204 barrel length?

[turboed350]

was thinking about taking some off my barrel i have a 12fv 204 with a 26" barrel. i shoot 39-40gr bullets and like the H4895 powder so far. i want to cut some off of the barrel and not sure what ideal barrel length may be for me i dont want to lose too much fps but i also would like to be able to burn most of the powder for that case thru the barrel. so whats a good all around barrel length for the 204?

[GaCop]

What is your reasoning for shortening the barrel? I wouldn't take it below 22" but that's me. If you want shorter, you'll have to pay the velocity price. I can't say if faster powders would make up for the loss in shorter barrel lengths as I'm not shooting a 204 and am not familiar how they respond to faster burning powder versus velocity gain/loss. I'm sure someone with experience will chime in.

[Jeff518]

check this out;
http://www.bullberry.com/204Rugerdata.html
I just snagged someone's 16.5" experimental barrel, but I haven't mounted it yet...make sure you have a fire extinguisher on hand.

[turboed350]

i want to shorten it cause A that guns a tank lol and also i want to have a better crown put on the gun so i just figuired well **** why not shorten it at the same time i guess. and i think i saw some video of this tekka 204 shooting like 700yrds and he had a 21" barrel i thought so thats what gave me this thought

[Blue Avenger]

nothing wrong with the idea. Be prepared for different harmonics. your current loads could get better or worse.

[turboed350]

true that i was thinking about having to find a new load after that and yeah thats what scares me cause i like how it shoots now and not to sure if i want to chance that or not. i do have to bring the gun into a gunsmith anyways cause i want to put a bushing in the fiering pin hole i dont like the way its pushing the primer into the hole so i was just thinking may as well go all the way and start fresh too. and it does it with very light loads too so i know it not a over presure problem the hole for the fireing pin is just sloppy and im not happy with it at all the gun only has like 200-300 rounds thru it i think from factory they just did a poor job on the dimentions.

[GaCop]

From looking at Bullberry's testing, 20" still gives decent velocity. You may luck out with better accuracy with the stiffer barrel...............won't know until you try.

[viper9696]

I cut my dads down to 20" and still get 3780fps with a 32gr vmax and win748,good enough,he will NEVER shoot past 300yrds