6.5x55 out of the short barrel?
- Thread starter Nestor
- Start date
Ok from a group of 6.5 x 55 shooters
here's the list
custom rig Kreiger 24 " barrel 2 inch brake
custon rig shelien 22 " barrel 2 inch brake
cz 550 American 23.7 barrel no brake
sako a7 22 inch barrel
custom rig being built 23
all builds are 1:8
all eating 140 sst behind reloader 22
customs all under 1/2 Moa
here's the list
custom rig Kreiger 24 " barrel 2 inch brake
custon rig shelien 22 " barrel 2 inch brake
cz 550 American 23.7 barrel no brake
sako a7 22 inch barrel
custom rig being built 23
all builds are 1:8
all eating 140 sst behind reloader 22
customs all under 1/2 Moa
Backcountryal
CGN Regular
- Location
- New Zealand
2700 - 2800 is easily achievable from a 6.5, short or long barrel. Try a faster powder, try several powders, I dont think you should have any problem finding a load that will shoot well out of a short barrel, a shorter barrel will more than likely shoot tighter group than a longer barrel. Look forward to the report when its finished.
Oh? And why would that be?
I would have presumed the opposite - that a longer barrel would enhance accuracy, because the bullet has a longer exposure to the stabilizing effects of the rifling.
In Science, extremes situations are often held up as easy-to-understand examples to teach university students.
And in this case, what would be more accurate? .. the same rifle with a 1" barrel or a 40" barrel?
Decades of bench rest shooting has clearly attested to the superior accuracy of shorter barrels. Velocity is another matter altogether. BR shooters are rarely after highest velocity.
Shorter barrels are more rigid than longer ones, and the torsional vibration imparted by the bullets passage down the bore is less in the shorter barrel. This has been demonstrated countless times by shortening a barrel and subsequently obtaining improved accuracy.
In hunting rifles, we can have our cake, and eat it to. The only serious drawback to very short barrels is the increased muzzle blast, as already mentione, and the fact that the muzzle is closer to your ear. A double insult to your precious hearing.
Ted
Shorter barrels are more rigid than longer ones, and the torsional vibration imparted by the bullets passage down the bore is less in the shorter barrel. This has been demonstrated countless times by shortening a barrel and subsequently obtaining improved accuracy.
In hunting rifles, we can have our cake, and eat it to. The only serious drawback to very short barrels is the increased muzzle blast, as already mentione, and the fact that the muzzle is closer to your ear. A double insult to your precious hearing.
Ted
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tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
I believe you have misunderstood what I was attempting to say , with text a lot is lost due to no emotion and no vocal pitch .
What I was attempting to say is this , if rifle caliber X is capable of safety shooting 3000 fps at full potential whilst rifle caliber Y is cab able of safety shooting 2750 fps at full potential , what reason would one wish to make caliber X like caliber Y ? Other than recoil or enhances accuracy.
My point wasn't we should all own 354 reallyquicks or 245 zipppems but rather utilize the potential in the cartridges one currently owns .
Ty
Yeah, I got that... but my point was every cartridge choice is a compromise over some other caliber choice... thus we all make compromises based on what is sufficient or satisfactory for the intended purpose... a 129 @ 2650 is far more than sufficient for deer and other medium game... so a short, light, fast handling carbine would be ideal (maximum performance aside) for deer and general field carry... the focus becomes the platform not the performance.
I can give you a very good reason for going short in a hunting rig in a specific cartridge...
I have bench style guns in .260, 7-08 &. 308... I also have short barrel carbines for field use in the same cartridges...
This makes for a very streamlined overall battery... for hunting purposes, I am not concerned that the carbines give up 100-175 fps... their accuracy is proven and the game will think I'm shooting a 30" barrel. Long story, longer... for a hunting gun, I feel the handling of the platform is paramount, over maximizing velocity.
All of the above is JMO... there is plenty of room for other opinions.
Backcountryal
CGN Regular
- Location
- New Zealand
As Why not? said re the shorter barrels. Also with a lot of the medium type cartridges [6.5x55 etc] you dont loose much velocity with a shorter barrel, not nearly as much as the larger or longer cartridges such as the 30.06 crowd etc. Max velocity aint that important anyway. I have an 18" barrelled BSA in 7x57 and by going to a faster powder I was able to increase the velocity a bit, and still retain excellent grouping - way better than what I can shoot.
tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
Ok, that makes sense. (*Nods, thinking I'm not too old to learn something*). Thanks, Ted.
So, for a given bullet, there must be some magic barrel weight & thickness & rifling combination that maximizes accuracy.
This shorter barrel having a better chance of accuracy is interesting stuff, Ted explains some of the hocus pocus of it all very well. But yeah, there is a point where too short of a barrel will be a detriment to accuracy I don't know where it is though. I think I've read some saying 18 inch is a minimum for the best accuracy potential. But there's tremendous accuracy reports from some of the 16 inch AAC and Whisper type calibres, so...
Backcountryal
CGN Regular
- Location
- New Zealand
here in New Zealand we have a company, Shooting Systems Research, that builds custom hi tec type rifles, often on their own action and chassis. They have been shooting a lot of animals lately with 308's with 10" barrels!
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
There's less magic than you might think, provided the barrel has a straight uniform bore, the rifling is fast enough to stabilize the length of bullet you choose, and the bullet has a center of gravity that is in the same place as its dimensional center. As range extends beyond 300 yards other things come into play, but that's for another discussion. Those interested in pure accuracy above all else will tell you that the primer should be just hot enough to reliably ignite the powder charge without undue violence.
If you consider a #3 contour barrel, it would be considered light weight if it had a .375 bore, but it be much stiffer if it had a .17 bore. Both barrels might fire the first 2 or 3 shots with equal precision, but it will take much more shooting with the .17 to heat up the barrel enough to shift the POI. Additionally the .375 bore would need to be much shorter if it was to be as stiff as a 24" .17
One of the most accurate rifles I've ever owned was a Remington 700 in .222 with a Gaillard 1:7 stainless barrel which tapered to .8" at the muzzle, and my favorite load was a 52 gr MK on top of 25 grs of 748. Light bullets aren't supposed to shoot well in fast twist barrels, but no one ever told that rifle. The factory barrel lost interest with bullets much longer than a 70 gr Speer, but I never found a .224 bullet that 1:7 barrel wouldn't shoot well. My 14" AR-15 also has a 1:7 barrel, that with care it will shoot 5 rounds of .223 55 gr American Eagle .75 MOA at 100 yards. I'm sure that stiff 14" barrel has much to do with my success, mind you, the factory AR trigger makes good shooting much more of a challenge than a correctly adjusted M-700 trigger. I've got a nice selection of match bullets to try in it now, and I see no reason why it wouldn't shoot .5 MOA at 300.
Nestor, on the matter of the 6.5x55 rifle you are building. I have the Swede in military length, not for packing in the bush. I had sporters in 24" and 20" and both shot fine and were good accurate guns. A few years ago I traded for a swede sporter with a 22" barrel and a military cut down stock. For some reason that stock just fits me perfect and the 22" barrel balances it out just right. Only thing wrong with the gun was some one had messed with the sights and both front and rear were indexed wrong, plus there were misc screw holes and marks in the barrel but the action was real tight and no holes. So I put one of the Tradex barrels on that receiver with new front sight, a new Lyman peep and a Timney trigger. Nicely blued and the stock cleaned up and its a new old rifle. It is light and balanced and more accurate that I can shoot. I mostly use 140 gr and 160 grain and seldom load for the fastest speed over the most accurate. The original rifle didn't stand me $150 and the rest of the work cost about $700 and yes I could of bought a new rifle but not this one. It's a hundred years old and good for another 100 now.
I'm a happy owner of one of these new barrels as well. Swede sporter arrived in the mail and the receiver is mint for a rifle that is 72 years old. I think that 20-21" may be optimal for what I need. None of the new production rifles can be loaded using stripper clips and since I don't care for the magazines, my choice was easier 
tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
I rebarreled my 96 with. Bunch of hand tools I had at home and bought one of those barrels from midway that need to be hand reamed like .030 . Sucker shot moa after I was finished
