My 7 year old daughter killed a toe head with my ruger American predator in 6.5 creedmoor at 277yds in youth season and since I gave my oldest a rifle last year after telling her she could hunt with my rifle until she killed a deer then it was her rifle now the youngest is wanting my creedmoor. The problem is it's a full length rifle with 22" barrel and standard stock. Got a compact stock on the way but wanting to shorten the barrel to 18" but hadn't seen any creedmoors running that short of a barrel? Has anyone seen or ran a short barrel in 6.5 creedmoor? If so how much did it affect it? Would like to be comfortable taking a 400 yd shot with it. She watched and spotted for me to get a buck with same gun at 461 yds. Now that being said she is not your typical 7 year old girl when it comes to hunting and shooting, she practices a lot and if the animal don't cooperate she don't try to push the shot. She understands the difference between a good clean kill and wounding one. So I don't want to limit her or the gun if shortening it 4" will kill the performance of it. Please share your input.

...............Just in case you do not get a response from an actual shorty barreled 6.5 Creed user, here is a link that may eliminate your ballistic concerns regarding velocity reductions from short barrels.

www.shootingtimes.com/long-guns/longgun_reviews_scout_102606/

Scroll down to the heading "Short Barrel Long Reach" and read from there.

As indicated, the 7/08 test cartridge as well as all Ruger Frontier chamberings available at that time, lose roughly 4.5% (retaining 95.5%) when going from a 24" barrel length down to a 16.5" length. A 7.5" barrel length reduction.

Imo I would guess that given your example, a 4" barrel length reduction for the 6.5 Creed would easily get you well below 4.5 %. Depending on your individual barrel, figure losing approximately anywhere from 18 to 20 fps per inch of shorter barrel length as a best case scenario, up to around 30-35 fps per inch for a worst case scenario.

Given that, you should easily be able to accomplish anything with an 18" barrel that you have already done with the 22" er.

I having been shooting an 18" 6.5 Creedmoor for a few years now.

It does 2550fps with factory Hornady loads, 140 AMAX and the new ELD-X with the exact same 100 yard POI.

It shoots micro-groups at 475 yards (longest range I have on my property now for target shooting) When it hits the steel at 475 there is no doubt it still has plenty of steam.

I have killed several deer with it at various ranges with 140 AMAX. Zero issues.

4 inches won't matter one whit.

Wont make that much difference, but an inch of barrel is probably an ounce. Leave the barrel alone, she is growing every day. You will want those inches back

Youth stock and 20" barrel would be the way that I would go with it.

I'd put it in the youth stock and try it as-is for a while, to see if the extra few inches are too cumbersome. If so, I'd maybe cut back to 19-20" to preserve balance. My 7yr old hunted with a 20" barreled 700 7mm-08 and it was plenty compact, even in a box blind. My other daughter is getting a 22" 700 .260 for Christmas, and we'll see how it goes in a youth stock, but I'm going to try it out before cutting it back any shorter. There may be no need to chop it.

rugerdiggs,

I've got a 6.5 Creed. Predator I cut down to 18.5". Cut it because I have a suppressor and wanted to keep it shorter than a javelin. Without the suppressor I really like the length, nice and handy. I did not really shoot it enough to be conclusive, but it shot just a tad tighter after the cut & crown.

The only load I shot before & after was the 100 Nos. BT:

22.0 inch barrel 2,680 fps

18.5 inch barrel 2,581 fps

Jerry

That seems very slow for a 100gr load??

JPro,

It is, it's a light load for my son to plink with (4 grains under max.).

Even so it's quite slow for the load, I think it's my lot of powder (R15)? As the other powders I've tried (only two) were right at or near book, IIRC.

Jerry

I have a 18" 6.5x47L that I run 140gr at 2690 FPS. Within the month my 18" 6.5 CM will be complete as well and anticipate similar results with it. For killing deer out to 400yds with an 18" tube, I wouldn't hesitate one second on cutting it down.

Won't matter much any way, except one. Barrel doesn't weigh much, so you won't help the wieldyness by cutting. Losing a little barrel doesn't slow the bullet much depending on powder.

What you will do, though, is increase muzzle blast.

A shorter barrel absolutely changes the handling of a gun. It's about the "moment of inertia" not the overall weight.

Cut it off, she will enjoy it more.

Got the stock in today, going to put it in it in day or so and see how it looks while waiting on Dave Manson to send .264 bushing rod for crown

Balance and muzzle blast are bigger factors in this question than the decrease in performance.

In your situation I would not shorten the barrel shorter than 20". Just my opinion as a result of some of my barrel shortening experiments in the past.