Good evening friends-

I discovered this website by accident several months ago. It has provided me with a lot of good advice which I appreciate.

I have a model 12FV in .223Rem from Cabelas. What I would like to do is buy a 28 or 30 inch barrel from McGowen in .223 AI to stick on it. My question is, is that too long of a barrel for that action as well as the action screws that hold the action to the stock? To me, in my inexperience, it just seems like that long of a tube would cause that much more stress on the action.

Maybe the better question to ask is what length of barrel is needed to get max velocity from the .223AI cartridge? Would I be better off selling that rifle and buying one of the 3-screw target actions for the benefit of having that much stiffer of an action?

The purpose for the rifle is 500 yard target shooting, NW Ohio whistle pigs, a trip out west for prairie dogs and hopefully a coyote or two.

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas.

Uncle Jimmy.