Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best short barrel caliber?

Of those, I like the 243 for varmint/yote chores with deer thrown into the mix. Mine is a Sako with 22" barrel and is plenty light having a trim contour that is well balanced with the entire package. Not sure I'd see any noticeable advantage in carry ability if I took it down to 20", I doubt I could feel a difference, other than change of the balance point. Only thing I could see would be if I needed to lose the extra 2" to maneuver, but at 22" it is still very handy in the brush.

If hell bent for leather to hit the 20" mark and was seeking the smallest loss in velocity of those, volume of the bore would probably be the trump card going to .308-inch. But then I'd be choosing a chambering for lack of velocity loss in a 20-inch barrel, not choosing a chambering for the chore of killing varmint/yotes.

Had a Ruger 77 RSI with the 18-1/2 inch barrel in .243 for years. I started my both of my daughters deer hunting with that rifle. We never found the muzzle blast to be any more objectionable than my '06s or .270s with 22-inch barrels. In addition to deer and pronghorns, we used it on varmints, including both coyotes and feral hogs, with no hiccups.

This 243 is used as a coyote rifle and has heavy QR rings to change scopes along with a QR mounting base for my professional LightPro system. All this added junk brings it to just over 7 pounds. But if it were set-up like my 30-06 using LW rings and a modest scope, it would weigh no more than around 6 3/4 pounds. I've shot groups from the bench at 200 yards with as many as 10-shot strings under MOA, so performance at 22-inch is not lacking. It is very handy and I have carried this rifle many miles running from set-up to set-up gunning for yotes. I chose this chambering over .223 for the single reason that I hunt in some locations that forbid .223 for deer. Recoil is markedly reduced over the other chamberings you noted, and terminal performance is exceptional, even on deer.

Food for thought.

All of them lose a lot less than most think. I've looked at a lot of studies and everything from 308 up to the 30 cal and 7mm magnums "AVERAGE" somewhere between 10-30 fps for every inch you cut it shorter. Between 20" and 24" with most guns the difference is negligible, even with magnums. Go below 20" and you start seeing greater velocity loss. Any gains beyond 24"are pretty negligible in anything.

If you want real performance go with a 30-06 or even a magnum in a short barrel. While it is true that a 308 will lose less speed from shorter barrels, about 40 fps going from 22" down to 20". A 30-06 will lose about 50 fps, about a 10 fps greater loss. But since it starts about 100-150 fps faster a 20" 30-06 will still be faster than a 24" 308.

I don't notice a 20" gun being noticeably louder than a 22" gun. Get shorter than 20" and I notice.

The Powley Computer will let you estimate the effect of barrel length on performance. (Use 48,000 CUP as the working pressure; it's a bit optimistic for 52,000 CUP.)

Faster powders are only better in that you can get less muzzle blast with them, but you will give up speed. Maximum speed comes when you burn a full case of a powder which has a burning speed that causes pressure to reach the rated maximum; barrel length affects velocity but not powder selection.

Having fired an 18" .243, I'd take the .308 from your list of choices.

My 20" barrel 7mm-08 Weatherby MK V is my favorite hunting rifle; it just kills stuff like this boar last weekend.

My long time most favorite "shorty" is my Model 7 in 7MM-08. The barrel is 18.5" IIRC and I get the 130 Speer SPBT hitting over 2700. In twenty plus years of smacking whitetails with it I am 100% DRT. That one gun has well over 45 deer and one antelope to its credit.
Do not think that I don't like the 308 because I do but the 7MM08 will do anything the 308 will, including winning matches to 1000 yards, and do it with less recoil, drop and drift.

This. I'd expect a 338 Federal to suffer even less velocity drop than a 308 for the reason stated.

Mule deer the past few years have ranged from 25yds to 450yds. You just never know what your going to get for a shot.

The term I'm not seeing here is expansion ratio, or the relation of the case capacity to bore capacity. Here is a quote from Rocky Raab which explains it nicely (taken from here - http://www.shootersforum.com/ballis...-capacity-expansion-ratio-math-help.html):

"Expansion ratio is the case volume plus bore volume, divided by case volume.

Example: the case holds 7.3 cubic whosis and the bore holds 3.1 cubic whosis. So the expansion ratio for that round in that gun is 10.4/7.3 or 1.42. That would be a very low expansion ratio, indicating use of an extremely slow powder.

The general rule on expansion rule is "lower is slower" regarding powder selection. But you can't use it to pick a single best powder, because powders aren't rated by a universal burn speed measurement. You can get only a general idea or "kinda slow" versus "kinda fast" and must wing it after that."

Further - a low expansion ratio combination (case and bore capacity) will lose the most velocity per inch of barrel loss. Since all three chamberings are based on the same basic case and have pretty much the same basic case capacity, the .308 will lose the least velocity per inch of barrel loss since it has the largest bore capacity per inch of barrel. Obviously total barrel length has a bearing on expansion ratio as well.


On powders - the same powders that give good velocity in a long barrel will give the best velocity in a shorter barrel (within reason - let's not compare 24" barrels to 3" barrels) - but they will be A LOT LOUDER.

The pressure curve when a round is fired is going to be the same in a long or short barrel (bear with me) but a short barrel is going to "end" that pressure curve at a higher point along it. I.e., the muzzle pressure is going to be a lot more when same-same powders are burned in a shorter barrel. Muzzle pressure is muzzle blast aka noise and concussion. A 24" barrel might have a muzzle pressure of 8 kpsi, move back along the pressure curve and let the gas into the atmosphere from the end of an 18" barrel and the muzzle pressure might be 25kpsi - i.e. BIG FREAKIN' BOOM.

The double whammy is that you release a higher muzzle pressure closer to your face. Longer barrels release less muzzle pressure farther away from your face.

If you use a somewhat faster powder you can release it into the atmosphere at the 18" mark and its muzzle pressure might only be 12 kpsi.

So - for least loss per inch of barrel, get a high expansion ratio chambering. If you want to keep the velocity up use the same burning rate powder you would in a longer barrel appropriate to the chambering. To shorten the barrel and still mitigate muzzle blast somewhat use a little faster powder. But it's still going to be loud.

There's a lot more loonyism in this subject than I care to delve in to right now so if someone else wants to take up the lecture please feel free.

The 7mm -08 has a good reputation around here.
I think if you swapped the rock chuck for black bear or moose, I would like the 338 Federal.
whelennut

.308 is a caliber. 7mm/08 & 243 are not.

If nothing larger than deer, get a 243. He11 get a 223.

I have short barreled rifles in every chambering mentioned. Any one of them would do just fine. But it sounds like a 243 would be well suited here.....

I like carbines. But to not lose velocity I just step up to a bigger cartridge. Which is why I have a 30/06 with a 20 inch barrel. Which gets me 308 ballistics

I have had a 20" in both a 243, Browning Micro Medallion and a 7-08 in a Browning Lightning BLR. I also have a 22" Savage 99 Featherweight in 308 that has a tight bore or other such thing that wont allow full pressure loads, even factory loads so gets loaded to 2650 with a 150gr SST. The longest shot I have ever taken on deer or any live target was with that 243 with a 80 gr Rem factory load. It was a loong shot but I knew the gun and the load and myself and lung shot it twice just to make sure and it was a quick kill.

Having taken many deer between the trio Id say pick whichever one you like most and shoot it as much as you can and you cant go wrong. For volume shooting the 243 is the easiest to shoot a lot in the short barreled guns. You could also go with 120grs in the 7-08 or 130s in the 308 and lesson the recoil gap a bunch.

A nice 6mmx45 might fit the bill.

I loaded hundreds of 125 grain Sierra flat base for my wife to shoot in her .308 Winchester.
It was accurate and low recoil. Deer died just fine.
whelennut

For years my buddy hunted with his model 7 7mm-08 18.5" barrel and I had a 700 Ti 7mm-08 with the 22". They both killed deer\pigs the same and I remeber a few 450+ yard kills on pigs with that short 7mm-08

To those ranges, all will work, it seems you reload, but none the less, a mild recoiling and mild muzzle blasting round that you CAN buy good factory ammo that is priced nice and deadly, as well as accurate - I would Strongly suggest a 6.5mm Creedmoor.

A 260 will also do well. Both recoil less than 308 and 708 and cover varminting needs well. Those occasional rockchucks would hate 120/123 amax BC better than 7mm and 308 "lite" bullets.

I would also recommend a 20" bbl, which is what I just chopped my 6.5x47. Again all those above choices will work, but I always ENJOY getting a job done with less fuss ie. recoil and blast.

It is true that the 260 can do it with less recoil but, at least for me, it has been more difficult to tune than 243, 7MM08 or 308.
I have launched a lot of 85 grain bullets at prairie dogs in the 260 over the years but never taken any game with it. The only thing I don't like about most factory 260 rifles is they just don't have a fast enough twist for the bullets I like to shoot.