Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Short barreled varmint rifle ?

My current 20 practical is sporting a 24" criterion 1-11 twist heavy varmint contoured barrel.
The rifle is way to barrel heavy, heavy in general and not great for use in a blind, but it puts coyote down.
I'm looking at chopping the barrel shorter, to make it easier for transport and a little lighter.
I hunt in the woods mostly and 200 yards would be a long shot for me.
No suppressor use in NY and the minimum barrel length is 16.5 inches, So I was thinking 18 inches.
With an 18" barrel, the rifles OAL would be 40.25"s and the muzzle dia would be .890"s.
According to the charts, velocity loss shouldn't be a concern with the hot 40 grn Vmax load I use.
I'm just waiting for the 11 degree barrel crown cutter with .20 cal pilot from PTG to arrive.
Any reason why I shouldn't cut it to 18"s ?

Don't know if it will help ya much...

I have a 20 inch barrel, with a heavy magnum profile on a Ruger 77 Mk2 action, chambered in a 20 Practical...

Don't think you'll see much velocity loss, if ya do, maybe a click or two on your scopes elevation will compensate for it...

and if you hand load, one thing good about a 20 Practical, is there is still bullets available on the shelves at local stores..

same in 17 caliber... that is why I am putting together a 17 Fireball also...

I have shortened a couple of mine, no big deal, I use in area's of the yardage being 150 yds or less, works for me

Short barrels are only good to 150.

Thanks for the replies.
I hand load and use 40 gr Vmax and 34 grn nosler, both going around 4,000 fps.
I'll chrono the rounds after I shorten it and see what happens.
I found an article about shortening a 20 practical barrel and it's effect on velocity.
At 17 inches, it had less velocity spread, but was loud and they stopped at 14 inches of length, because the report was unbearable.

Get it recontoured and chop it at 20”. I have found 20” to be the sweet spot for me for the smaller cases and calling rifles.

mike r

What do you consider "short barreled"?

I know a guy with a 2 or 3 inch dick... still managed to knock up his wife... several times ...

Dayum..... I only 'managed' twice.....

Shoots1000: All of my 204 Ruger Varmint & predator Rifles have barrels 26" in length - and if I could I would add a couple of inches to them!
Especially afield, I find the added weight adds stability to the sight picture and reduces their modest recoil allowing for me to often spot my own hits (and misses).Where I Hunt LONG shots (400 yards-ish) are the norm.
I vote to leave that barrel of yours at 24".
Best of luck to you what ever you decide on.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Probably not the truth, but this is my thought process as well.
I have 16" AR's but always grab a 22 incher instead, I have Varmint rifles with 28" barrels !!!!!!!
If you really are going to chop it just cut it to 22" to start with to make sure you won't hate it.

You lose 50 yards of range for every inch you chop off.

Not quite an apples to apples comparison but I have Classic Classic (sporter stock) in 223 that I had fitted with a factory 24" varmint barrel and ran into the same handling issue that the OP is having. I had it cut to 20", it does handle better but the noise level increased substantially. I would recommend cutting it to 22", if it is still too heavy then it can be cut to 20".

drover

Cut it to 21.75 like the guys at the Houston warehouse.

This.

How accurate a rifle shoots is more important to me than barrel length. I've used varmint rifles with barrel lengths from 16 to 24 inches. I actually prefer the shorter barrel rifles when I'm doing a lot of walking, or hunting in heavy cover. It all depends on where and what you're hunting. If shooting prairie dogs, where you're shooting off of a good rest, then a long barreled rifle would probably be the best choice. But, if I have to walk several miles in cold weather, wearing a lot of clothes and carrying some gear, then I want lightweight rifle.

I shoot the Remington Model 7 Predators a lot, they are 22 inch barrels. I use them more than I do anything else, mainly because they shoot so well and I just like them. I also have a couple of rifles with 20 inch barrels that I hunt with as well, and I carry a 16 inch barrel AR on occasion. I've killed stuff with all of them. To me, the barrel length is last thing I worry about.

I, personally, would go to 20" first - then if I didn't like it, I'd go down from there.
You can always cut more off - pretty tough to add it back on. Balance is the critical thing.

It's too long and heavy for the run + gun hunting I do in the woods and hills of NY.
If I shoot 200 yards, that's a long shot.
I need it lighter and shorter.
I was going to buy a shorter barrel, but this one has some mileage on it and I already went through my 2021 budget in 2020 !
Once I see how well the PTG crown cutter tool works, I'll see about chopping it off bit by bit, otherwise it's going to 18"s and I'm calling it a day.

I have a 204 Ruger barrel that is 20" long and it works really well for me. It's a semi-weight contour on my Blaser R8 and is shot primarily from the bench. I don't lose much, if any, velocity.

I shoot a truck load of coyotes every year with a 16" barreled AR-15 and a 20" 22-250.....but a shot over 200 yrds is very rare....this year went to a 12.5" on the AR-15 and a suppresser sure is nice hunting baits out of a box blind shots are 125-150 yards....