, I would go 23" for sure.

 

[knockemdown]

My 6x47L barrel is 23"

22-243AI is 27"

 

[bogeybrown]

LOL yep thats where I'm at with it but as absolutely dumb as it sounds the idea of having an odd length barrel feels dirty and wrong and not in a good way.

Oh I know, it's weird how our minds get hung up on it. My "issue" was that 24" seemed too long for me and my love of shorter rifles but it seeemd dumb to handicap a 6.5 with too short of a barrel. In reality the difference between 22,23,24 is probably negligible, but once you get to this level of obsession we've left reality in the rearview a long time ago.
If some asshole on the Hide wrote a scholarly article indicating that 25.375" was the magic barrel length, I'd probably build one and then freak out because it would be the longest barrel I owned.

 

[Tnc]

Picking up my new 6.5 from the smith today. Finished at 19".

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

but once you get to this level of obsession we've left reality in the rearview a long time ago.

LOL debating making this my sig line!

 

[Gerry McGinnis]

I only build odd length barrels. 19, 21, 23, 25. Chop it to whatever you want, 22 or 23, won't make a difference.

 

[loudandproud]

I have a 23" 260 match rifle... a 23" 300 win mag hunting rifle, and a soon to be 23" .223AI trainer.

 

[Marksman]

The last few rifles I've had built I've asked the smith to leave the barrels as long as they were comfortable with, I couldn't care less about the length ending in a nice round number.

 

[CoryT]

You could always measure it in centimeters, or angstroms, or some other unit that got you an even number.

 

[Dai Bando]

Why not shave off just enough barrel to make the entire rifle weight an even number?

If you were 5'11" would it fuck you up this bad?

What if you turned 30 years old in 2017?

This is some seriously stupid shit man. Jelly Beans?

 

[Oregonmuley]

I only build odd length barrels. 19, 21, 23, 25. Chop it to whatever you want, 22 or 23, won't make a difference.

+1, I don't think I have one that isn't odd I've got several finished @ 23" and several finished @ 22.5". They all seem to shoot just fine!!

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Why not shave off just enough barrel to make the entire rifle weight an even number?

If you were 5'11" would it fuck you up this bad?

What if you turned 30 years old in 2017?

This is some seriously stupid shit man. Jelly Beans?

Now why did you go and say that...now I need a scale.

Lighten up its a tongue and cheek post. And yes I actualy do have clinical OCD. Not dibilitating but I does come into play. Benificial in my work in engineering and project management.

Elected to go with 24" total length with brake. So that means around 22.25 actual barrel. Have not measured brake yet but doubt it will be an even number.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

I feel you OP, I got some OCD pretty bad too. Except for me its serial numbers, and bolt/barrel fluting direction.
I'm not sure if it's already been suggested, but you could get a muzzle brake that's an odd number length long, then when you put it on a 23 inch barrel, it becomes an even number in total lol.
Otherwise, 22 inches ain't he end of the world. My friend's JP Precision AR has a 22 inch and its crazy good at range.

 

[mrbig]

I have a Tac 30 action with a 27 inch 8 twist Krieger HV chambered in 243 Win in an AI 1.5 chassis that is the most fun steel plate banging rifle I ever shot,,with the 105 VLD-H Bergers at 3200 fps it will make first round hits alot farther than I ever dreamed of when having it put together,,,,I do think my next bbl will be 7.5 twist and 23" medium palma in 6mm Creedmoor,,
at 17+ pounds the 27 inch HV is a handful up off the Atlas bipod,,the 8-32 Sightron and AI 1.5 chassis arent light by any means either though,,

the 21 3/4 inch bbl length comes from the Houston Warehouse indoor shooting range mythical BS..

 

[Sendit6.5]

Just to throw a wrench into your conundrum, there is a benchrest article floating around that espouses the ideal length for best group size is 21.75"...

Secrets of the Houston warehouse - that's the story you're talking about.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/max357/houston.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mrbig]

Secrets of the Houston warehouse - that's the story you're talking about.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/max357/houston.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cant leave out the concrete filled bags and Rem bullets

 

[lash]

Great thread to read for fun. I know that each of my .260 barrels have been 26" barrels, but I have measured them when bored and there is no magic even measurement there. I know that they shoot well and that's what does it for me.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Oh Im rather certain there is wiggle room in stated vs actual barrel lengths.

I have measured barrels I have removed while doing rebarrel jobs very few were dead nutz on. The ones I did I measured off the lathe but those were primarily personal builds...and we already discussed my issues

 

[thejeep]

Where are you measuring from: breech or the lug?

 

[mrbig]

I think the legal length is from the bolt face to the mzl,,

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Opinions may differ here but I consider the ATF to be the "official" judge so I used their standard.

 

[mrbig]

Opinions may differ here but I consider the ATF to be the "official" judge so I used their standard.

after looking up the ATF standard I was pretty close,,

from the ATF FAQ

The ATF procedure for measuring barrel length is to measure from the closed bolt (or breech-face) to the furthermost end of the barrel or permanently attached muzzle device. Permanent methods of attachment include full-fusion gas or electric steel-seam welding, high-temperature (1100°F) silver soldering, or blind pinning with the pin head welded over. Barrels are measured by inserting a dowel rod into the barrel until the rod stops against the bolt or breech-face. The rod is then marked at the furthermost end of the barrel or permanently attached muzzle device, withdrawn from the barrel, and measured.

 

[BravoSierra]

for the last 10 years all my 300wm have had 27" barrels on them.

Montrose

Mine is 27" too. I like odd numbers better. Im just ocd like that.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

This is reminiscent of the left and right Twix comercials. Bunch of odd number weirdos on here lol.

 

[mrbig]

69 is one of my all time favorite numbers

 

[supercorndogs]

This shit right here. When I was having this conversation with Marc at Spartan we went back and forth between 22" and 24" to the point it was funny, so we finally said fuckit and went with 23"

LOL. Different people, but exactly how I ended up with a 23" 308.

 

[thejeep]

Noise needs an odd setting. Temperature an even. 25" here.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Well guys I ended up with a 21" barrel...and it still shoots whoda thunk it!

 

[sierracharlie338]

Noise needs an odd setting. Temperature an even. 25" here.

Is that a reference to number 11 on an amplifier? or am I a dork......

 

[thejeep]

Volume on the radio.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

Noise needs an odd setting. Temperature an even. 25" here.

Ah! Yup. In my car, or on the home TV, volume needs to be an odd number, especially multiples of five. But setting the thermostat, it's gotta be an even number! Haha XD

 

[PistoleroJesse]

Cosmetics has little to nothing to do with it other than there being white metal and a very sharp right angle at shoulder that begs to be gouged.

This was more of a fun post to see how many folks only think in terms of 16,18,20,22,24,26,28.

I feel if you are willing to go 23 might as well shave a few more oz to go to 22.

If one were to go super ocd, one would insist on making the barrel length evenly devisible by the twist rate + the distance from the breech face to the lands. Of course this ocd person would only get about 1000 rounds out of a barrel before they wore too much and they'd send away for another barrel.

 

[Supersubes]

I did a muzzle thread/brake install with a thread protector the other day. The barrel came out to 21.25". So as not to screw with the customers OCD, I balanced it all out with even numbered angles on the crown and thread protector. The shooters Chi remains intact, and the gun shoots well. Disaster averted! Besides, why have an 11 deg crown when you can have a 12!