Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7mm-08 with 24" Barrel

Anyone out there have a 7mm-08 with a 24" barrel?

I'm building a custom with a 24" Bartlein barrel and was wandering what kind of velocities I can expect from a 24" barrel with various bullet / powder combinations.

With 145 Gr Speer Hot Cor's on top of 48 gr of IMR4350 I've gotten ~2,850 FPS with 3 different 7mm-08's w/22" barrel. I'm guessing that with a 24" barrel I'll get somewhere around 2,900 FPS.

What has been your real world experiences?

Thanks
firstshot

Never used a 24" barrel in the 7mm-08. Always liked the sub 24" barrels in this caliber. I think that is where it shines, light and handy and met for hunting? Don't see the 2 inches of barrel for the meager gain? You could always split the difference and go with a 23"? (grin)

I primarilly hunt from elivated blinds in central texas, so the extra 2" will make little difference from a weight or handling aspect. However, if it doesn't balance & handle well, i'll probably have 2" cut off and get it recrowned.

I would expect, on average, about a 40 fps difference between 22" and 24" barrels. However, I have a 7-08 with a 22" barrel and have another with one that' has a 24" barrel. Velocities are virtually identical in the two so you never know.

BTW, I see no need for you to cut your barrel to 22". I'm betting you'll find the balance to be just fine. I actually like a 24" tube for blind hunting. Seems to make holding steady a little easier.

I"m getting 2950 out of a 24 inch bbl and 140 ttsx's. Varget is your friend here. Its a Lilja BBL and its balances well and it a dream to carry. 120'ttsx's make it even mo betta but the 140's will buck the wind better on the long stuff.

I've had many 7-08s from 18 to 24 inches. I currently have one 22 inch and one 24 inch. The 24 in barrel will usually do around 50fps more. It has less muzzle blast and is a joy to shoot for an extended period. Not a lot of difference from the 22in but a huge difference from the 20 and 18in barrel.

I usually shoot 150s or heavier from the 24in barrel and don't shoot anything heavier than 140 from the 22in or shorter.

That's great to hear guys. The 24" Barrel is sounding better and better. I think we will just call this thread "DONE" and I'll let you guys know how it goes when I get my rifle in and start load development.

Got another thread going on the 120 NBT's. I'm developing some interest in the 120's, both NBT and TTSX and would love to hear your thoughts in that thread.

Thanks again!
firstshot

140gr accubond;47.0gr RL19;3shot100yd 0.309" Mod7 18"

firstshot - Before you close out this thread...I'm waiting on a Vanguard w/the 24 inch barrel for just this reason. How much extra MV will it produce over my current 22 inch barrel. Please keep posting on your load development w/ 120 gr NBT / TTSX.
Homesteader.

You will get about 60-80 fps more velocity at 24" than at 22", just like the other gyus said.

My 20" bbl I'm getting 2900 fps with 140 accubond and I tried 120 Bt the other day with Cfe-223 and I'm getting 3200 fps so a 24" should be really nice.

If I were going to do a 24 inch barrel, I would just do a .280.

You sure can get more out of the longer barrel. But, why? Unless you are limited to one rifle the 7-08 shines as a handy, short action, short barrel tool for putting meat in the freezer. There are gobs of long action, long barrel and longer range weapons for those "reach out and touch something" days. Wringing the last 50 fps out of a cartidge is not always going to pay off in accuracy, any increase in PBR or FtLbs will be minimal. It is very unlikely the victim will be any more or less impressed with your effort.

Old Doe Shooter

I must admit that I am one of those "one gun" kind of guys. I'm building from a 700 short action and love the 7mm-08. Virtually 100% of my shots are under 300 Yds. I'm going to see how the new rifle balances and handles with the 24" barrel and if it doesn't work out, I'll chop it down to 22" and re-crown.

Thought about a 280, but I'm working with a short action receiver. Besides... I love the 7mm-08.

I'm running a 24" 7-08. 700XCR converted to ADL in a LVSF stock, TLW lows, VX3 4.5-14x40, and CSL assembly weighs in at 7lb 4oz. Balances well and the 24" doesn't bother me a bit as I hunt alot of 26" bbl LAs as well. Mine is no speed demon, but it's fairly accurate. My hunting load is a max dose of Varget pushing 120TTSXs at 3030fps.

loder

With tongue firmly planted in cheek..... he says.... WOW one gun... Is that even LEGAL in Texas?? It's unAmerican... no .30-30? no .30-06? no .308?? 7 Rem mag?? 300 whacamacallit? dang... Hang in there Bunky.... there is a whole nuther country beyond the 7-08... take a chance and explore!!!!

If one could make up most of the difference between a magnum and a standard caliber with a few inches of barrel length, wouldn't it be a prudent thing to do a 26" barrel and wind up with a pussycat with claws? People do it with magnums anyway...

Would a 24" or 26" bbl make most of the difference between a 7mm-08 Win and a .280 Remington?

LOL... well I guess that's not exactly true. I do have a couple of 22 rifles, a shotgun, and a couple of pistols. But I do like the 7mm-08 and it will take care of any game I hunt or likely will ever hunt.

You know the saying: Beware the man with one gun! :-)

philthygeezer

I'm not trying to bridge the gap between mag & std calibers at all. My Rem 700 Mountain LSS, which is the donor rifle for this custom build, had the little skiny barrel and a heavy laminated stock which made it a bit butt heavy. The custom build has a laminated stock as well, so I went with a little heavier contour barrel in 24" length trying to balance it out a little better. Although really not needed, any gain in velocity, if any, would just be a little bonus.

Reloader7RM

Good to hear that your 24" 7mm-08 is well balanced. Hopefully mine will be as well.