Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting long or short barrel for a 22???

Considering another 22 lr for squirrel, general plinking, target and just a general all around farm rifle. Looking at cz rifles. One has a 20.5" and the other a 24.5" barrel. I really like the second one better, ...but.... I can't
help but feel that a 24.5" barrel is a bit much for a 22. Anyone with experience or data on long vs short barrels on 22s??? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Actually for accuracy you want neither. You want a stiff barrel. Stiff typically comes from shorter fat barrels, i.e. bull barrels. I personally would go with the 20" barrel, 24" does seem unwieldy for a .22. And all other things being equal, the shorter barrel will be stiffer.

I have 22's with 20, 22, and 24 inch barrels. The 20" is the fattest barrel, the 22" is probably the stiffest set-up, the 24" is the most accurate. I don't think, within reason, that barrel length means a lot. Good barrels shoot well; bad barrels suck. GD

20" is fine for all round use. I'm not a fan of the shorter stuff for what I do.

I have a Don Smith custom CZ 455 which came with a 24" Lilja straight barrel. I shoot it in NRL22 matches. After 2 yrs of listening to other shooters quote their velocities with identical ammo, I watched the YouTube video by Vudoo 22 rifles. My ammo was a solid 40-60 fps slower than the guys with shorter barrels. I had my barrel cut back to 20.5" and I barely gained 10 fps. Afraid I might actually loose velocity so i'll live with it.

Alan

I have a dozen or so Ruger 10/22s with barrels that range from 16.5" to 24". Of the lot, the 10/22 that I shoot the most has a 24" Green Mountain fluted sporter barrel installed on it. It is a little long for threading through tight creek bottoms, but it balances nicely and shoots great. I have the barreled action installed in a Ruger American-style stock with the interchangeable LOP and comb height modules.

My target rifles are Remington 37s, 40Xs, and Winchester 52s, all with longer heavier barrels. Great for shooting at the range, but too heavy and bulky to hunt with. In 2015 I bought a Marlin XT-22VR because it was on sale at Cabela's for $142 out the door. I put an old Lyman 8x scope on it and was, still am, amazed how well it shoots. Easily the most accuracy per dollar spent that I've encountered.