I am looking to get my son a new rifle. He isn't the biggest kid in the world so I have been considering a "Youth Model" rifle. I am noticing that besides shortening the stocks most manufacturers also slice a couple of inches of the barrel. My question is, which round (.223 or .308) will be least affected by a 20 inch barrel vs. a 22 or 24 inch barrel in regards to decreased accuracy and loss of velocity? I am guessing .308 but would like to ask those that are more knowledgable. Thanks

My understanding is that accuracy won't likely be affected at all. Velocity will drop around 200 fps for every 2 inches, though. The only part about accuracy that will matter is losing 200 fps, your bullet drop out at 250+ yards might matter more.
But, I'll defer to those with more experience than I have also. (I've seen the same question on other forums and that is the basic answer I have read).

I would say which ever one feels the best because I don`t think he would notice any difference. Pistol shooters have barrels under 16" and some of them are tack drivers. Look at what he is going to use it on "paper or type of game" and buy the best rifle and scope you can afford. Also if you buy a Remington or Savage or other well known rifle, and it has a cut down or youth stock on it. Chances are pretty good as he grows you will be able to find a full size stock to replace it with.

I have a 20" Remington 700 Tactical (heavier barrel) that is extremely accurate in .223... Remington makes the same model in .308 and I'll assume it's equally as accurate...

It will depend on the distance your son is planning to shoot as to where the point of diminishing returns falls due to barrel length.. as long as the bullet is moving at the speed of sound for the distance involved, the accuracy should be fairly consistent...It's when the bullet starts to drop below that velocity, that any instability will potentially set in..

The .308 should maintain the velocity farther than the .223, it's a question of whether he will be shooting that far..on a regular basis.

Thanks for the answers. We are looking at a hunting rifle so I would say 200 meters/yards at most or on average. Maybe the occasional shot out to 300 meters/yards. Thanks again.

Generally a shorter barrel will be the most accurate all else being equal but as the others said you'll lose some fps/ft lbs.Myself I'd stick with a regular sized sporter with a 22" barrel for either of those cartridges.Easy enough for most kids to handle and he won't outgrow the gun in a year or two.This would also help absorb more recoil if you go with the .308 over the .223.

With the .223, a 20" barrel is really pretty nice and handles well. Velocity loss from a 24" won't be a whole lot.



1) True
2) Completely wrong.

If your looking at a hunting rifle and your son isn't a big kid and isn't recoil tolerant I'd shy away from a 308, a youth 308 can be a real mule unless you get some managed recoil loads to start with. As far as the 223, I've killed deer with one in a pinch but don't consider it a big game rifle. I'm a smaller person and shoot youth stocks on most of my rifles or have had my stocks shortenned to youth dementions.

You might consider a fullsize rifle in a 243, 260, 0r 7mm-08 and have the stock shortenned. If you buy a common rifle Rem 700, Savage/Stevens a full sized stock is easy to find when he grows into it.

Here's a Rem 700 243 that I use as a longrange coyote gun. I bought it as a fullsize and picked up a youth stock used for it. I keep the tan youth stock on it for me but move the black fullsize onto it when I take a quest hunting.



I have a couple of Stevens set up the same way in more pelt freindly cartridges. They were both fullsize stocks and one got cut down for me.

AWS

You might consider a fullsize gun but one that is very lightweight.

A tikka t-3 for example is only 6lbs with a light scope it could be 7lbs. It also comes in dang near every caliber. It will be a kicker in .308 i'd go wtih .223 if you don't hunt big game and .243 if you do hunt deer etc. It is also pretty cheap only around 500 bucks with a 3 shot moa garuntee.

I think the weight is just as big a factor as the size. anything over 7lbs scoped gets heavy real fast even for me and i'm 6'1" and work construction.

I shoot a 20" barrel .308 (H-K 770).
Seems to perform fine, but I never ran it across a chrony. The .308 was originally developeded as the T-65 for the M-14 rifle with a 22" barrel, so that should be close to optimum. If your son's small, and you decide to go .308, build it as heavy as possible, because a featherweight .308 will rock his world. Then he's got the tradeoff of packing that boat anchor, but at least he won't pick up a flinch, which is hard to cure.
Cutting the barrel back, if it has the same contour, should actually help the accuracy.

In .223 you don't seem to lose much velocity cutting back to 20" and there's not enough recoil to even be concerned with. 10 year olds shoot them just fine. My buddy's son could almost outshoot me at that age.

Maybe start with the .223 and trade in/buy a .308 in a couple years when he's packed on some pounds? You ever consider a .243?

I bought my son a 308 in a ruger compact with 16 inch barrel. I am using the reduced loads from hodogons manual. It shoots great

If recoil is an issue then a 243 would be a better choice. Let him shoot a 308 and see how he handles it.

In a 7.5 pound rifle a 243 with 100 grain bullets has 9 ft/lbs of recoil energy. A 308 with 150 grain bullets has 15.8 ft/lbs of recoil with a 7.5 lb rifle.

For each inch of barrel length reduced from say 24", velocity loss is apprx. 40 FPS, NOT 200 FPS!!!

I have put shorter barrels to the test a lot lately and if that was true my sniper rifles would all be 20-22 inch barrels.

Facts are the shorter the barrel the less velocity and if your shooting close targets than shorter barrel works but if your like me and like to get all and then some out of it than I'm for the longer barrels. Any will last a kid years these days and times.