I’ve got a nice Remington 700 chambered in 308 Winchester. It has a varmint weight 26” barrel. Stone stock the accuracy was pitiful, mostly due to the 6lb trigger pull. After installing a Walker trigger obtained from a member here the group shrunk tremendously. Currently the stock is off being pillar bedded by Al Nyhus. So now the question. Considering barrel harmonics, would shortening the barrel down to 20 - 22” be of any benefit to overall accuracy?
Below are pictures of the results of the trigger upgrade.

In it's day, the 40X was the most accurate store bought rifle out there...I believe it came with a 20" bbl.

Current setup….

Depends on which version. I have one with a 27 1/4" barrel.

How did the long barrel shoot?

A shorter barrel is stiffer than a longer one given the same thickness. I don't imagine there would be much gain if you're working with a factory barrel and chamber.

The ammo is more important than barrel length. You can tune just about anything, but often shorter barrels are easier to tune, but then you give up velocity that helps keep your bullet where you want it at longer ranges.

I’m thinking I’d lose 90 - 150fps and gain a bit in muzzle blast / noise. Not bad if I can get more accuracy. It’s not bad currently. The bedding will be the best improvement, but shortening a barrel isn’t to cost prohibitive for a plain Jane target gun. Now if it was a match rifle…

a kreiger barrel would help. you have to try one to really experience it.

a kreiger barrel would help. you have to try one to really experience it.

if you go to the 6mmbr web site, there are articles and rifles. the easiest and cheapest way to improve accuracy is to get a barrel ... hart, kreiger...

if you go to the 6mmbr web site, there are articles and rifles. the easiest and cheapest way to improve accuracy is to get a barrel ... hart, kreiger...

A custom barrel would be nice. But Remington barreled can be excellent. This is what a factory barrel can do. Huber trigger and a home brew bedding job. Not mine, but about the same. Four shots @ 100 yards.

What's the website for a stutter cure?

Internet opinion is fun, but not very conclusive. Although old, Harold Vaughn's book, Rifle Accuracy Facts, pretty well covers all that is known (as opposed to 'believed') on the subject. It's a hard read for sure, but until you study the conclusions on frequency vs amplitude and apply those relationships to your goals for your rifle...your wasting your time and money. Also you need to ask the question, "do I want precision, or accuracy"? If I may make a parable without any intent to insult you...you have basically asked the question, "what is the best kind of chainsaw"?

😂 you are absolutely correct!!! I hadn’t thought of it that way.
So, now what’s best? McCulloch Mini Mac 10, or a Stihl???Accuracy, or precision???

What do YOU want? Precision,Teeny groups on paper? Accuracy, Shoot the eye out of a pissant at 500 yards? Do you want to be able to carry your rifle while walking? Is she going to be a sandbag queen on the bench? At the price of barrels and stuff, (the last Kreiger I bought set me back 360 bucks) if I were contemplating building a gun, I'd actually write down my goals and parameters before I started spending money. Once you have done that, the rifle will kinda sorta design itself. One more thing, just my opinion, you can throw money at a custom barrel with no guarantee it will be a shooter. That Rem barrel may shoot too, but, if you are going to shorten it, I would start cutting on the chamber end, set her back a full inch or more, recut the chamber with a good match reamer with a floating pilot that fits the bore, while the machinist has it, go ahead and have him re face the muzzle/crown. Don't need the trendy 11 deg target crown...flat is good. If you do the simple not so pricey things, there is a very good chance, it will shoot better than you do.

At 12lbs+ it’s just for me to punch paper at various ranges.
A trigger is the cheapest and first step to improving. Well actually practice is right up there. I’ll do what is reasonable to the factory rifle before proceeding to other options. I’ll probably do a barrel in the future after the factory barrel is shot out. The problem is sometimes I don’t keep them long enough to shoot out barrels….

It already shoots better than my skills….
Working to improve both. It’s a lifelong process…..

There is a 99% chance you will not gain accuracy from cutting your barrel down unless, by some coincidence, your crown is damaged. If you want a shorter barrel for other reasons, great, but if you cut the barrel, there is a slight chance you might throw the barrel into a different tune re: the loads it likes.

If you were unsure about the bedding, that is likely the cause of your troubles.

The fact that the trigger improved groups so dramatically may or may not hint at a technique issue. But if your technique is solid, the shot distribution of your best group (2 in, one out) hints either at a bedding issue or an issue with your ammo, maybe seating depth.

All of which is to say, after you fix the bedding, cutting the barrel remains at the bottom of list of things to do to get your rifle shooting better.

Accuracy and precision are necessary for a successful rifle.

You won’t gain any accuracy by shortening a factory barrel. Theoretically a shorter barrel can be more accurate because it’s stiffer but you’d never be able to see it unless you’re dealing with a benchrest rifle and shooter.

I think the core question is better stated...
"I have a rifle I'm trying to get shooting better...will cutting the barrel help?"

My response as many others have already state is...you've got much on the table to try first before you do something as drastic and irreversible as cutting your barrel. You're already having the bedding done, and replaced the trigger. I'd also look at the crown and most of all work on your loads and marksmanship. There's nothing mentioned about loads, but if you're looking for match level accuracy your best bet is to be shooting match bullets. The other folk can argue about powders, primers and brass prep. But the biggest first step is to shoot a bullet up to your accuracy goals.

Well said Chris. I ha dload for all my rifles. I use 150gr slugs for this one. Whatever is on sale….
The last time I shot in competition was ‘69 I think. I placed 10th in the state for jr. shooters. The only girl on our team took 1st place for Sr. shooters. That girl was bad news……

Yeah, he is working on getting his post count up though..

Exactly..

LOL! FYI, "S-A-L-E" brand doesn't always equate to good shooting!

It does if it’s A Max…..

Overall groups almost never get worse shortening the barrel of a scoped rifle. The optimum load may however change some.

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2013...house-lessons-in-extreme-rifle-accuracy/

Let the games begin.


Okie John

Okie John you beat me to it. Great article.

I suppose you can say this was THE length for the 22 PPC Virgil shot. "He learned was more valuable than this: a barrel MUST be 21 3/4” long for optimum accuracy. That precise length sets up a vibration pattern that duplicates well from shot to shot.

This article was about the Nth degree pursuit of accuracy. How about this: "Lapping compound was smeared on the barrel threads, and by applying outward pull, the barrel was lapped into the action threads for full, positive contact. Virgil pointed out that if this procedure is not accomplished, only one thread or parts of one or several threads may be making contact. Anything less than full thread contact is destructive to finest accuracy. "

I've read this article many times. I'm still in awe of the precision and skill involved. Thanks for posting it again.

Great article…..
One thing that I noted was the consistency.
I was always taught in 4H training and other competition venues to hold exactly the same way a best you can and controlled breathing. Call you sight picture when the rifle fires.