260 Remington - 22 inch barrel or 24 inch barrel?

[buckchaser]

In the process of finalized the specifications for a 260 Remington. I'm leaning toward a more conventional 22 inch barrel - will the cartridge benefit at all from a longer 24 inch tube?

The rifle will be a lightweight "mountain" focus, but looking to retain the ability to reach out to 400 meters with authority.

 

[yodave]

you could go all the way down to 20 inches if weight is an issue, 4 inches of barrel is going to translate to real world velocity losses of roughly 100 fps, with a high BC bullet it doesn't matter so much anymore.
Unless you have a specific velocity in mind go with the weight and handling characteristics of the shorter barrel, man even 18.5 would be a dandy

 

[Suther]

2" of barrel would amount to what, 40-60fps? (this test found 20ish fps per inch for 6.5cm which is the same diameter and similar case capacity: https://rifleshooter.com/2016/02/6-...el-length-on-velocity-cutting-up-a-creedmoor/)

Is 1900fps@ 400 really gonna do much more than 1850fps?

20" barrel isn't unusual for factory mountain/lightweight rifles.

 

[Buckmastr]

23", split the difference

 

[chappy]

i like 23 inches. have had a couple of rifles made with that length,

 

[chuck nelson]

Add length to the back end. Go Creedmoor.

 

[hoytcanon]

22" is fine for a hunting rifle, particularly a mountain rifle.

 

[Jim870]

I think this is a bit like asking us to pick your date and telling us only what she drives and and her shoe size, and at the end of the day it has to be what you want. Is a few ounces really going to make or break it on your ""mountain"" lightweight set up. I don't know what you are using for a stock, action or optic but weight could possibly be reduced more there than knocking a bit off the barrel. Balance, handling and your own preference may be more important. I don't really see why you'd choose a barrel longer than 22" for a .308 Winchester based cartridge unless you were looking for a certain balance point or trying to maximize velocity while staying within the rules for a competition discipline.
If you are truly unsure leave it long and trim to a length that makes you happy.

 

[double gun]

You can always cut some off later.

 

[TacticalTeacher]

I’m running a 19” cut down sporter barreled Remmy 700 .260 factory barrel. It’s loving all of the booolits I’ve punched through it, so far!

* 95 grain VMax
* 108 grain Lapua Scenar
* 140 grain Hornady SST (my usual deer booolit)

This is all at 100m at my home range. They will all shoot into an inch and that 95 Vmax thinks its a match booolit for some reason!

Enjoy the 6.5mm addiction! Hahahahaha

Cheers, Barney

 

[cody c]

According to the link posted, the difference or rather loss of velocity between the two is about 40fps (22" to 24")

There was another study somewhere on the sizes of barrels used in shooting competition, most of them run around 21-22 though it varies to longer and shorter, but majority of high scoring were around the 21-22" mark.

Mine is about 21" so I have some biases.

 

[todbartell]

400m isn't very far, 20" to 22" will make plenty of downrange velocity with the right bullets

 

[chuck nelson]

Do what looks best. It matters that much.

 

[b72471]

260R in hunting rifle 22", CM would require a 30" to keep pace with the 260R.

 

[threecentsolution]

While I realize that every ounce counts in the mountains of the Ottawa valley the difference in velocity from 22 to 24 inch barrel won't matter a whole lot. However 2 ounces at the end of the day adds up.