Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Shortened barrels what do you like

yessir

stock fit can make a world of diff.

Jerry

I was very happy with the 700 LTR and then traded them off in a fit of lunacy. Now I want to go back to a 20 inch heavy barrel for shooting at the bench and hunting from a ground blind. I am going to give a Tikka T3X CTR in .308 Winchester with a GRS Berserk stock a try. It shoots well and I only have to tote it to the blind.

I have a 16inch barrel 30/06 Columbian Mauser (carbine). I've been meaning to take it hunting but have too many other firearms in preference. I've also been meaning to find out what velocity I get out of it. Accuracy is acceptable considering it is standard ex-mil configuration with the horrible spire front sight and V rear - my aging eyes have trouble with those.

The last time I went to Kansas, I was in a plywood box blind that was small and short. It was almost impossible to get my Tikka 30-06 moved without bumping. So, I decided I needed to whack the barrel on one of my rifles.
The .308 is a better candidate, and most on this thread are saying 20" as a minimum preference. I'm thinking 3" shorter at 21" will help a lot, and I may not need to go any shorter. If so, I can always take it for another trim. My M700 is a stainless SPS.

well, let's see.

Rem. M7MS (Mannlicher) in .257 Roberts wears a 20"
Rem. M7 AWR in 7mm SAUM wears a 22"
Rem. 700 SPS in .308 wears a 20"

Merkel K1 in 7mm Rem Mag wears a 24" (*Note: the K1 is a break action single shot...so it is amazingly short given the reduced action length.)

Montana 1999 in .375 H&H wears a 20".

Yeah, short barrels work.

I was just about to say something similar. For a given barrel length a break action (whether single, double, combination or drilling) makes for a significantly shorter OAL than a bolt action. I have a little drilling with 22" barrels, and a double with 23.6", and they are very handy. A falling block single shot is nearly as compact too, for a given barrel length.

I agree with those who say 20" is a good minimum for a .308. Much less than this and they get a bit blasty - really blasty at 16" I've found.

.....................................I have a 16.5" barreled 300 WSM Ruger Frontier. With a rifle 35.5" in OAL, I find it to be extremely handy and quite a joy to carry around. Not too many rifles can you carry around by the pistol grip with the barrel pointed down towards the ground and still have a good amount of distance between the barrel end and the ground. That is the main advantage of the shortys......

Most would cringe at such a short barrel length for a 300 WSM. However, I welcome it! Ballistically, a 26" barreled 30-06. A compact, but a long range rifle if needed too..... BUT!..Very LOUD with stout recoil which I can easily handle....

So keep in mind the added noisy report even from a 308..

The ideal 308 barrel length for you would depend on your carrying and hunting conditions (in blinds, in brush etc) as well as your desire as to what a shorty rifle should be. The shorter the OAL, the easier the carrying around and handling will be.....................

Yeah, a 16" barrel 300 WSM isn't equaling a 26" 30-06 ballistically. Sorry.

I have two Encore ProHunters with 26" barrels. They are only an inch longer than my Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle with the 18.7" barrel plus the flash hider. One is in 35 Whelen and the other is a 300 Win Mag. These are great for hunting from blinds.

Browning Abolt2 7mm rem mag has a 24" with Boss so its almost 27" and its tuff to get in and out of tower stand windows. Had a 20" .308 built on Rem 700 action and i like the feel of the shorter barrel in our towers. Even at 20", hand loads pushing 125 gr Nosler BT's at 3180, so i'm happy.

A local shop has a Ruger American Predator 18” barrel .308 win. Anyone have any input on those? I don’t think I’ve seen the short barreled Predators mentioned much.

Having 10" less barrel to carry around and beating 24" 308 performance doesn't sound like a bad place to be.

I've had a couple. My 1st had the original rotary magazines. When the versions that take AI style mags came out I bought another and gave the older version to my SIL. Both of mine were MOA or better with most loads. Velocity is about 50-60 fps slower than my 22" 308's.

Thanks. This one has the rotary mag. I think the 18” would be quite handy.

For non magnums, I think 21 inches is perfect.

Just had a 700 sps 243 rebored to 358 win by JES and barrel chopped to 18”. It handles just about perfect, for my hunting in PA and NY where 200 yards is the absolute limit and most ranges are 100 or less I can’t think of a handier little thumper. Now I need to decide on a 3-9x40 or a compact 2-7x32 scope to complete the package.

You're talking to a man who has risen from the dead, so anything is possible.

To me, 20” seems about perfect. Both of my 308s have a 20” barrel. Never chronographed loads out of my BLR, but my Model 7 pushes 150gr TTSXs to about 2860fps. Very handy in the woods, and still good velocity. Most other cartridges I wouldn’t go below 22” but the 308 seems to be very efficient in shorter barrels than most.

........................Oh yeah?? Well Moosemike. Sorry but my particular rifle does.. You have a 300 WSM Ruger Frontier that you happened to have chrony'd? And you shortened my barrel by an additional 1/2 an inch...LOL....

You are familiar with RL17 I presume?.... Well,,,, A 180 gr Hornady with 66.3 gr of RL17 (max load) from my compact Frontier chronys at 2917 fps. Also using RL17 (max load), it will propel a 150 grainer just over 3200 fps. And, those #s were backed up with another friend's chrony for added verification.

Also for your further edification, you can go to gunblast.com and go into the archives section and review Jeff Quinn's article on this same 300 WSM Ruger Frontier dating back to Feb 2005. His best MV was 2794 using 180 gr factory ammo. As a test, that same identical 180 gr factory ammo which I acquired chrony'd at 2830 from my Frontier. Now lets tack on some max doses of RL17 shall we?? LOL.....UH oh!

And if ya look at the 300 WSM loading data from Alliant, 66 gr of RL17 can move a 180 grainer at about 3180 fps. Compared with two other buddies 24" barreled 300 WSMs, I am running roughly 4.3 to 4.5% behind in total MV using identical hand loads.. .......Not losing all of the velocity that you might wish to believe......And, if you do some research and pull up a Guns and Ammo article dating back to 2005-06 by Dick Metcalf entitled "Short Barrel Long Reach" he does a review on a 7/08 Ruger Frontier verifying only a 4.5% in velocity losses compared with 24" barreled 7/08s.......I am aware that common opinion is a 50 fps loss per inch of shorter tube length. With modern powders,,,not so! Try 15 to 25 fps per inch.

So! If you happen to have anything that proves or shows otherwise, perhaps you could pass it along??

I'd go with the 2x7 in standard. It is what my Stub wears.

I did have a 6X Burris compact on a '98 in 30-06 , 22" bbl, tricked out in a Brown Precision stock, replaced iron bottom metal with Parker-Hale aluminum, light weight sling. With 10 rounds it went 7 1/2 lbs. Did not blind hunt with it, but did stand and alpine. 1 1/2 MOA. Worked fine.

Lacked a little in low light, but never found that a disadvantage in my hunting. For 200 yard shooting, in low light, a straight 4 or 6X in standard might be the best.