Cutting down a Bolt gun Barrel

[TXinfidel]

Currently have a 26" .308 Rem XCR Tactical that I kind of have buyers remorse for not ordering the 20" model. The gun flat out shoots great with factory 175 SMKs from Blackhills. I have a DeadAir Sandman S on order and just am not wanting to add that length to such a long stick.

How stupid would it be to have a smith cut the barrel down maybe to 22" and thread for a muzzle brake? Loss of accuracy? Or should I just re-barrel it some day in the future and shoot it until then?

[Pappabear]

not a bad idea at all. since you need to thread it anyway, go for it. Its a solid move. 22 is good.

PB

[maximus83]

If it was a comps rifle, with a 308 I'd keep it at 26 or at least 24. With 308, you need all the barrel and velocity you can get to stay competitive at long range (it's more about wind drift than drop).

If not for comps, 22 is fine for 308. And you could go even shorter without too much velocity loss, again assuming you're not using the rifle for long range comps. Frank Galli mentions (http://www.scout.com/military/snipers-hide/story/1496625-hello-2015-now-replace-your-308) that 22 inch is about the perfect length for 308.

[Gunfixr]

I have a Savage 110 pre-accutrigger in 308, which I took the barrel down to 20" from 24".
I cannot tell any difference in accuracy.
I still sometimes wish I'd just left it. Yes, the can on it made it ungodly long. But, I started toying with a local long range shoot. Also, it was "Hollywood quiet" at 24". I did it because of the ungodly length, that much heavier, and the 2" of poi shift. Was trying to make it shorter/lighter, and less shift. It's less than 1/2" now.

Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk

[Guns-up.50]

The loss of velocity is not going to affect you much. I will say if re-barreling is something you are considering save your money shoot what you got until you can afford what you want.

[Mrpike]

As long as it's done correctly you should lose no accuracy cutting the barrel down. Depending on use, I wouldn't be afraid to cut it down to 18, especially if you're going to run it suppressed. How many rounds on the barrel? I'd say if the barrel is fairly new go for it. If it has 4000 rounds on it I wouldn't waste the money, shoot it out and rebarrel it with exactly what you want.

[FourT6and2]

Nobody has mentioned barrel harmonics here. If you add/remove material from a barrel, which is just a big tuning fork, you will change the frequency at which it resonates. That means whatever load you were shooting before... might not shoot the same after you cut the barrel. Maybe it will. But that'd be pure luck. That doesn't mean the gun will no longer be accurate. But you probably won't be able to shoot the same load. If you hand load, it's not a problem. You can just do a new load workup. If you shoot factory ammo, it will be an issue because you'll have to find a new factory load that shoots the same as before via trial-and-error. And that's a pain in the ass.

[ColtSeavers]

http://rifleshooter.com/2014/12/308-winchester-7-62x51mm-nato-barrel-length-versus-velocity-28-to-16-5/

Nice article/test on cutting down a .308 barrel. They also did .223 and .300WM in other articles.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

My 20 inch Rem700 AAC shots FGMM 7.62 175gr at 2650fps. I agree that longer is faster, but it seems like .308 doesn't lose as much with shorter barrels. I'd cut it down rather than rebarrel. 308 barrels can last a long time so you might as well get the use out of it. For competitions, it seems 308 is a short bus round no matter the barrel length. the 6.5 variants are where it's at to be competitive- so I don't think a couple of inches here or there will matter much on the 308.

[TXinfidel]

The "harmonics" were more what I was worried about than anything. I just didn't want to be screwing with stress relief in the barrel or something else my tiny cop brain doesn't know about. I think 21.5" with a brake is going to be the ticket for this one. Also have a KRG X-RAY possibly coming for it. I am OK with finding another load to shoot if I have to.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

The "harmonics" were more what I was worried about than anything. I just didn't want to be screwing with stress relief in the barrel or something else my tiny cop brain doesn't know about. I think 21.5" with a brake is going to be the ticket for this one. Also have a KRG X-RAY possibly coming for it. I am OK with finding another load to shoot if I have to.

Short and fat is supposed to be better. No doubt the harmonics will change, I don't know what the impact would be on shots. A can is going to change the harmonics too, right?

[TXinfidel]

Yeah, I imagine sticking a 1lb weight on the end of a barrel will.

[sandsunsurf]

I've had three bolt guns that I've had chopped when getting threaded, and all shoot better now compared to the factory. I cut my Rem 700 PSS .308 to 20" and occasionally wish I had gone shorter, but ultimately it's a great gun. I run a Sandman Ti on it, used to run a heavy-as-all-getout YHM 7.62 SS can. I almost never shoot past 500m. I've never wanted it longer, that's for sure. I really feel like if you're going to cut a couple inches off, you might as well go as short as is useful. I just chopped a Ruger 77/17 to 17". I was wobbling between 16" for ultimate shortness or 18" for a little more velocity. So I split it.

[masan]

My benchrest rifles both have barrels around 22" (21 7/8", 22 3/16"). You will not lose any accuracy, just velocity, so your bullets will have a longer flight time. This means the wind has a little more time to push the bullets around, gravity has a little more time to pull the bullet down, etc. The actual accuracy potential of the rifle will not be affected negatively. Chances are, any competent gunsmith whom you have cut it down and recrown/thread it will cut a better crown than the one cut at the factory, possibly increasing the performance of the barrel.