Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only shortening barrel

Gentlemen,

I have a .375-416 Rem Mag. Don't laugh, but it has a 28" barrel which shoots a 265 grain G.S. Custom at 3055 feet per second. If I cut it back to a more desireable 24", what would the velocity become?

Thanks in advance.

The figure I see most frequently is a 25 fps loss per inch of barrel removed. Mule Deer also mentioned that number recently. Some say it's a bit more, but that shouldn't be so very far off...

If that's the case, losing about 100 fps on a 265 gr. bullet means that your muzzle energy would drop by about 350 ft.lbs. (from roughly 5475 ft.lbs to 5125), and your trajectory would be a hair more arched.

Which is to say, there is no practical, real world difference and nothing you ever hit with it will notice the difference.

Ringman, what was she built for ---cross-canyon elk whacking? How much does she weigh?

Get Yukoner to chime in he cut back a .375 H&H measured velocity drops.

Steve-No,

The rifle is a K14 Klienguenther that wore out a 28" 7-.300 Weatherby. I decided to rebarrel to .375 and play with the big Sierra which was new at the time. I shot a few deer and rabbits with it and one cow elk. Once, before a deer hunt I decided to shoot it three shots at 100 off hand and three shots at 300 sitting. The 100 yard group, with 300 Noslers at 2,747 fps, was 6". The 300 yard groups was also 6". A fellow there asked me to shoot at a target which was about 450 yards away. Again I shot three shots. It was 2 7/8" and dropped 22". The accuracy was there, but the drop was too much for me to shoot that far.

The rifle weighs 11 1/2 pounds. Inside the wood stock is a 3/4" diameter adjustable 1/2" travel shock absorber. This is pushed on by a 1/8" plate the shape of the buttstock. It has two 1/4" dameter rods to keep things straight. On the 1/8" plate is a 1" Decelerator kick pad attatched with contact cement. It's been there for a couple of decades, so I guess it works. On the other end of the rifle is a 2 1/2" long 1" diameter muzzle brake. I can shoot it all day long like most folks can shoot a .243 Win.

In addition to wacking off 4", the barrel will be turned down about .060" to reduce even more weight. Also the 1" diameter muzzle brake will be replaced with a 3/4" brake.