Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .17 HMR barrel length?

I was looking at http://www.bullberry.com/HMRdata.html. What do you think about shortening a 24" barrel down to 20"? Is the velocity difference truly this irrelevant? I can see pluses getting it in and out of the truck. What's the down side? Noise difference?

Tom..

A little more noise is all.

I bet the velocity is the same or better.

The handier length trumps that.

Plus, all things being equal the shorter barrel will be a bit stiffer and may even shoot a bit better.

See the graph 1/3 down the page:

http://varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

Same data only graphed. Should not be much diff at all.

Tom,

Don't know if you ever handled a Ruger 77 in the Mach 2...

it only had a 20 inch barrel..

but I have to admit, it was a much more balanced rifle than the 24 inch barrel on the 17 HMR... from the chart pointed out by Bend on Varmint Al's site, you wouldn't be sacrificing any velocity to speak of at all...

instead of chopping up the Ruger barrel tho, I have considered getting a Green Mountain Barrel and shortening it to about 18 inches..

Seafire -


I had a 77/22 heavy barreled .22 LR for a while. I had it cut to 20", so yeah, I know about the handling. (I wish I'd bought one of the 77/17 M2s when they were on close-out.)

As an alternate to chopping my Ruger barrel I thought about switching to a Volquartsen carbon-fiber .920 barrel, opening up the barrel channel, and scalloping the "passenger side" of the butt each of which would reduce weight, but that barrel is only 16.25" long which is shorter than I want, 18" to 20" seems more right based on the published velocity data.

I'm probably just going to have my barrel shortened.

Tom

Well, Tom look at the puside of shortening the existing barrel

1) You already know how it shoots
2) At least you will get a good barrel crown out of the deal for sure.

All things considered the barrel may shoot a bit better after the surgery.

Tom:

Are you going to have Kevin Wyatt do that then?

if so, keep me updated on how it turns out..

I'm going to keep my long barreled one as is..

however I am looking to put a 17 HMR barrel on my standard barreled 77/22, so I can switch them as needed.

but in doing so, I am going to use a shorter one...

Nah, I have someone else lined up for this.

Kevin does *great* work, no question about that. He's so good that he's in high demand often with a substantial backlog of projects. I want this done sooner than I think he can get to it because it's holding up yet another project I want him to do. If I drop both off at once there's a good chance of not having a varmint rifle this summer. Can't have that.



Tom

Tom,

there is a quick turn around with MOA Gunsmithing over here in GP...Mike Hart is real good..

also Skaggs Gunsmithing out in the Applegate is pretty inexpensive with a fast turn around...

What I thought would be a nice size rifle for going over and shooting rats, is the size of the Ruger 77 Compact....

I've often thought a 223 in a Ruger Compact would be a fun sized rig.....

Shortening the stock up an inch or so, and a heavy barrel down to 17 inches...according to the Varmint Al site, not much if any velocity is lost down to a barrel length of 17 to 18 inch...

SeaFire,

I've got a Ruger 77LSS Compact in .223 It's a GREAT truck gun!

Also have a Ruger 77 .204 20" barrel in a LSS Compact stock.

These a great, fast handling varmit guns!

Virgil B.

Thanks for the info, good to know about more local gunsmiths. The guys who were working around Grants Pass when I was there have all retired ... or worse.

I really like Kevin Wyatt's work and he's treated me really well. I wouldn't even consider anyone else but Mike (ex bro-in-law, prime elk hunting buddy, etc) is getting his own business up and going up by Roseburg and I want to support him, too. I've seen and shot some of his work, it's first class, now I want to own some. But I don't want to abandon Kevin after all the stuff he's done for me. I don't see taking rifle work to anyone but one of them for a really long time.

Yeah, those Ruger 77 compacts are cute. I've spent time at the range shooting next to someone with a 16-1/4" .223 contender and that was vicious from the muzzle blast perspective so I'd expect the Ruger with the same length to be the same. That's dissuaded me. I looked hard at the .308 version thinking that with a 180 round nose, slightly reduced load, 2.5X scope, I'd have something pretty similar to a .30-30 for down in the heavy brush I like to hunt. Not too likely to happen now that I have my Kimber though.

Tom

T_O_M: The difference will be a slightly less stable Rifle under field conditions!
I wouldn't even consider shortening my heavy barreled Ruger 77/17 V/T (it has the 24" heavy barrel)!
I want the mass and the resulting steadier sight picture with it (under field conditions) - including when shooting running Jack Rabbits - not just Colony Varmints over a field type rest.
I don't have any troubles handling my 24" barrel 17 HMR in and out of truck cabs.
I can't answer the velocity difference part of your inquiry - nor your noise difference question.
I do have an 8 3/8" Smith & Wesson revolver in caliber 17 HMR (Model 647) and I use it on occassion for the shorter ranged Varmints - with ear plugs or hearing protection the revolver is not offensive at all.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy