24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
S
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
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 ?




Last edited by shoots100; 01/06/21.

If Nobody Cares about Winning, Why Do They Keep Score ?
VL
BP-B2

Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,583
S
Campfire 'Bwana
Offline
Campfire 'Bwana
S
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,583
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...


"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC

“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,148
T
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
T
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,148
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

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Short barrels are only good to 150.

Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
S
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101

Originally Posted by Seafire
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...

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.


If Nobody Cares about Winning, Why Do They Keep Score ?
VL
IC B2

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
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.

Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 9,355
L
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
L
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 9,355
Originally Posted by huntsman22
Short barrels are only good to 150.



grin


mike r


Don't wish it were easier
Wish you were better

Stab them in the taint, you can't put a tourniquet on that.
Craig Douglas ECQC
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,583
S
Campfire 'Bwana
Offline
Campfire 'Bwana
S
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,583
Originally Posted by huntsman22
Short barrels are only good to 150.


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 ... grin


"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC

“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Dayum..... I only 'managed' twice.....

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 22,869
V
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
V
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 22,869
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

IC B3

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,640
B
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
B
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,640
Originally Posted by huntsman22
Short barrels are only good to 150.


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.

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
You lose 50 yards of range for every inch you chop off.

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,358
D
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
D
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,358
Originally Posted by boatanchor
Originally Posted by huntsman22
Short barrels are only good to 150.


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.


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


223 Rem, my favorite cartridge - you can't argue with truckloads of dead PD's and gophers.

24hourcampfire.com - The site where there is a problem for every solution.

Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 546
D
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
D
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 546
Cut it to 21.75 like the guys at the Houston warehouse.

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 7,718
K
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
K
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 7,718
Originally Posted by TheKid
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.


This.



Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 19,158
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 19,158
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.

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,285
M
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
M
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,285
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.


I've always been a curmudgeon - now I'm an old curmudgeon.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
S
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
Originally Posted by VarmintGuy
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

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.


If Nobody Cares about Winning, Why Do They Keep Score ?
VL
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 15,793
O
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
O
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 15,793
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.


There are 2 rules to success:

1. Never tell everything that you know.
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,303
C
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
C
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,303
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....

Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,064
B
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
B
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,064
My favorite calling rifle is a 16” AR in the boring old 223.... but where I call 10-150 yards are my average ranges. I shoot 55BT’s. I wouldn’t think either you or the coyotes will know the dif of how fast your 40 vmax was going when it hits and I’m sure it’s going to be a few hundred FPS faster than my trusty AR.

Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
S
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
Well I chopped off 8 inches of barrel, crowned and bead blasted it to a nice matte finish.
Loaded some rounds with 40 grn Vmax and made it to the range to get it sighted in just before dark.
23 grains of 4198 was the ticket for group size, but it was too dark for the chrono to get any readings.
Waited a half hour before heading into the woods and had one coming in about 20 minute later.
It ended up just staring in my direction for a half hour behind some brush about 150 yards away.
When it started to meander away, it made the mistake of going into the only small opening I had.
Dropped it at 130 yards.
Luckily it wasn't at 150 yards, or the projo would've probably bounced off of it. eek
I loaded another 50 rounds and am all set to see what my new short barreled rifle can take down this weekend.
SJC

Last edited by shoots100; 01/18/21.

If Nobody Cares about Winning, Why Do They Keep Score ?
VL
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Man, are you lucky....

Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 5,458
S
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
S
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 5,458
My varmint rifles are a SAKO 222 Remington with a sporter barrel and 2 AR15s, both with 16" barrels in 5.56 NATO (223) For prairie dogs the heavy fluted match grade AR and the SAKO are best for me and both shoot under 1/2 MOA. For getting real low to the ground the SAKO is easier to use then the AR.

But for shooting varmints for hides, the king of the 3 is the light barreled AR. It's got a Weaver fixed 4X scope and a match trigger, but it's the least accurate of the 3 rifles. It will do MOA, just just MOA and sometime about 1-1/4" is what I can expect at 100 yards, depending on the ammunition I am using.

However I am nearly as fast for the 1st shot with the light AR as I am with the SAKO, and if there are multiples (as does happen not infrequently with foxes and coyotes) the light weight AR is the king. Almost no recoil so 2nd shots are REALLY fast and I don't come off the scope at all, so if I miss the 1st shot I have a correction and a 2nd on on the way in less then 1 second, and in the cases of pairs and packs there is just no comparison between the AR15 and the SAKO. I get a LOT more hides using the semi-auto.

So for varminting for money, the AR15 is probably the best tool yet invented

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 681
C
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
C
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 681
Here in western oklahoma I use the 16 inch AR and it is an improvement to have the fast second shot as sometime we have 5 to fifty hogs for targets. Another thing to help fast recovering on the second to maybe 20th shot is one of those slip on recoil pads and a red dot to keep both eyes open. It will become automatic to just pull the trigger if a hog is in the sights. The stocks are mostly adjustable so they are easy to fit comfortable with the recoil pads. And I am old enough that calling me a sissy don,t bother me.


There is no place like home. Western Oklahoma.
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 20
S
New Member
Offline
New Member
S
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 20
Originally Posted by shoots100
Well I chopped off 8 inches of barrel, crowned and bead blasted it to a nice matte finish.
Loaded some rounds with 40 grn Vmax and made it to the range to get it sighted in just before dark.
23 grains of 4198 was the ticket for group size, but it was too dark for the chrono to get any readings.
Waited a half hour before heading into the woods and had one coming in about 20 minute later.
It ended up just staring in my direction for a half hour behind some brush about 150 yards away.
When it started to meander away, it made the mistake of going into the only small opening I had.
Dropped it at 130 yards.
Luckily it wasn't at 150 yards, or the projo would've probably bounced off of it. eek
I loaded another 50 rounds and am all set to see what my new short barreled rifle can take down this weekend.
SJC



Just wondering if you had any time to get this shorter barrel over a chrono? And is it so much louder for you?

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,844
I'm kinda wondering about the fireball outta the barrel after dark.....

Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 734
D
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
D
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 734
My best calling rifle is an AR with a 16" stainless bull barrel, it's lighter and wayy handier than a 20".
And accuracy is inside 3/4" with many 55gr-65gr bullets. This is one AR upper I would not want to give up.


I would have got him too but a Dad Blam snow flake hit me in da eye....
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
S
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 101
Originally Posted by Scurvy_dog
[quote=shoots100]
Just wondering if you had any time to get this shorter barrel over a chrono? And is it so much louder for you?

Haven't had a chance to get it chrono'd and since it's snowing like a bitch right now, it's not looking like I'll be able to get to the range to do it anytime soon.
I took two short videos of me shooting coyote and I didn't notice any fireballs in them or a big difference in the noise level, but that could be because I was focusing on the shot.


If Nobody Cares about Winning, Why Do They Keep Score ?
VL
Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
646 members (1234, 257Bob, 06hunter59, 257man, 007FJ, 01Foreman400, 70 invisible), 2,917 guests, and 1,326 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,661
Posts18,399,311
Members73,817
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.096s Queries: 14 (0.005s) Memory: 0.9453 MB (Peak: 1.1449 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 19:36:48 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS