9.3X62 Barrel Length **UPDATE**

Mauser98

Mauser98

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When I had my 9.3X62 built last year, I told the gunsmith to make the barrel 24" from the front of the receiver ring and I would decide later what changes, if any, I wanted.

I hunted with it last fall(one moose:) ) and have shot it quite a bit off the bench and offhand and I've now decided to have it shortened. I've done a bit of reading on the subject and it seems that velocity loss per inch in this caliber isn't a big deal. John Barsness (Rifle/Handloader magazine) actually found that velocity increased after shortening one of his barrels but in general, he didn't see a big difference between 20" and 23.6". Finn Aagaard lost 60-70 fps after docking his barrel from 23.6" to 20"

Velocities now are 2500-2550 fps with 270 gr Speers and 2400-2475 with 286 gr Noslers or Priv Partizans.

I'm leaning toward 20". One reason is that I handled and shot a rifle the other day with a 20" barrel and I quite liked the feel.

Sooooo, Im looking for opinions. Fire away.

Here's a picture of the rifle as it now looks.

DSCF1397.jpg
 
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Depends, are you hunting in really thick cover. if not the personally, I would not go below 22". Remember to check for change in point of impact as well.
 
I just bought a Heym 9.3x62 barrel from Barry at Bits & Pieces for a Husky FN I'm planning to customize and going through the same dillema as my CZ 550 is 23.5 and Im thinking 22 just might be the ticket, although I'd sure like to see how this works out for you if you bob it to 20. Would be a lot handier for the thick sh_t.
Keep us posted and Nice Rifle!! by the way
Dave
 
Be careful how short you go if your loading ammo with a slow burning powder. You may lose more velocity than you mentioned and you also have the blast effect of unburned powder mentioned by martinbns. Since your cutting it down short I'm assuming your not trying to squeeze every once of velocity anyway so it is probably no big deal.
 
Mine has 22" and i like it that way.i went for a shoot to the Steyr Mannlicher Facility in Austria and part of that shoot was to test some or all (if you wanted to)rifles and a friend of mine had a R93 in 9.3x62 with a 18"barrel,which is very short.Was comfortable to shoot and very accurate.I have shot another Steyr sbs in 9,3x62 with a 20"barrel and i did not notice any more muzzle blast than i do with my 22".It is a matter of taste and i doubt that the game you hunt will be able to tell a difference.
 
if i didn't see a pic of the gun i would have said 20" but i think it would look to funny go with 22"
 
Earlier this month I had Corlanes shorten the barrel on my 9.3X62 by 3.75" to a length of 21" from the bolt face.

I finally got to the range today and shot through the chronograph and for accuracy.

The velocities were obviously reduced but not by as much as I thought they would be.

The data is organized by gr/vel before/vel after/difference/loss per inch

RL15 270 Speer
59/2448/2363/85/23
60/2504/2361/143/38
61/2569/2417/152/40
I believe the RL15 may be a bit too slow for this lighter bullet and short barrel combination. I'm going to try some loads using a faster powder with the 270 gr'er

RL15 285 Prvi Partizan
58/2378/2303/75/20
59/2405/2348/57/15

Varget 285 Prvi Partizan
58/2421/2347/73/19

The Speers shot well with all loads with 3 shot groups around 1".

The Prvi Partizans don't shoot worth sh-t in my rifle and with these powders.

As far as the rifle itself goes, this was a good move. It seems to handle better and the change doesn't detract from the look. Accuracy didn't suffer at all.

Weight all up is 8 lbs 5 oz so recoil with top loads is brisk but the Decellerator pad does a good job. There may be a bit more muzzle flip and there's a bit more noise but neither are a problem.

I have a barrel band coming.

9_3Short2.jpg
 
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Thanks for the update, glad you':) re happy with the way it worked out, you wont even notice such a small difference in velocity and its still a damn nice looking rifle.:)
 
Get the barrel cut to 21 inches and have double triggers intalled and express sites. The Send it to me and i'll "evaluate" it for awhile (send lots of ammo), then i'll send it back with my evaluation.
 
I went 20" as well on my re-bored M70

It is very accurate with 286 Noslers and 58.5 RL-15. Havent chronographed it yet.

The rifle is now in a carbon-fiber McMillan Edge and weighs 7-6 scoped




Edit to add; thanks a bunch for posting results Mauser98!!
 
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Thank you for posting the results! One day when I come across a beater Brno 21 I am going to get it rebarreled to 9,3x57 or 62 with for a lightweight rifle for packing in the rough stuff. I still haven't settled on a barrel length but this helps resolve the mystical velocity loss.

How does the muzzle blast seem compared to what it was?
 
Noel said:
How does the muzzle blast seem compared to what it was?
Click to expand...

Hi Noel

I didn't really notice a difference. The improved 'feel' of the rifle far outweighs any marginal increases in blast, noise or barrel jump.

If I recall correctly, you've been shooting some 250 gr bullets in your 9.3X62. Have you come up with a load or are you still experimenting? I'd be interested in velocities, etc.
 
9.3X62 update

I had the oprotunity to see this rifle last sunday. Hard to believe but this rifle feels and handles better than it looks. The pics don't justice to Paul's lovely stock work.Well Done!
Larry
 
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