When considering a short barreled 10/22 build a month ago or so I was curious as to the effect of the shorter barrels on velocity. Some internet searching of mine ,(and others on CGN) indicated that a 16" barrel is ideal for the most common .22LR. However I was unable to find any definitive answers as to the effect on velocity the shorter barrel had.
I decided to go with a Dlask 12.5" barrel for my build and installed and Arma-Coated it as my last weekends project. Then this Friday my Volquartsen internals arrived. Installed them that night and took it to the range on Saturday along with 15 types of ammo to try and find out what this new rig had an appetite for. Just out of curiosity I brought along a factory stock (but well used) 18.5" barreled 10/22 and my chronograph.
I recorded the velocities of 15-20 rounds in the 12.5 barrel (these were used to "season" the barrel to the next ammo's bullet lube prior to accuracy testing) and 10 rounds in the 18.5 barrel then plugged the data into Excell when I got home.
Some of the results surprised me.
The 12.5 barreled rig gave higher velocities with every type of ammo that I tested. Ammo shot from the 18.5" barreled rig was from 85% to 98% that of the velocity out of the 12.5" barrel rig. No matter how I plotted it and studied the data I could find no trend as to whether high velocity or subsonic gave closer velocities. My theory prior to testing was that I would have equal (or close-to) velocities with subsonic and standard velocity rounds in the 12.5" barrel but lose some velocity with the high (and hyper) velocity rounds but this was not the case. In every type tested the 12.5" barrel gave higher velocities over the 18.5"
The Standard Deviation was much greater in the 18.5 barreled rig than the 12.5 barreled gun. The longer tube's SD averaged 37.2 FPS while the 12.5's SD averaged 19.8 FPS.
I did not test accuracy in the 18.5 barrel because that was not the scope of my testing. I was testing my 12.5 for accuracy and decided to bring the factory barreled 10/22 along for a velocity comparison.
That being said, with the shorter barrel giving more consistent velocities, in theory it should deliver better accuracy.
Please note that this is a test involving ONE 12.5" barrel and ONE 18.5" barrel so scientifically speaking the data sources are not that objective. However data from a small sample is better than no data at all.
I just thought I would share my test results in case anyone is considering a short barreled 10/22 build. From my testing you gain velocity and (theoretically could) gain accuracy.
And thats not even taking into account how handy and cool a short barreled 10/22 is.
Therefore my conclusion is that the 12.5" barrel is a win win proposition.
I decided to go with a Dlask 12.5" barrel for my build and installed and Arma-Coated it as my last weekends project. Then this Friday my Volquartsen internals arrived. Installed them that night and took it to the range on Saturday along with 15 types of ammo to try and find out what this new rig had an appetite for. Just out of curiosity I brought along a factory stock (but well used) 18.5" barreled 10/22 and my chronograph.
I recorded the velocities of 15-20 rounds in the 12.5 barrel (these were used to "season" the barrel to the next ammo's bullet lube prior to accuracy testing) and 10 rounds in the 18.5 barrel then plugged the data into Excell when I got home.
Some of the results surprised me.
The 12.5 barreled rig gave higher velocities with every type of ammo that I tested. Ammo shot from the 18.5" barreled rig was from 85% to 98% that of the velocity out of the 12.5" barrel rig. No matter how I plotted it and studied the data I could find no trend as to whether high velocity or subsonic gave closer velocities. My theory prior to testing was that I would have equal (or close-to) velocities with subsonic and standard velocity rounds in the 12.5" barrel but lose some velocity with the high (and hyper) velocity rounds but this was not the case. In every type tested the 12.5" barrel gave higher velocities over the 18.5"
The Standard Deviation was much greater in the 18.5 barreled rig than the 12.5 barreled gun. The longer tube's SD averaged 37.2 FPS while the 12.5's SD averaged 19.8 FPS.
I did not test accuracy in the 18.5 barrel because that was not the scope of my testing. I was testing my 12.5 for accuracy and decided to bring the factory barreled 10/22 along for a velocity comparison.
That being said, with the shorter barrel giving more consistent velocities, in theory it should deliver better accuracy.
Please note that this is a test involving ONE 12.5" barrel and ONE 18.5" barrel so scientifically speaking the data sources are not that objective. However data from a small sample is better than no data at all.
I just thought I would share my test results in case anyone is considering a short barreled 10/22 build. From my testing you gain velocity and (theoretically could) gain accuracy.
And thats not even taking into account how handy and cool a short barreled 10/22 is.
Therefore my conclusion is that the 12.5" barrel is a win win proposition.
