how to balance a rfle?

[Mr. Friendly]

I totally forgot I had a T/C Pro Hunter in 7mm-08. it needs to be assembled...bought action, barrel, stock all separately and don't have any of the needed screws. stock is a Boyd's laminate.

that said, it's got like a 26" barrel. I want something shorter, but am not keen on how cutting the barrel down might throw off the balance, being the barrel length was likely a factor in how the Pro Hunter was created.

I'm thinking 18"...and probably will mount something like a Swaro Z3 42mm 4A as my scope.

what should I keep in mind to keep it balanced?

 

[cdn shooter]

21" still feels really short on the pro-hunter, I wouldn't go shorter than that. These rifles are quite muzzle heavy in factory configuration anyway so shortening it will make it balance better and point and track faster.

 

[Mr. Friendly]

hmmm. food for thought...being they have pistol length barrels that are much shorter.

 

[Ganderite]

18" is very short and it would bark painfully loud. Try 22"

 

[Mr. Friendly]

loud? I would fix that with a muzzle brake!

 

[LarryG]

I'm no expert, but in the gun that I had a barrel shortened, I tried it first, found it muzzle heavy and not right. Went from 22" to 19" and it was perfect. That's a pretty small change for a big difference, so tread carefully.

My advice: don't do anything till you try it as is.

 

[6.5x55swm]

I had a pro hunter with a 26" and it wouls almost balance it's self in front of the trigger guard, I think a 24" or 25" would balance very nice

 

[razorbeck]

Remember there is basically zero action length so longer barrels are okay, also if its a 7mm mag you could be losing a lot of muzzle velocity

 

[cdn shooter]

7mm-08... Right there in the first post there RB.

 

[Mr. Friendly]

from what I've read, these new fast burning powders help with negating velocity loss common with shorter barrel's. though perhaps an exception is magnum cartridges?