Barrel shortened?

F

fitz

New member
Having a couple of barrels threaded. Should I also have them shortened? One is for a Savage walking Varminter in .223 and the other is for a Savage model 93 in 22 mag. From what I've been able to gather this should have no negative impact as long as it is done properly. Is that correct?
 
Barrel length doesn't have much to do with accuracy. Long barrels have more velocity which helps at long range. However, short barrels are stiffer so they can be more accurate up until that point at long range. Chopping a barrel should have little to no difference in accuracy, but perhaps a POI shift or you may need to change your load. As long as it's cut/crowned properly, you should be fine. Since getting a suppressor I have shortened most of my barrels at the same time I had them threaded.
 
I wouldn't worry about cutting the 22 mag barrel down if you're putting a rim fire suppressor on it, they don't weigh enough to hurt anything IMO.
 
I had my .22 Mag cut down to 18" to keep the over all package maneuverable. Had a .17 HMR barrel cut down to 18" too, for the same reason. I don't have my Spectre yet though, so have not shot either of them since the chop and thread. But I don't expect to lose much, if any velocity, from those rounds, at 18". I'll clock 'em and see if the suppressor ever gets out of jail, maybe another month or so, maybe...

My centerfire barrels, I had some cut short for over all package length, others I've left long because I couldn't bring myself to give up the velocity. So far, all I've used is one I had cut to 19" (from 25"). It lost 240 fps with the chop. But, for that one, it's been worth it to me, I like that it's only about 1/2" longer now with the can than it was before. It's a .20-250 and still launching 39 BK's at 4000 fps, so still pretty flat and so far on a dozen coyotes it's been killing well.

- DAA
 
I cut a 17HMR barrel from 22" to 16.25". I still get box velocity out of it. I didn't do any numbers before cutting it though. There is a thread around here somewhere with the 10 shot calculations.
 
I'm shooting a 16 inch 223 with a Harvester only problem is with factory ammo, usually everything has too slow of a burn rate and end up with unburned powder, started loading with benchmark and getting matched velocity to my Zmax ammo without the powder flying everywhere
 
I'm shooting a 16 inch 223 with a Harvester only problem is with factory ammo, usually everything has too slow of a burn rate and end up with unburned powder, started loading with benchmark and getting matched velocity to my Zmax ammo without the powder flying everywhere
 
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