Any benefit going from a 26" to a 28" barrel?

[nates450r]

Hello everyone I'm new here and would like to say hi

i have a model 10flp .308 with a 24" barrel with 1.10 twist (first gun i ever bought new)
i love the long distance tactical/sniper side of shooting so this gun fits me well.

i basically want to get a new barrel because (I think it makes the gun look meaner) i know
there are other performace benefits as well. i really like the way the 26" barrels look on these guns
i have been looking a McGowan's website for prices.

so now i saw the 28" barrel and want to know (if there is any) benefit going from a 26 to a 28 inch barrel in .308
i plan to shoot light to med ammo 110-175 grain (long range)

I'm not a gun expert but i think there comes a point when you can over barrel a rifle.
what are the benefits i can expect to see from changing from a 24" barrel??

my friend has the newer 20" barrel model and he wants my 24" inch

[Uncle Jack]

What weight bullets are you shooting?

uj

[nates450r]

lightest 110--- heavist 175 (factory for now) loads

[nates450r]

I'm not positive and correct me if I'm wrong but i think that the heaver
bullets would work better with longer barrels.

[snoog37]

Slight increase in velocity--if you handload (slower burn powder), possibly with factory ammo. With the 308 round, I'm not sure the difference will be much. 40fps maybe?--but that is just a guess--and all guns are unique.

[dolomite_supafly]

I'm not positive and correct me if I'm wrong but i think that the heaver
bullets would work better with longer barrels.

Twist is what you have to worry about. Barrel length has very little to do with stabilizing bullets. If it did have some bearing on how a bullet stabilized then there would be a lot of upset pistol shooters.

Dolomite

[Uncle Jack]

I think what he was refferring to was heavier bullets are usually propelled by slower burning powders and might benefit from a longer barrel. Personally, I think 24" is fine for the 308 case capacity. As noted above, you might gain a few additional FPS with a 26" barrel, but hardly worth the effort or expense. Now, if you're just lookin out to be lookin good, that's a different story....spare no expense!

uj

[nates450r]

I think what he was refferring to was heavier bullets are usually propelled by slower burning powders and might benefit from a longer barrel. Personally, I think 24" is fine for the 308 case capacity. As noted above, you might gain a few additional FPS with a 26" barrel, but hardly worth the effort or expense. Now, if you're just lookin out to be lookin good, that's a different story....spare no expense!

uj

well when i bought my 10flp LE model my friend got the varmit model 12 (22-250 with 26" barrel) it looks better (imo with 26") also i cant remember ware but i though i saw a factory savage model cambered in the .308 with 26" bull barrel

i notice that there are a lot of varmit and tactical rifles with 26" barrels i did not know if it adds to the sability of the bulletor what, because i also see many tactical rifles with 20" barrels as well-

[sandrifle]

I would encourage you to go with a 30" finished just for the fun and learning experience or it. Because you are, I am assuming putting this on a Savage action and most likely going traditional with a nut, you can just start at 30" and work your way back to whatever you end up feeling satisfied with, hopefully a performance based decision rather than looks. A friend and I have tinkered with 308s out to 34" shooting with iron and scoped in the Palma discipline. I am a little more inclined towards tactical steel/F-class type shooting and have settled on a performance/comfort level of 28" to 29" based on the velocities that I am interested in for the ranges and bullet performance that is available when shooting the 308 through a magazine fed setup. I would go with a twist at 11 or 12, either will work perfectly fine. Obviously you are aware that Savage offers 30" barrels on several of their target models and to start with less expense you might be able to hunt a used one down just to start with, although twist rate might not be ideal. Last thought on contour if weight is a huge concern you could do a MTUish straight taper to .850" at the 30" mark and you might end up with somewhere around the .900" at you desired finish length of 26-28". I hope I have helped and not muddied up your direction.

[nates450r]

I would encourage you to go with a 30" finished just for the fun and learning experience or it. Because you are, I am assuming putting this on a Savage action and most likely going traditional with a nut, you can just start at 30" and work your way back to whatever you end up feeling satisfied with, hopefully a performance based decision rather than looks. A friend and I have tinkered with 308s out to 34" shooting with iron and scoped in the Palma discipline. I am a little more inclined towards tactical steel/F-class type shooting and have settled on a performance/comfort level of 28" to 29" based on the velocities that I am interested in for the ranges and bullet performance that is available when shooting the 308 through a magazine fed setup. I would go with a twist at 11 or 12, either will work perfectly fine. Obviously you are aware that Savage offers 30" barrels on several of their target models and to start with less expense you might be able to hunt a used one down just to start with, although twist rate might not be ideal. Last thought on contour if weight is a huge concern you could do a MTUish straight taper to .850" at the 30" mark and you might end up with somewhere around the .900" at you desired finish length of 26-28". I hope I have helped and not muddied up you direction.

thanks for all the information, based on what i plan to use the gun for (hunting and not comp) i would prob be happy with a stock savage 26' im not looking to do a super custom gun. at the most i would possibly have a barrel made with a different twist rate. if i could find a stock savage 26" inch i would be happy for now.

[GaCop]

Become a paid member (12/yr) and you'll have access to the classifieds. Sooner or later the barrel your looking for will crop up at a good price.

[lwink]

If you're going aftermarket I would look at the site sponsors rather than the manufacturers in most cases -- Jim Briggs at NSS can get you great deals on Shilen and McGowen, in the 308 you'd have a good shot at getting a nice 10 twist with no wait. SSS would also be worth looking at for Douglass barrels..

[dcloco]

This is actually a good debate. Always a trade off.

Shorter barrel = stiffer barrel and less whip. Also lighter to carry.

Longer barrel = generally, more muzzle velocity. Increase/decrease depends on caliber, bullet weight, and powder used.

Built a 32" barrelled Savage in 338 RUM that is an absolute tack driver, especially at long distance. Have personally witnessed a 20" barrelled 223 shoot lights out at 600 yards (as in, under 2" groups).

Decide what YOU want to build and go from there. Nice thing about Savage rifles...you, a barrel nut wrench, and 15 minutes of time equals a barrel change.

[Hammer]

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Don't know nothin' 'bout no carbines.


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[nates450r]

For now anyway-I plan on using mostly factory loads with an avarage bullet weight 160-180.

[jrmy_1]

I'd go with max. finished length you can get with the base price from an aftermarket barrel. I went with .308 Brux barrel and the base price was good to 30" finished length, I think most of the other companies are good to 28". I can always have it rechambered down the road to any other .308 caliber cartridge or keep it as a 308win if the throat wears out or the crown gets damaged. Might be able to rechamber a couple times....don't know.

[mattk287]

I'd go with max. finished length you can get with the base price from an aftermarket barrel. I went with .308 Brux barrel and the base price was good to 30" finished length, I think most of the other companies are good to 28". I can always have it rechambered down the road to any other .308 caliber cartridge or keep it as a 308win if the throat wears out or the crown gets damaged. Might be able to rechamber a couple times....don't know.

Very good point on getting a longer barrel life. I have seen big payoffs in one rifle, a .300 winmag with a 29" barrel using Retumbo and 200gr & over bullets. Might sound far fetched, but I witnessed a 150-200fps gain going from 26" to 29" in .300wm. Of course, two different rifles, but nonetheless, impressive.