Is a bull barrel practical for hunting?

I agree with cracker on having all the accuracy you can get, but I meant mechanics wise, I have a well built rifle with medium barrel, and I don't think a bull barrel or any other mechanical tweaks are necessary for me. I get much better results from following ballistic tables and practicing my. breathing more than tweaking my trigger down to less pull weight or using a rifle with a few grand invested. But that's just my own opinion. I think being comfortable with a rifle goes a long way over mechanical tweaks.

All of your feedback is great.

Another thing I learned is to have a rifle sling that doesn't get in your way when your ready to take a shot.

I also rub a little soap on my trigger, the bar kind. It gives a little extra grip and I can feel it better under my finger even with gloves.
Just don't rub it on loaded, please remove your bolt and use a safety if you try this. I dont want to see anyone on the news because you shot your foot while soaping your trigger.
 

All of this brings up a zillion questions. The first of which is "practical" for what form of hunting?

If the "hunter" (hard for me not to call the bloke simply a shooter) is lobbing bullets at 1000 yards at prairie dogs, obviously he is prone, shooting in a pedestrian fashion and off of a bench or a bipod. Then, sure, a bull barrel would be entirely practical.

If our hunting is predator calling and the shooting is off cross-sticks, I'm favor a lighter barrel, probably a three-contour. Coyotes and bobcats often suddenly appear at close range and you need a rifle that handles like a shotgun ... and a bull barrel isn't going to cut it.

Big game hunting? Stronger men than I've ever been often favor really heavy rifles. Fine ... and carry my share.

We should also ask the question: Can a rifle barrel be too light to be "practical?"

Again, I guess it depends on your taste in balance and shootability. Personally, I do not like a muzzle-light rifle and I've had troubles in the field with really lightweight rifles.

On a big game rifle, my lower limit is about seven pounds all-up. Your mileage may vary.

Some of my old readers might remember that I once had a .280 Ackley built that exactly matched my Lil Blue Thang, my beloved Walking Varminter which is in .223 Ackley. I shot the little .223 Ackley superbly (still do) and I had visions of a light and portable .280 Ackley that would handle and kill just as well.

To make a long story short, I struggled with the super light .280 Ackley for about three years and eventually sold it in disgust. I could shoot it off the bench like a master, but put me in the field with it and the rifle was a useless collection of best-quality parts and absolutely NO MAGIC.

Sooooo, my opinion, based on sixty or so years of experience in killing critters (who dreadfully needed it) is that a rifle barrel can be too heavy to be practical, at least for my use. And a rifle barrel can also be too light to be practical ... again, in my opinion and for my use.

Your mileage may, and probably will, vary.

Steve Timm
 
i shoot a 527 varmint .223. Its really more of a medium weight barrel. I really like it. It really is more stable for long shots but those are rare calling coyote around here.

Of course I try to walk as little as possible when predator hunting because its my rest from upland hunting.

I do have sporterweight guns and if I was going to be walking really far or doing some walk around hunting like jackrabbits I would take one of those.

Overall I prefer the medium weight. The entire gun with scope should weigh between 8 and 9 lbs for me.

Lots of bull barrel guns weigh 9-10lbs with no scope. The final setup coming in between 10 and 12 lbs. There is no way i'd lug more then 9lbs around the woods.

I like the lower noise level of a 24"BBL too because I don't wear protection when predator calling( I do in all other hunting situations).
 
It decides on the hunt but my go to gun is a .223 rem 700 with a 20" barrel. Its well balanced the short barrel doe`s not hangup in the brush, or hit every tree around me if I need to change position for the shot. And its heavy enough to be steady. I use a neoprim sling and it stays in place and takes alot out of carrying it.
 
When I made my first Varmint rifle choice I considered what I was going to do with the rifle. I wanted to hunt Coyotes, but also wanted to shoot ground squirrels. So I got a 12 FV in .204. I experienced the same things that others have with the Bull Barrel. With the 26" barrel and the light weight synthetic stock the rifle was always tipping forward or backwards on the shoulder. I read that you can add weight to the Butt of the stock to equalise the balance, but that would also add More weight. I rarely carry that .204 any distance now, but when I only had 1 rifle to share the duty of a couple of different species, it worked well for me.
Its Good to see the thoughts of others here...
 
Truth be told, I sure don't need a bull barreled rifle today with the oustanding accuracy I'm getting with light weight sporters. So, the argument that a bull barrel is required for "better" accuracy is a non-issue.

Both targets below were shot at 100 yards.

Weatherby Vanguard in 223 w/20" barrel, and weighs in at 6 3/4 pounds.

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CZ 572 in 223

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I've dumped quite a few heavy rigs over the past 3 years.

For me, it is'nt practical as most farms I groundhog hunt ya gotta walk them. Also I've edged past 50.

My sporter weights shoot fairly well, good enough to get it done.

Now if I hunted P.D.'s out west and could be driving to most spots it'd be a heavy varmint rig.

I guess between AR's and bolt guns I own about 8 heavy jobs. of those very few see the field, only paper at the club.
 
To a certain extent it depends on the type of hunting that you are going to use it for. I have a Remington 700 VS that weights about 13 lbs w/scope. Pervious owner thought it would make a good deer rifle. He found it too heavy to carry up and down the hills around here. I intend to use it in the pdog towns (very little walking). Now if I was going someplace where they think they need a "bean-field rifle" and was going to be sitting on my duff all day waiting for a shot it would be a great choice.
 
Most of the rifles I use are bull barrel, but I don't do much of anything except predator hunting and rarely make a stand more than 1/4 mile from my vehicle. It's just not necessary in the country I hunt.

I also often deliberately set up for longer range with the caller way out there (past 600yds). Not much chance of fast action there.

Nothing against sporter barrels, and I own a few, just seems the rifles I hunt with are usually bulls.

That may change when I start to approach middle age, but that's a ways down the road (I'm only 57).
rolleyes.gif
 
Recently purchased a Remington 700 SPS Varmint in .204. Came with a 26" barrel that I felt was a bit long. Have a couple other .204 with medium barrels that are 22" so thats what I had my smith cut this one to. It really improved the weight and handling characteristics of this rifle IMO. You will loose some velocity cutting a barrel but I doubt that a coyote or groundhog could tell the difference. Best of both worlds.

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Quote:Martyn4802: For me, it is'nt practical as most farms I groundhog hunt ya gotta walk them. Also I've edged past 50.


I blew through 50 more years ago than I care to admit, trotted through 60 and krept past 70
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. Hunted all of my adult life and shot HP rifle competition for more than 25 years.

Bull barrels are the bees knees for shooting offhand, as the muzzle heavy rifle balances better for that position than a light barrel. Heavy barrels also heat up slower, so are a plus for the rapid fire strings in HP competition. Most standard sporting rifle barrels to slightly heavier than SW are more than adequate for hunting accuracy and many(of equal quality) will shoot right along with the heavier versions.

For predator hunting, I prefer a lighter rifle which swings quicker than the bull barrels when catching up with a running coyote. As has been stated, bull barrels do not carry well on a sling, but if barrel is short enough, they carry well muzzle down on weak shoulder. Due to my being vertically challenged (only 5'8"), anything over 20" barrel might find the muzzle in the dirt when carried muzzle down & I stoop to set up a call or decoy.

Regards,
hm
 
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