Barrel Length

[Suo Gan]

Would like to cut down a 24" 35 Remington barrel to less than 22". Is there a chart somewhere that can tell me what the velocity would be at 22" vs. 20" vs. 18". I am trying to balance form and function in this hunting rifle. Thanks

[S.R.Custom]

Dunno about a chart, but Sierra lists the 35 Remington and their 200 grain roundnose as follows:

Max load in a 20" Marlin 336-- 2050 fps.
Max load in a 14" TC Contender-- 2050 fps.

Interesting, ain't it?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
There are charts that deal mostly with very common calibers like 308 and standard FACTORY ammo.
For reloaders IF you are using a slow burning powder 2" of choped barrel could cost you a good 60-100 FPS. A fast burning rifle powder like 4227 powder may not mean much loss at all.
My old Speer book shows a 20" barrel moving boolits along at a good pace.
An 18" would show a considerable loss with any powder except again for the faster rifle powders. One of those computer ballistic reloader programs should be able to give you a rough idea. I normally opperate on the plan of IF that is what I want I do it.... . Normally a short barrel is for up close and fast confrontations and barrel length vs. FPS is of the least consideration. A fast miss is worthless and a slower hit up close is rather perminent.

[StrawHat]

Would like to cut down a 24" 35 Remington barrel to less than 22". Is there a chart somewhere that can tell me what the velocity would be at 22" vs. 20" vs. 18". I am trying to balance form and function in this hunting rifle. Thanks

I think there was a write up in Handloader on this, John Barsness was the author. If I find it, I will post the info. I seem to remember it was not as much as we had been told to believe. Speer did a write up in one of the manuals, "Why Ballisiticians go Gray" wherein they tested a multitude of 357 Magnum revolvers with handloads and posted the velocities. The results were all over the map with no rhymne nor reason for the differences. Not sure if that applies to rifles.

I hunt with muzzle loaders and other long barreled guns. To me 24" is short!

[nicholst55]

The website 'Ballistics By The Inch' chronographed a number of popular cartridges in progressively shorter Contender barrels, and in various other guns. Unfortunately, they used all pistol and revolver cartridges for their work. Still interesting results, and it will give you an idea of some real-world results.

http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/

[lwknight]

That was a great website nicholst55.
I had read somewhere that gain comes slowly after you get past the first 16-18 inches of barrel.

[excavman]

Shot to shot deviation will probably be more than the velocity loss from a 2" cut. The deer won't know the difference anyway.

Larry

[Lead Fred]

35-40fps per inch is the general rule

[jmsj]

Suo Gan,
A friend of mine has worked in the gun industry for years, for companies like Savage, Thompson /Center and Hercules. He has also done work for the millitary regarding barrel performance. He told me that much of the old theory of barrel length vs velocity is outdated.
He says that with modern propellants in standard and some hotter cartridges, that most if not all powder is consumed in the first 19" of barrel. That little is to be gained by going longer.
jmsj

[felix]

Correct, considering our typical powders used. A bolt gun, bedded properly, shoots best with a 21.75 inch barrel without using tuners. Barrel vibes produced with those typical powders you know about. ... felix

[cajun shooter]

I remember when I was growing up in the 50's and early 60's that a shotgun bbl had to be 30" to be any good and revolvers were at the 6" mark. I know that the shotgun thing was a carry over from the BP days and the revolver was the same. With rifles the only thing that will happen with today's powders is that you will notice muzzle blast with the shorter bbl's.

[KCSO]

Even if you lose 50 fps what deer will ever notice? I got suckered on this many years ago when my Father in law convinced me that my Remington 270 wasn't any good because I lost too much velocity from a 22" barrel. Guess what with Ball powder i got the SAME velocity as he did with his 24" Winchester. Hey 50 fps isn't unusual between guns with the same barrel length. Quit worrying and trim the barrel to fit, velocity doesn't kill, accuracy does.

[BABore]

With the Marlin 45/70, going from 26 inches, then down to 22, and then to 18 1/2, you lose 25-30 fps per inch. This is based off of actual chronograph data. A different expansion ratio than the 35 Remington for sure, but it's not as drastic as with a radically overbore cartridge

With my 14" 35 Rem T/C bbl, I didn't give up that much to a longer 20 inch bbl. Mainly cause I used a faster powder to make up the difference. A typical powder for the 35 in a 20-24" bbl would be H335 or BL-C2. Shorten the bbl and speed up to H322 or BenchMark and your right back there.

[docone31]

I might just recrown it.
I prefer the longer barrels. Longer sight radius.

[Suo Gan]

I appreciate all the input. If I am only going to lose a couple hundred feet per second I am gonna lop off 4" and call it a saddle gun.

Sooner or later I will have all my projects done, but like my wife says they will all be done at the same time. I have a problem of getting bored and moving on, then coming back to a project...does anyone else do this?

[jmsj]

Suo Gan,
I'm really bad about leaving projects undone. Sometimes a project runs out of funds or I need to build a jig or fixture to complete it, good weather runs out, other more pressing things come about and occasionally I realize that I'm in above my talent.

[Bass Ackward]

There are three things to consider in your decision. Two involve jacketed use.

Many people only look at velocity loss for a decision. And many people mistakenly believe that a barrel loses "working" accuracy because of a worn throat. It loses accuracy because of muzzle cutting. Hot gases rushing passed the bullet as it breaks the seal. Military armorers learned that cutting off 1/4" of barrel and re-crowning restored accuracy.

So if you are using jacketed, cutting off the barrel naturally raises muzzle pressure, thus shortening the accuracy life without more and continued correction.

For cast that is needed to be as gentle as possible, shortening the barrel means you have to spank it harder to do the same thing or you lose powder options understanding that there is a difference between what is required per bore from differing case capacities.

[Ed K]

modeled with Accuload:

Barrel fps
24 2065
22 2045
20 2025
18 2000


Case R-P
Bullet R-P 200gr CL RN
Powder H4895
Primer Fed 210
Pressure 33500 PSI

[Lloyd Smale]

the only 24 inch marlins were the old 336a and adl pistol gripped guns and they are worth as much used as a new 20 inch gun. Rather then cut one up why dont you sell it and buy what you want.

[lead Foot]

Cutting the barrel back 4" dos'nt matter much for lead boolits. But before you cut you should put a tight pach through to find a tightest spot where you cut and crown it flat on the end for the best results (no recess).
Lead foot;

[excavman]

While playing in the back yard today I came up with some data that might be of interest to somebody besides myself so I figured I'd post it.

Object of the experiment:

Compare Barrel Length to Muzzle Velocity

Firearms used:

44Mag:
1. - Puma M92 26" Bbl
2. - Rossi R44S Single shot 24" Bbl
3. - Ruger SBH 7.5 " Bbl
4. - Ruger Vaq Bisley 5.5" Bbl

44Spl:
5. - Cim 1872 Open Top 7.5" Bbl
6. - Rossi M720 3" Bbl
Firearm #
---------------------------------1-------2--------3-------4-------5-------6
Load: 310gc/16/2400 ----1362--1333 --1041----987

44M - 250K /16/2400-----1517--1494--1209----1149

44M - 200rf/5.0/TB---------929----932-----790-----747

44Spl 200rf/4.0/TB---------885----851--------------710-----731-----674

I guess we can draw our own conclusions from the numbers.

Gee that was fun......

Larry