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We use a number of shorter barreled rifles and carbines but they need to balance right. The fact still remains: you want the bullet out of the barrel as soon as possible.


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myself i prefer a longer barrel sometimes my shots are a long ways out ,yes i own some short barrel rifles but rarely ever use them. give me a 24- 26 inch barrel length rifle, the rifle i deer hunt with is a Ruger #1 in a 257 Weatherby mag and that has a 27 inch Brux barrel i have used for around 15 years. in the next week i will be sighting in my new long range rifle i had rebarreled with a Brux 28 inch ,7 1/2 twist , 257 Weatherby mag, contour # 4, which has been built to shoot Hammer 128 gr. bullets , i am all about better bullet performance for hunting .


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they work,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


I have never harvested a animal but I have killed quite a few,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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I have 3 Rem 600s. A 6.5 mag, a .350 mag, and a .30x.350 mag. All 3 are easy to carry and downright deadly. I have been told they are loud and put out a big fireball. Never noticed the sound but have seen the fireball at dusk. Don't matter since there is usually something to gut and drag to worry about.

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Originally Posted by powdr
I am looking at a short barreled rifle for deer. I have had a bunch of rifles in my 69 years but never one w/less than 20 1/2 inches. This one in particular has an 18 1/2in barrel and I just don't have any experience w/one that short. I just have never liked them. Help. powdr

This is the only CF hunting rifle I have, and will ever have, w/ an 18.5" Bbl.

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... and it's chambered in .357 Mag.




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[Linked Image]

In 2020 I built (3) rifles and shot (3) deer.
The rifle pictured is a 250 savage with a 20" Bartlein barrel with 8" twist.
The rifle with bipod, sling, rear bag, scope, and ammo is 7# 14 oz.

Wimpy cartridge with short barrel killed a mule doe at 200 yards.

For shooting deer at 600 yards, I would need a longer cartridge and longer barrel....and it would weigh 10 pounds.


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Originally Posted by pat8386
I prefer a short barrel but all mine have mannlicher style stocks. The additional forearm weight balances better for me.



I've never tried a Mannlicher with a short barrel ( or any length, come to think of it). It seems the "only" carnine I shoot well are 20" bbl leverguns or M4, etc. I've tried the ruger Ultralite when it first came out (80's) and while it was fast in the woods, I couldn't hold it still enough from hunting positions. Couldn't hit a 2 liter coke bottle at 200yds, so off it went, brutal kicker too (308) Its one of the reasons I never tried the little Ruger RSI, it is gorgeous though. I "did" handle a Sako Mannlicher carbine in 308 at the Rod & Gun Club in GE as a soldier, but I wasn't 21 and the Captain would not sign for me.

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Have to admit , I am a barrel chopper.
I only have one rifle left I have not cut down and it is a single shot and is 38" long and has a 24" barrel....still tempted.
For the record, the rifle I am using most is a .270 wcf and has a 19" barrel. It gives up very little, ballistically to the long tube and is better horseback and afoot than the others.If you are a mountain hunter anything that is not a carbine is an annoyance...in my book

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Originally Posted by Pappy348
Noisy, and the balance sucked.

This sums up my experience with barrels shorter than 22" very well.


Okie John


Originally Posted by Brad
If Montana had a standing army, a 270 Win with Federal Blue Box 130's would be the standard issue.
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For a deer rifle it wouldn't matter one bit. They will kill.

I carry a winchester 94 trapper in 30-30 around with its 16" barrel and I love it for its tiny size and handy attributes. Also have one of those Ruger Scout rifles with the older 16" barrel and have used it in cross steep canyon clear-cut on elk, and hey it worked fine waybout there. And lastly my Ruger compact rifle in 338RCM is the best I have with its 20" barrel and it smashes things just fine with its abbreviated tube. The only downside under 20" length is muzzleblast noise is increased a good deal. I prefer the 20" length over all others for its feel and handling.

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Short barrels are easier to carry.

Long barrels are good for magnums and Weatherbys.

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I have two rifles which fall into the OP's comments on barrel length. The first is a Remington M660 that has been somewhat modified, mainly with a lighter synthetic stock. Barrel length is 20". I made the longest shot I've ever taken on a big bodied Nevada Mule Deer, 460 paces. Bullet was the handloaded 150 gr. Sierra, velocity unknown.

Rifle #1 is a Ruger M77 RSI with 18.5" barrel. target was an Arizona Mule Deer up in the Kaibab National forest about 250 yards out. Bullet was the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core at 2550 FPS. Dunno what it would be in the 20" M660 but when tested in a 22" Winchester M70 the velocity was 2610 FPS. I'm guessing the M660 speed falls somewhere in between the two.

Both rifles are chambered to the .308 Win. Both run about 1.0 to 1.5" with their chosen load.

I can't Speak for other copies of the RSI, but somehow I ended up with three of then cheap because their previous owners could not get any kind of decent groups from them. Turned out they were right in the short term but I was stubborn. I knew 1.5" or less might be attainable so I set that or better as the goal. It took a hair over two years to reach that level of accuracy and but some very good luck the load worked in all three rifle. Some tinkering with metal removal from the nose cap brought groups down to 1.25" most of the time with an occasional 1.0" or 1.5" but nothing worse as long as I do my part. On game, I try to get within 250 yards or closer. If conditions are perfect I might try 300 yards but that's as far asI'll got with that 165 gr. load.
Paul B.


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This is the rifle I hunt with the most, a Howa .308 LW. Scope has been changed out to a Leupold 2.5-8X36 VX-3i. The original 20" barrel was very thin and the rifle had a decidedly muzzle-light balance, so I installed a McGowen Precision 20" Rem. Sporter contour, balances good now.

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I like them short.

I like them long.

I shoot them all.





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I'm going short this year, 11.5". whistle

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I knew a fellow gun head who picked up a Sako mannlicher carbine in 375H&H for cheap several years ago.....he sold it for cheap also...

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Originally Posted by CaptArab
16" bolt gun with a silencer is hard to beat.




**I am no gunwriter** That said, I am interested in this topic, and have recently put together a rifle along the lines that CaptArab mentions.

I am a fan of Christensen Arms. What I tried to order a few years back, was a 16 inch Ridgeline chambered for 308 Win. I was told at the time, that it was an impossibility. Fast forward a few years and I was able to take a barreled action out of an MPR and put it in a Ridgeline stock. Now, I have what I was looking for in the beginning. I have a Silencerco Omega that makes the muzzle blast a powder puff. I have not chronographed a 150 grain soft point out of that little rifle, but I'm next to positive that it will make deer and pigs bad sick.


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Originally Posted by powdr
I am looking at a short barreled rifle for deer. I have had a bunch of rifles in my 69 years but never one w/less than 20 1/2 inches. This one in particular has an 18 1/2in barrel and I just don't have any experience w/one that short. I just have never liked them. Help. powdr


Do it. I think you should have at least one. I've owned a couple of Marlin and Winchester lever actions with barrels barely over 16 inches. I had a Remington Seven in 7mm-08 for a while with an 18-1/2" barrel. Those all killed stuff. The only possible negative I could see is the shorter barrel, even if heavy, doesn't have as much "hang" and in the Seven's case the thing was a bit butt-heavy. I could say the same for some 20 and even 22 inch barreled guns though.

The short barrels are louder with more blast than longer barrels. They don't necessarily make ideal long range setups 'cause you give up some otherwise "free" velocity. They're not suitable for every cartridge. But chosen carefully, they can be very very very good.

Tom


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I have a lightweight .308 with a 20" barrel that works for me, but I often have a Gemtech Tracker screwed on the end.

16.5" barrel on my 44mag single shot works as well.

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Originally Posted by cra1948
I am of the camp that sees little advantage in short barrels on rifles. Any handiness gained by going below 22” or so exists mainly in someone’s mind. If you’re hunting in brush so thick that six inches of barrel makes a difference in how well you can get through, you’re in the wrong place. You won’t be able to see anything, much less shoot at it. I have rifles with barrels as short as 16 inches and as long as 26. Most are somewhere in the middle. I much prefer shooting the longer ones. I find even the couple of 20 inch.223’s I have to be unpleasantly loud.


I agree ......... 20" is as short as I'll have. Any shorter and handling suffers.

YMMV smile

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