Chrono a few 3006 rifles

[keith mokry]

I finally got out to do some testing. Main task was to see what the short barrel would get for velocity after reading about a ruger short rifle used by the military. The load that I used was a 180g hornady interlock with 56g of IMR4350 powder and a winchester large rifle primer in a winchester case.

Ruger #1 international with 20 inch barrel average vel of 2633fps

Baikal single shot with 23 1/2 inch barrel average vel of 2744 fps

Encore with a 15 inch barrel average vel of 2480 fps

I was surprised that the baikal had the velocity that it did. The encore was on par that for its length if you consider that a 180g bullet has a velocity of 2700fps on average with a 24 inch barrel.

Keith

 

[Ardent]

Not bad speed from that 15" barrel.

 

[shortaction]

31 - 32 fps loss per inch of barrel in both cases, sounds about right.

 

[NAA]

Cool info.

Personally, I prefer rifles in .30-06 with 24" barrels over the standard 22".

NAA.

 

[stickhunter]

Thanks for posting this info. It's a simple test, but provides a nice confirmation rather than just speculation.

 

[H4831]

Cool info.

Personally, I prefer rifles in .30-06 with 24" barrels over the standard 22".

NAA.

So do I.

 

[chuck nelson]

So do I.

I'm not sure why.

 

[philthygeezer]

How much louder was that 15" barrel? Muzzle blast/flame?

 

[keith mokry]

I did not notice any more muzzle blast than say a 18" barrel and as for noise it would be louder but I could not tell much different as I had ear plugs in. I had a 18.5" in 375hh with a muzzle brake on it and that was ear pearceing without ear plugs. I removed the muzzle brake and now it is shootable.

 

[Eagleye]

Sounds close to results I have usually observed over the years.
However, every once in a while, a surprise will appear to muddy the water. Here's a good one.
I owned two #1 Ruger rifles in 30-06, a Model 1-B, and a Model 1-AB.
The 1-B has a 26" barrel, and the 1-AB has a 22" tube.
Using identical loads in each [180 Partition, 61 grains of Norma MRP, the 1-B graphed right at 2755 avg for 5 shots.
The 1-AB graphed 2837 avg for 5 shots....go figure!
About the same difference showed up when using IMR 4831 also.
Throats were similar in length, but when I slugged the bores, the 1-AB was about .0005" smaller.
Who knows if that was the difference?
Regards, Eagleye.