Going from 22 to 20 inch barrel - how much real difference?

[Dutch2A]

I'm re-barreling my Savage 110 from .243 to .308. I found a brand new Savage 110 take-off barrel online but I'm going from a 22 inch barrel down to a 20 inch barrel. I've been waiting to find a new .308 barrel for the longest time but they are hard to find, so I grabbed this anyway. I shoot 150 grain Core-Lokt and know I will be giving up a little bit of velocity with the shorter barrel. But does anybody know- inside of 400 yards should I really notice that much extra drop on target?

[Dave Hoback]

You’ll give up 30-50fps overall. Difference? Sure. Drastic difference? Nah!

[charlie b]

Just for grins I ran it through a ballistic calculator. 50fps difference with the 155 Hornady AMax gives an extra drop of 1.5" at 400yd.

[Robinhood]

And if you use a slightly faster powder you may find some velocity you lost. Benchmark, IMR 4895 or maybe TAC.

[celltech]

I have an 18" .308 that pounds steel hard out to 800 yards. It's a great round for shorter barrels with little real world loss in performance. With a healthy does of H4895 I am getting 2635fps from a 168 ELD-M.

[pdshooter2]

since you are going from 243 to 308 at the same time you are going from 22 to 20....
YOU ARE STARTING FRESH...you lost nothing starting from zero.
tell us specifics of what you plan to shoot and we can offer advice...i have 8 308's

[Papa_D]

2" shorter means 2" less penetration according to dirty internet math.

Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk

[Dutch2A]

As far as the reason for the change, I'm not really trying to accomplish much new with the new barrel I'm not already doing. I have older Savage 110s I've owned for years in 30-06, .270 and .243. Actually I ended up with two 110s in .243 because of a really good buy I came across once. During the pandemic finding .270 and .243 was almost impossible but .308 could definitely be had. That plus I'm mostly a deer hunter (out to 400 very max) and the .243 performance has disappointed me a couple times, so I tend to like a bigger caliber. Cost for .308 ammo is also definitely more attractive so I'm thinking this should be a good move. But all my Savages have had mostly 24 inch barrels and some 22 inches, never a 20 yet. Just trying to gauge what to expect and hopefully my trusty simple 2-7x and 3-9x Leupold scopes will serve me just as well out of this barrel too- never been into spinning scope dials! Thanks for your experienced responses guys!

[jkv45]

This may help you - https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...barrel-length/

[charlie b]

That combo will do well for hunting most animals. The Rem 788 in 7mm-08 that I had was only 18 1/2" and it did the job out to 300yd (I never had reason to shoot it further in those days).

[Dave Hoback]

You stick a 150gr Core-Lokt from a 20” barrel, through Bambi’s momma, (or daddy) at 400yds…. Deer gonna fall down go BOOM!

[pdshooter2]

you just shoot factory ammo ??
you will never know the diff