Short barreled big bores
- Thread starter Dosing
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The need for a short handy rifle is not caliber specific, and generally speaking a large bore looses less velocity by reducing the barrel length than is a small bore. My .375 Ultra carbine gets carried more than any other gun I own, on average about 200 days per year and the confidence it inspires from a 380 gr RN at 2350 is comforting. Blast is only objectionable if I happen to shoot into the wind, or in a confined area where the sound can bounce back on me.
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I know it's not really short but I just got my 458 Safari Express back last night. Had it cut to 21 1/2". It's a whole new gun. I just don't like the feel of too short barreled guns. They are very handy and make a lota sense, but then they start to look like a Ruger Alaskan. Hahaha.
I have a 350 Rem mag in a Ruger stainless 77MKII, had the barrel trimmed to 19", this and the short action makes for a very handy little boomer. Barrel contour is fairly thick, and this helps reduce recoil. Accuracy with factory ammo is best group of exactly 1" at 100, will be working up loads later this summer to see what a 200gr barnes triple shock and a 250gr speer hot cor will do, a Limbsaver recoil pad takes a fair bit of the bite off, still a bit of fun, but a very nice package overall. I find the recoil less sharp than my custom 300 Win mag. This one's a keeper.
Finger Toes
Regular
- Location
- Yellowhead County
The need for a short handy rifle is not caliber specific, and generally speaking a large bore looses less velocity by reducing the barrel length than is a small bore. My .375 Ultra carbine gets carried more than any other gun I own, on average about 200 days per year and the confidence it inspires from a 380 gr RN at 2350 is comforting. Blast is only objectionable if I happen to shoot into the wind, or in a confined area where the sound can bounce back on me.
cool pics
Where the heck is the bear in that pic? Or is it just a scenic you threw in to mess with us?
I agree. While the weight makes it a pussycat to shoot, when I need to cover ground I carry my Marlin 1895 GS or Ruger SRH.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The barrel is a stainless fluted 20" 1:12 .375 from Ron Smith. I was considering the .378 Weatherby but choose the .375 Ultra for its cheaper brass cost, I often have between 4-500 loaded, the point was to get the same ballistics as a long barrel .375 H&H, which I achieved.
Where the heck is the bear in that pic? Or is it just a scenic you threw in to mess with us?
Yup, gottcha!
The idea though was to show that this rifle is carried at all times of year. There were some seals hanging around the flow edge, but no bears . . . that I saw.
Boomer,
I have actually had experience with three 20" H&H rifles. Two of them were Mark X commercial Mausers that we shortened the barrels on.
We shot for group, and chronographed, five rounds from each rifle before shortening the barrels, and five from each after. All twenty rounds were from the same box of 300 gr factory ammo.
The accuracy was unchanged, around 1 1/2" at 100 yd. The velocity loss was negligible. It has been at least twenty years ago, and I am not handy to my notes, but I know for sure the velocity loss from 24 to 20 inches was less than 50 fps.
IIRC, you shoot heavier bullets than that in your Ultra Mag, but for 300 gr there was little difference in two shortened barrels we did. The third rifle was Churchill Arms that had a severely pranged muzzle. We never chrongraphed it, just shortened it, reinstalled the front sight and went afield.
Ted
