Cutting down a rifle barrel
- Thread starter SJCbklyn
- Start date
Well, no. The law reads:
"(a) Firearm
The term ‘‘firearm’’ means (1) a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length ... [or] (3) a rifle having a barrel or
barrels of less than 16 inches in length..."
A barrel of exactly 16 inches would be legal and 15.99999999 inches would be illegal, but why would anyone bet his continued freedom on the thickness of a layer of bluing or the precision of a BATFE agent's tape measure? No one would ever know the difference between 16, 17, or even 18 inches except the kind of nitpiicker who counts the threads in his bedsheets.
Jim
"(a) Firearm
The term ‘‘firearm’’ means (1) a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length ... [or] (3) a rifle having a barrel or
barrels of less than 16 inches in length..."
A barrel of exactly 16 inches would be legal and 15.99999999 inches would be illegal, but why would anyone bet his continued freedom on the thickness of a layer of bluing or the precision of a BATFE agent's tape measure? No one would ever know the difference between 16, 17, or even 18 inches except the kind of nitpiicker who counts the threads in his bedsheets.
Jim
i have a rem pump carbine in 3006 with 18" barrel and shoot 55grs of imr 4350 with nosler 165gr BT bullets and its certain death on whitetails. i worked up that load starting at 52grs of 4350 to 58grs of 4350 and the 55gr load will shoot into a 1" three shot group from a leadsled at 100 yrds with a 2x7 leupold scope. i have never noticed flash or recoil when hunting and when at the range i wear good hearing protection. i am going to buy another 2.5x8 verix111(i have two) leupold and put on it as the 2.5x8 verix111 is much better than my older 2x7 verix11. eastbank.
Have a Stevens 200 (made by Savage) in .223. It had a 22" sporter barrel. I just recently shortened it myself, to 18".
Of course, I lost some velocity. But, the loss with the .223 is not great, usually only 20 to 30 fps per inch. In real terms, I get about 2.5" greater bullet drop, between 200 yards and 300, than before.
Accuracy is the same, which has always been excellent. Haven't even needed to rework my handloads.
Of course, I lost some velocity. But, the loss with the .223 is not great, usually only 20 to 30 fps per inch. In real terms, I get about 2.5" greater bullet drop, between 200 yards and 300, than before.
Accuracy is the same, which has always been excellent. Haven't even needed to rework my handloads.
FrankenMauser
New member
Yep, it really depends on the cartridge, load, and particular barrel.
I have two chopped Marlins that lost negligible amounts of velocity.
The aforementioned 16.25" 336 lost an average of only 72 fps (IIRC), with 4.25" of barrel missing.
And a Marlin with a Remlin 444 barrel that got chopped from 22" to 19" lost only 30-odd fps. That barrel shoots faster at 19" than most guys get out of their 22" barrels.
I have two chopped Marlins that lost negligible amounts of velocity.
The aforementioned 16.25" 336 lost an average of only 72 fps (IIRC), with 4.25" of barrel missing.
And a Marlin with a Remlin 444 barrel that got chopped from 22" to 19" lost only 30-odd fps. That barrel shoots faster at 19" than most guys get out of their 22" barrels.
Why? Does some hunter guy live in an overgrown dense forest looking for deer? The rifling in a bore is used to not only twist the bullet for exiting the muzzle, but takes the pressure push designed for that bore (inch turn for design). Reducing some of the trail of rifling leaves a short-fall for the full expansion of powder in the casing and less accuracy in the impact.
Wrong.
1) ALL of the powder is consumed within the first few inches of barrel ahead of the chamber. This has been proven for decades.
2) Barrel twist rate and length are not actually related. A shorter barrel, with a given twist rate, is no less accurate than a longer one with the same twist, if all other factors are equal. In fact, a shorter barrel can sometimes be inherently more accurate, because a shorter barrel of a given diameter is automatically stiffer....and thus does not suffer as much from barrel whip.
What IS lost, with a shorter barrel vs. a longer one, is some velocity. That does NOT translate into a loss of accuracy, in most cases. Certainly, less velocity will produce more bullet drop, but that does not necessarily produce less accuracy. It can be true that a given load does not work as well in a shorter barrel (vs. a longer one)...but that is easily addressed by tweaking the load.
My 18" .223 barrel is every bit as accurate as it was at 22", before I cut it down. It even likes the same loads. The ONLY thing that changed was velocity and therefore, bullet drop, which was easily compensated for by scope adjustment.
1) ALL of the powder is consumed within the first few inches of barrel ahead of the chamber. This has been proven for decades.
2) Barrel twist rate and length are not actually related. A shorter barrel, with a given twist rate, is no less accurate than a longer one with the same twist, if all other factors are equal. In fact, a shorter barrel can sometimes be inherently more accurate, because a shorter barrel of a given diameter is automatically stiffer....and thus does not suffer as much from barrel whip.
What IS lost, with a shorter barrel vs. a longer one, is some velocity. That does NOT translate into a loss of accuracy, in most cases. Certainly, less velocity will produce more bullet drop, but that does not necessarily produce less accuracy. It can be true that a given load does not work as well in a shorter barrel (vs. a longer one)...but that is easily addressed by tweaking the load.
My 18" .223 barrel is every bit as accurate as it was at 22", before I cut it down. It even likes the same loads. The ONLY thing that changed was velocity and therefore, bullet drop, which was easily compensated for by scope adjustment.
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