Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 20" Barrel for a 6.5X55?

Lipsey's is getting ready to do a run of 6.5X55 Left Handed Ruger Hawkeyes. THey are going to be 20" with Iron Sights. Is that short of a barrel OK on a swede? I wish they were 22" with no sights, but they will be LH so, what the hell. What do you think?

My Sako is 23", FWIW.

Velocity and effectiveness will be fine but for me the 20" barrel is a deal breaker.

Just prefer longer barrels.

Sounds like a good deal to me. Will be fine assuming it's not gonna be your bean field rifle.

Even still, you are only giving up +/- 30 fps per inch of tube.

As a guy who hunts in the North East, I'd not feel handicapped at all by a 20" tube.

My present 6.5x55 is a custom rifle with a 21" barrel, and it's easy to get 2900+ with 120's and 2700+ with 140's using published data.

I realize those sorts of velocities aren't enough to kill anything, but they do punch nice holes in paper out to several hundred yards.

Yup, I'd trade it for a 24" .270WCF.

Some people are going to take you seriously.

I generally don't like anything less than 22", but there will not be much velocity loss with 2" less.

Personally I`d prefer a longer sight radius, but to be honest these eyes can`t see much past 20" anyway.

doubletap,

Yeah, they will, but I don't worry about their problems!

I don't like shorter barrels for the increased noise more than anything.

JB;
I hope this finds you and yours well on this Fourth of July weekend.

Thanks for the laugh on the line quoted JB, I do enjoy your dry sense of humor immensely.

As many here know, our eldest shoots a much modified 1903 vintage '96 Swede with a 20" barrel. We don't even get close to the speeds you've posted - out of respect for the senior citizen that her rifle is.

She doesn't really seem to like shooting targets much with hers though so I can't even comment on punching holes in paper.

All the best to you and yours this Fourth of July JB and thanks again for the chuckle this fine summer night.

Dwayne

PS.
Ngrumba;
In the spirit of full disclosure, our eldest daughter's rifle was passed on to her by my late father. They both used it to kill a bunch of local mule and whitetail deer.

You know, I can't recall ever seeing that thing needing to be shot a second time at a deer sized animal. Funny how that is with some rifles isn't it?

All the best to you and yours this Fourth of July Ngrumba.

Regards,
Dwayne

21", hmm? So, you turned down a 20" barrel as well...

We firearms afficionados are a fickle and capricious bunch, but that 20" just doesn't appeal to me either.

Don't know where Ruger came up with that, it would seem a 22" barrel with iron sights would have a wider appeal. Of course, in the left hand models, they make the Gun Site model, that 16.5" LH .308 with the black laminate stock and 10 round box mag. I know I've lain awake nights for many years dreaming of just such a rifle...

If they're going to offer left hand stuff (and at this time let me thank them sincerely for the left hand stuff they do offer), it seems like production resources might better be spent offering a couple of more calibers in the LH African model, like a 9.3X62 or some such.

I tend to favor longer barrels too, but....

The performance of ordinary bullets is pretty constant from impact speeds of about 2100 FPS to 2800 FPS. It doesn't matter what your impact speed is, as long as it is in that range.

Many premium bullets do better than that.

I'm not sure about your particular case, but that ought to be extremely effective out to 300 yards with a garden variety bullet.

Funny, I usually make mine 20 5/8".... Don't know why, just to be different, I suppose...

Uh oh. I edited my post to correct "crapricious" but now you've immortalized it.

Oh well, we're capricious and probably crapricious as well...

I laughed when I read that for the first time.
Didn't know if it was a slip of the finger or intentional.

Jim,

OK! I fixed it! For once I never noticed the spelling OR the faux pas ...

But irregardless, I knew what you meant...

20" bbl wouldn't bother me.

I'd be more interested in the twist rate.

1/8 twist would be my preference because I'd want to be able to shoot the 140gr Berger, and 140gr AMax.

If you are a lefty who has always wanted a 6.5x55 to hunt with, jump on it.

If you want a rifle to take to the range, do load development, plink, etc, I'd veer away from a 20" barrel.

Just me.

Sycamore