Thinking out loud ... short barrel and .223 Rem

T

Tikka223

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So here is what I am thinking; I want a small, light, accurate rifle for the woods. In N-B you can only carry around <.244 calibers. I already have several .223s and the reloading gear so I will stick with that caliber. I hunt coyote and deer.

With the .223 Rem, how short is too short when I comes to barrel length and accuracy. I'm well aware that a short barrel length = less velocity but I would still want to be able to reach out to 400-600m with MOA accuracy.

I'm considering a T3 Varmint and perhaps cutting the barrel down ... But to what length? 16"? 18"? 20"?

How much would the average smith charge to cut and recrown a barrel?

What do you think?
 
I am looking at doing something similar with a Remy SPS tactical. Already has a 16.5" threaded barrel but it likely won't have the twist you are looking for.

J
 
I already have an SPS Tactical with the 20" barrel. I use it more as a bench rifle as it has a heavy Choate stock that it's bedded into. Even then, the twist is 1/9. I'd like to be able to shoot 80grns.

It's on the EE actually ...
 
What I'm getting from this is the OP is looking for a fast twist to fire heavy bullets which requires slow powder. Slow powder demands a longer barrel or you start spitting unburned powder out the barrel, which causes wide velocity spreads and verticals.

I have done no testing on this because the suggestion is a logical contradiction, but I would say off the cuff that a 16.5" barrel is unquestionably too short for 600 yard shooting.

I would not advise that you go any shorter than 20 inches.

There is no perfect long range bush gun. You just need to find a compromise.

Once you get the rifle heavy enough to be a decent 600 yard deer rifle it will be unusable in the woods.
 
Varget is my powder of choice. I would be happy to revise my range down to 300m, but every once and a while its fun to hit paper at longer ranges. In my long ranger .223 I was firing 80gr VLDs out of a 26" barrel at around 2800fps if my memory serves me right. That would be with 24-25 hrs of Varget.
 
That's pretty much what I figured, you look at M4s with 16" barrels, XCRs and PE90s with 18.5" barrels etc. and they all shoot out to 400m, I'm just wondering how a bolt gun would perform accuracy wise.
 
I had no problems shooting a 14.5" AR out to 500m with a 68 HPBT Match over 25 grains of Varget. Velocity for the load was only a bit more than 2600 fps, but it was still fine to 500m, after that I would want a longer barrel to push them a little faster.
 
I have a 16.7" 223 Savage with a Shilen Select Match 1-8 twist barrel shooting 77gr SMKs with 22.0gr of varget out of Rem Match brass and CCI450 primers that has given me >.2moa 3 rd groups. A short barrel can be very accurate! That will get you to 600 yards no worries. At 900y it blows around in the wind going that slow (2510fps), might want a faster load for the longer ranges :D
 
icedragonmx said:
I have a 16.7" 223 Savage with a Shilen Select Match 1-8 twist barrel shooting 77gr SMKs with 22.0gr of varget out of Rem Match brass and CCI450 primers that has given me >.2moa 3 rd groups. A short barrel can be very accurate! That will get you to 600 yards no worries. At 900y it blows around in the wind going that slow (2510fps), might want a faster load for the longer ranges :D
Click to expand...

That's what I like to hear!
 
Shouldn't cut it any shorter than 20", I did that to mine, and still had good Velocity, also Accuracy is abit better.
 
An excellent post title, "Thinking out loud ...", because a short-barrelled .223 is going to be quite a bit louder to the shooter than a regular-length barrel (partly because the shorter barrel will produce a louder muzzle blast, and partly because the muzzle is going to be several inches closer to your head). Not that that's a show-stopper by any means, just something to keep in mind as you consider your project.

Accuracy of a shortened barrel will most likely be unaffected, though if anything it might be improved (short barrels are stiffer, and so they whip/flex much less).

If you wanted to shoot beyond 600 you *might* want to worry about the few hundred fps of muzzle velocity you might lose, but I wouldn't give it a second thought for 600m and closer.

Do keep the legal aspects in mind of course:
- there is a minimum overall length that you have to meet
- if shortening a barrel after "manufacture", there is a certain minimum length
- your rifle is a centrefire not a rimfire (there are some differences that depend on this)
- note that your rifle is not a semi auto, so don't apply limits that only pertain to semis

If you were to get a barrel that was manufactured to a short length (e.g. 12", 16" etc), the "you can't shorten a barrel shorter than XX inches" would not apply, just the overall length limit.

It's a real shame in my opinion that supressors are a "prohibited device" in Canada, otherwise a 14"-barrelled .223 with a reflex supressor would make a wonderful rifle for the purposes you suggest.

Cutting a barrel and recrowning it is a very straightforward job. No idea what a gunsmith would charge, you'd have to ask around, but if you're not having the barrel refinished or a front sight re-installed, it ought to be only an hour or so of work.
 
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