I only gained 50 fps by having a 22" bbl .280 reamed to the Ackley. I was sooooo disappointed! I would want at least a 24", 26" would be even better, IMHO. Same for the 6.5/280 AI, give me some barrel! ha Being tall, I never cottoned but to two carbines....the leverguns ( any caliber but no longer than 20", even 18 is OK with the 45-70. And the M4. For a bolt gun, it just seems "odd" to me, just doesn't "swing" right. But hey, I know several guys who just love the 18" 30-06s! Way too loud for me. Go figure... also, are the 6.5/06 and 6.5/280s as "loud" as the 25-06? That sucker "seemed" louder to me than the 257 Weatherby.
Agree about the need for longer barrel in a round that relies on High pressure for it's MV .
improvementOver the years, In my quest for the perfect .280 Improved for Mule Deer hunting, I went over and rejected several .280s that only had 22" barrels in my search for one that :
a ) had a 24 " barrel, and b ) was accurate enough to re-chamber to the AI
Only later did I learn that the .280 could reasonably be loaded up to .270 or the AI levels ( 65k psi) for much better performance.
Knowing what I know now, I just shake my head at the lost opportunities created by my artificial selection criterion.
I would have been much further ahead to have just re-barelled a suitable LA donor .
I could have started with 26.5" and worked back to 25.25"
and then started fooling around with
Long Throating in suitable magazines
Don't know about loud, my 20" carbine is a .308, and I believe that a lot has to do with pressure levels again.
I don't recall Blength etc. on my 303Brit Jungle carbine, but it was nasty enough on the recoil side that I never noticed the blast, Ha
