I just read the thread on barrel length in a 7-08. That was all about handling. What about noise level at 20, 22, 24 or 26 ?

What is the compromise length for muzzle blast?

Good thread, I like 26 inch barrels for range guns.

i like a longer barrel on my rifles less noise , better ballistics and for bench shooting a longer barrel most of the time when it starts to show signs of barrel erosion in front of chamber you can cut 4 inches off the back and rechamber that barrel and use it some more.

The noise at shorter barrel lengths (un-canned) is very noticeable in some rounds for me when they get below 21-22". I do a lot of hunting with a few 22" .308's. This year I put a .308 together with a 20" barrel. Shooting the same ammo the difference was noticeable to me when sighting in and checking drops switching from one to the other, even with plugs in and muffs on. It was only 2" difference. Even shooting an 18" .223AI and a 21" and/or 22" .223AI the difference stands out to me.

It doesn't seem like a noticeable difference shooting the same loads through a 22" and 24" 6.5 CM. Maybe it is but it doesn't stand out to me.

I notice a difference in cartridges/bore size as well. A 21" .358 seems less sharp than a 22" .308, which seems much less sharp than a 23" .243.

I don't want more recoil but it doesn't bother me much. The sharper crack does bother me. I've got sissy ears.

I think the "pitch" of the noise bothers me .a .22mag pistol is bad..
10.5in AR barrel .556 = standard flash hider noise but as expected
.300 = blkout flash forward muzzle loud but to ok..
6.5 Grendel flash forward muzzle loud as FU.....

thats strange. to my ears our Grendel is WAY quieter than the nephews 10.5 inch 223

22 mag are loud.

357 mag hurts my ears worse than 44 mag.

Of course the one shot game isn't a big thing. even with a brake. and multiple shots are ears protected so thats all good too.

All my examples are 10.5" barrels .
My 18" Grendel AR not too bad my 22" barrel bolt Grendel is mild .. to my ears ..

I had a 260 with a 20" barrel and the blast and "jump" was bad. I put a 22" 260 barrel on and both were considerably less. Even had a hunting buddy comment about it as well.

My experience is I would rather have a little longer barrel and have less noise. 22 to 23 seems about right for the chamberings I shoot.

Somebody should invent a device that traded a short amount of barrel for a drastic reduction in noise.

They would get rich.

If only our country didn't have retarded laws, procedures and costs associated with such devices.

Same as it was in the other thread.....20 inches.......

The operative work is "short".

Of course, "girth" should be part of the equation too..........

That's what she said...

For me, the threshold is about 22" without a can.

16" 358 it's a bit of a fire breathing dragon but not anything a competent shooter can't handle. For some rifles handling characteristics trump anything else. For others the longer barrel makes sense.

I had a model 7 6mm rem. with a 18.5" and it was brutal to the point it wasn't fun to shoot.

20” seems to be the point some calibers really start barking. I’m with some others opinion that pitch makes me cringe as bad as the decibel level on some.

My 20" barreled 243 is "crackier/blastier" than my 20" barreled 308 which has a heavier boom.

Unless my math is bad, which it could be, a 20” .308 is equal to a 32” .243 based on volume of the barrel available for powder burn. That’s assuming equal burn rates, etc etc.

Yep.

41 grains of 4350 in a 20" 243 will have a higher muzzle pressure than 41 grains of 4895 in a 20" 308.

I have several 26" barreled rifles in calibers that "don't need" that barrel length: 308, 30-06, and 270. They are all quieter than 24" rifles in the same calibers which are quieter than 22" rifles, which are quieter than 20" rifles. As mathman said, it's the muzzle pressure. A 26" 308 is pretty pleasant and sounds like a popgun next to a 20" of the same caliber. I've built a few rifles with long light #1 barrels just to get the noise down for times when I can't run a suppressor. They also shoot much better offhand. I don't care about the free velocity, but it's there, though it's usually minor.

I guess it depends on bore, case capacity and powder/load.
A 358 with faster burning powder than a 308 won’t be as loud.
I find that a longer barrel normally has few drawbacks. But I have a short barreled 350 model 600 built for dog hair timber.
My 300 magnums have 24-26” barrels. My 30-30, 44 Mag, 45-70,’s, 350, 358 and others such as these mostly have <22” barrels.

A short barreled 300 Weatherby would be a rather poor design in my opinion. So would a 26” 44 Mag.

My 30" barreled .260 is a joy to shoot and the truck don't care how bulky it is.

My most recent range trips were with two of my 308s shooting loads that approximate LC Match with a 168 grain bullet. After shooting the 20" barreled rifle the 26" barreled one sounded like it went off "over there."

So true.

....................I'd say that the compromise length for muzzle blast depends on your own individual tolerance for both the muzzle blast and the noise levels. Regardless of barrel length you should be wearing good hearing protection anyway. As far as the degree of blast is concerned? For the most part that would depend on what time of the day you fire the rifle and how much light remains.

At the range my 'lil 300 WSM Ruger Frontier with its 16.5" barrel is a loud beast. Very good hearing protection a must for me. The blast? During the daylight hours that is un-noticeable imo and has no affect on my shooting accuracy. But that is me as I can handle this rifle extremely well whereas others may not.

Your individual tolerance is the key.

I'd guess the blast is real similar to the 29.1" M96 Swede I once ran..........Mild. You are likely running some very nice speeds as well.

What taper/contour is your barrel and gun weight?

I would look at linear comps for short barrel hunting rifles. I put one ( kaw valley) on m6 16in 223 AR and the difference is amazing. Funnels the blast away from your face. I can shoot it a few times in the open and my ears dont hurt or ring.

I think case size to bore size ratio makes a bit of difference. Compare a 22-250 with a 20" barrel to a 300 Savage with a 20" barrel. Then compare a fast burning powder to a slow burning powder in the same rifle.

I agree that it does. I have 20" barreled examples of 243s and 308s and 41 grains of 4350 in the 243 is blastier than 41 grains of 4895 in the 308.

The difference between a 243 (22") and 358 (21") is an attention getter for me. The 243's blast is more irksome to me than the 358's recoil.

Yep. I'd have them on every rifle I own if I didn't have to jump through the government hoops to get them.

When shooting my 32" 45-70 recently I noticed the sound of the bullet hitting the target was louder than the muzzle blast and the sonic crack of the bullet flight.

Never thought the 308 660 was overly loud with its 20" barrel.
Flashy in dim light, but not loud.

The 243 M-7 at 18" is pretty nasty.
The AR 16" carbine are loud, they always make me wonder about
M4s in a stone building in Afghanistan!

22 mag handguns are obnoxious. Lotta bark for the little bite.

Never been around one of the AR pistols, noise is a big reason
there isn't one here. After cost/benefit.

Current trend is light and handy, so 20" is very popular. I like 24" on sporters and 27" on long range guns. Muzzle blast from the only 20" was in a 6 BR and it was horrendous to say the least, shock wave concussion.

This is a personal thing, no right or wrong, what ever floats your boat.

What???? 20" barrel seems the tipping point. 18" make ears bleed!!

I can attest the difference in noise level between my 16" 338-06 and the 23" 338-06 is VERY noticeable

When I’ve had 243’s rebarreled the barrels are longer, not shorter than the previous one.
A 24” barrel is the minimum, and a 24” barrel on a 22 Hornet is joy to shoot.

A carbon fiber barrel seems louder than a steel barrel and a .243 has a snappy crack. My problem is a longer barrel isn't ideal for someone who shoots targets of opportunity pretty much every day.

^^ THIS ^^

30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk is obscenely loud with an equally impressive fireball as well.

I don't really gravitate towards anything shorter than 20" in any bottle-neck rifle chamberings and I prefer 22"+.

I owned a 20” and a 22” 7mm-08 at the same time. The noise difference was very noticeable. To me 22” is the sweet spot. I still have the 20” but only because it is in a youth rifle. I wish it had a 22” barrel. Yep, the 20” is very handy, but I have a 22” youth 243 as well, and the tradeoff in noise reduction is very worth the 2” of barrel.

I’ve never shot a 7-08 longer than 22”. Isn’t a 24” barrel 280 territory? Why shoot a short action with a long barrel? It’s not like a “long” action is unbearable - you just need a long barrel to use the powder, and once you start putting long barrels on short-action cartridges, I really don’t see the attraction. I would guess any handiness of a short action over long is gone once you go over 22”.

Muzzle blast is worse to me than recoil.

I will check my load data when I get home. There was a short action load, either 243 or 7mm-08, I’m thinking Viht N560, that was so obnoxious that I actually preferred a 338, 250 NPT @ 2700+ (26” barrel).

But like I said, I think muzzle blast bothers me more than recoil.

Ok, as long as I am digging this hole, I will add that these were all Win M70s. The 243 and 20” 7mm-08 had featherweight profile barrels. The 22” 7mm-08 had a standard profile barrel, stainless, synthetic stock.

The 22” 7mm-8 with a standard profile 22” barrel, synthetic stock, was a pig. No reason to carry that over a 270, 280. In fact, I have a 270 stainless featherweight that carries nicer than that ‘08. I’m talking for hunting.

I will catch heck, but I think short action cartridges should have 22”, light profile barrels. Otherwise, they have very few benefits, and velocity/energy disadvantages, over standard cartridges.

I have one 26" barreled 308win that thinks it's a 30-06 or more when it comes to M.V. it's certainly more pleasant than a 16", but I put a blast directer on the shorty and it isn't bad. Performance wise I agree with 24" minimum if rated speeds are desired. In my tests 22" barrels struggle along behind, and are a lousy compromise between portability and Performance. A 24" barrel isn't bad at all to carry in the field. Certain rounds do better in shorter barrels. My 18" 35 Remington doesn't have any problems meeting rated speeds, and it's bark isn't any worse than a longer version

.357’s have a nasty, sharp crack. Definitely different than the boom of a .44mag.

I have a 16” .308 but don’t recall shooting it unsuppressed. 18” 7-08 is not noticeably different than a 22” to my ears.

5.56 from a 10.5” barrel isn’t nearly as loud to my ears as most claim it to be. 22 mag seems a lot louder than it should be. 22lr seems louder than it should be when fired from a pistol.

357 Mag as stated above is LOUD!

Maybe some of it has to do with individual perception and hearing range. Overall a deeper boom is less bothersome to me but that seems to contradict 5.56 from SBR’s not being as bad as most say that is. Overall 5.56 is obnoxious but I don’t hear a big difference with hearing pro between a 10’5” and 16” barrel. Starting with an 18” barrel is where I notice a difference.

Just bought a Whitworth CZ in 270 with a slim profile 24 inch barrel. Shot it the first time yesterday and it was perfect.

No blast and yet not muzzle heavy. I am going to like it.

I think you are making up rules for yourself. You might shoot a short action with a long barrel to gain velocity and reduce muzzle blast. A 24" 7-08 will be quieter than your 22". And slightly faster. A 26" 7-08 will be much quieter than your 22" and a bit faster as well. Speed gains might be marginal or they might not.

And yes, run light profile barrels. You can run a #1 contour barrel in 24" or 26"

If you aren't going to run a suppressor the best thing you can do for your ears is run longer barrels. Also cartridges with different expansion ratios. A 26" 308 is quiet. A 26" 35 Whelen is also very quiet.

..............Well everything is gonna have some tradeoffs; gain a thing over here and lose something over there. The shorter the barrel the better the handling but with more noise. I say that your best compromise is what you can handle well in the field and tolerate as well. And that depends on your particular situations.

As a reference, I got a Ruger Frontier 300 WSM; 16.5" barrel; 35.5" OAL. Have had it for about 14 years and I bought it new. Great handling in the field. Been using ear plugs, muffs etc. My hearing is fine. Loud? Oh yeah. During daylight there is no noticeable muzzle blast.

Very few average hunters/shooters would consider owning something like this 'lil beast. However when one can easily tolerate its recoil, noise etc, then my choice is the better handling with a shorter tube.