Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
I vote for as long as you are willing to carry. 28" or something very close to that would be my minimum. A 300g bullet is going to need a slow powder get max velocity out of them. Slow powder needs lots of barrel volume to expand the gas.

I built a few 338 Edges which are fairly close to the same case volume. 28" was the shortest barrel I used, also the slowest. My favorite was a fluted #7 contour that was 32" long. Great velocity and a sweetheart to shoot.
Is the slower powder required in order to obtain max velocity? Or is it required in order to counter balance chamber pressure at initial ignition
with heavier bullets?
Years back when there were far fewer powder choices, very long barrels were needed in order to obtain best velocity with
the large capacity cases.
Today however much of that has changed, so that even the very large capacity cases the Chey Tac and others
are getting the required results with shorter barrels than in the past.
My son has a 30" on a 338x378 and with 300 gr bullets his velocity is about 2975 ish with 106 gr of Retumbo.
My B I L has a 338 with a 416 case which has the same capacity but is beltless as opposed to belted.
His barrel is 38" and with the same bullet his velocity is only about 50 fps faster on average.
First off don't believe all the claims you hear people talking about even face to face, let alone on the internet.
I had a guy tell me this year that he gets 2950 with a 300 gr using 92 gr of H 1000 in an Edge.
That's just BS, as a good friend uses the same powder and 250s and that would be about max for him in his.