Rimfire heavy or regular barrel?
- Thread starter 243win
- Start date
Heavier barrel will just make your gun more accurate. A regular barrel is plenty accurate enough to be shooting birds, gophers or what ever small pest.
If I were you I would try to decide with the rifle will ever do a double duty like competition, plinking or walking around the property doing pest control. If you ever plan to or can picture yourself carrying it around get the regular barrel.
Sakoman .308
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
I like the weight of the heavy barrels for offhand shooting with my CZ 452 varmint & Kidd/Ruger 10/22
- Location
- West Quebec
I would take the heavy barrel if I had a choice
You will notice no difference in accuracy using your rim fire for pest control. The heavier barrel will make your rifle more stable when shooting of bags or you may like it better for of hand shooting, that's about all...If you were to buy a high end rim fire for target shooting, a bull barrel would be a good idea.
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Travis Bickle
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Upper Lower Middle Alberta
I have only ever shot a 10/22 heavy/reg barrel and a Rem 597 Heavy/Reg barrel. All my other 22LR experience is with regular barrel rifles.
I noticed zero difference in accuracy between them.
I did notice a lot of weight and balance difference though. Oh and a big price difference....
If you are competing in the olympics biathlon and they measure the difference between gold and silver with a microscope then maybe? But I noticed zero discernible difference in accuracy in off the rack heavy vs reg barrel .22's.
I don't know how much of those barrel harmonics really need to be tamed with the punishing, violent recoil of the .22LR.......
Can't speak for 17 cal or 22 WMR personally though.
I noticed zero difference in accuracy between them.
I did notice a lot of weight and balance difference though. Oh and a big price difference....
If you are competing in the olympics biathlon and they measure the difference between gold and silver with a microscope then maybe? But I noticed zero discernible difference in accuracy in off the rack heavy vs reg barrel .22's.
I don't know how much of those barrel harmonics really need to be tamed with the punishing, violent recoil of the .22LR.......
Can't speak for 17 cal or 22 WMR personally though.
I think to clarify, it's not that one is more likely to be accurate than the other...more that (Depending on hold/shooting position) lots of people shoot heavy barrels better. For offhand/unsupported shots most people (in my experience) shoot standard-weight barrels best because you're not fighting the muzzle-heavy nature of a varmint-weight barrel. From a rest (bipods/bags etc.) a heavy barrel settles in better, less prone to movement, etc. I've even heard debates for/against both when heat becomes a factor. Heavier barrels take longer TO heat up...but take longer to cool off too, etc. Heat is almost never an issue with .22s, a bit of one with .22WMR, and can be a bigger issue with high-volume 17HMR. Just my observations.
My 2 cents is unless you are shooting hundreds of rounds it's not going to be enough for you to notice a difference between the two. The lighter barrel will tend to drift rounds once it gets really hot but for pest control you are good to go with a light barrel.
You'll see a lot more difference going from a Marlin or Ruger to something like a CZ, than you would going from a standard profile barrel to a heavy barrel within the same model.
Having said that, two of the advantages of a heavy barrel are heat dissipation and inertial dampening.
A heavier barrel has more material to heat up, so it takes a lot longer for you to see point of aim vs. point of impact drift, which mostly matters if you're firing a lot. This can actually matter for high volume varminting. I've gotten barrels screaming hot working over a gopher town (shooting 100+ gophers in an hour), but this is the exception, not the rule. Generally, even on a pretty active day, there will be enough time between shots that a standard profile barrel won't heat up to any significant degree.
Inertial dampening with heavy barrels might not be what you think it is. With a longer, heavier barrel, it takes more effort to move it around (inertia), so it tends to dampen the minor movements created by the shooter. I use an old (late 40's manufacture) Remington Matchmaster from time to time, and in the field, the thing just seems to be a laser, even if it is a bit of a pain to lug around - it's a big, heavy, rifle for a .22. But put it in a vice on a bench, and pop off groups next to a thin barrel CZ 452, and the CZ actually shoots a bit better. The difference is that the CZ, while being lighter and handier, because of it's light weight and balance is "twitchier" - basically it's more prone to shooter error (those minor motions from your heart rate and breathing).
Having said that, two of the advantages of a heavy barrel are heat dissipation and inertial dampening.
A heavier barrel has more material to heat up, so it takes a lot longer for you to see point of aim vs. point of impact drift, which mostly matters if you're firing a lot. This can actually matter for high volume varminting. I've gotten barrels screaming hot working over a gopher town (shooting 100+ gophers in an hour), but this is the exception, not the rule. Generally, even on a pretty active day, there will be enough time between shots that a standard profile barrel won't heat up to any significant degree.
Inertial dampening with heavy barrels might not be what you think it is. With a longer, heavier barrel, it takes more effort to move it around (inertia), so it tends to dampen the minor movements created by the shooter. I use an old (late 40's manufacture) Remington Matchmaster from time to time, and in the field, the thing just seems to be a laser, even if it is a bit of a pain to lug around - it's a big, heavy, rifle for a .22. But put it in a vice on a bench, and pop off groups next to a thin barrel CZ 452, and the CZ actually shoots a bit better. The difference is that the CZ, while being lighter and handier, because of it's light weight and balance is "twitchier" - basically it's more prone to shooter error (those minor motions from your heart rate and breathing).
buzzmagoo
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- sprucewood Hallows Eastern Townships
Short light and handy for everyday usage , but if you want to get every ounce of Accuracy look and see what the target shooters are using $$$ ammo $$$ optics $$$ and the time and care to fine tune . What fits good for one person might be totally wrong for someone else . If you have an ideas what you might like go for it ! If you can try someones gun for fit ( lenght of the stock , hight of the Comb / sight picture) and go from there .
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
I have both CZ452 Varmint (heavy barrel) and Style (tapered barrel).
I thought the Varmint would be more accurate, even just a little bit more. But if there is any difference in accuracy with the same ammo out to 100 meters, I cannot tell.
Since the Style is about a pound lighter, I prefer shooting it.
I thought the Varmint would be more accurate, even just a little bit more. But if there is any difference in accuracy with the same ammo out to 100 meters, I cannot tell.
Since the Style is about a pound lighter, I prefer shooting it.
A long heavy barrel on a rimfire generally suits the gun more to range use. Shooting one offhand is not that great because of the front heaviness of it. It may be a little steadier offhand, but also tiring after a while.
Near ideal is a short heavy barrel, ala 16"-18" HB on a 10/22 for everything.
Of course, a longer sporter barrel like on the 24" cz lux or 28" ultra lux is really nice for shooting offhand because it's easier to hold steady. I found the American (22") was not as good for offhand shooting accuracy as the lux because of its shorter barrel. Just my opinion.
I had a 17 hm2 SS marlin bolt action with a 22" (about that) heavy barrel which was not fun to shoot in the field due to poor balance. Bobbing it back to around 19" totally transformed the feel of the gun. It's how they should have made that model.
Also the shorter barrels with a .22 magnum in particular will be much harder on the ears, while something like the ultra lux will be the quietest thing you can shoot.
I did a test a while back, shooting scoped rifles offhand at 50 yards comparing a thumbhole 10/22 short HB (around 8.5 lbs) to a Norinco JW-20 around 5.5 lbs. Both guns are similarly accurate (10 shots into 1 inch at 50 yards from the bench). The 10 shot grouping were similar to each other, around 2.5 inches as I recall. This surprised me, and now personally think the trigger makes more difference than all the other factors when comparing relative field accuracy of various platforms.
Near ideal is a short heavy barrel, ala 16"-18" HB on a 10/22 for everything.
Of course, a longer sporter barrel like on the 24" cz lux or 28" ultra lux is really nice for shooting offhand because it's easier to hold steady. I found the American (22") was not as good for offhand shooting accuracy as the lux because of its shorter barrel. Just my opinion.
I had a 17 hm2 SS marlin bolt action with a 22" (about that) heavy barrel which was not fun to shoot in the field due to poor balance. Bobbing it back to around 19" totally transformed the feel of the gun. It's how they should have made that model.
Also the shorter barrels with a .22 magnum in particular will be much harder on the ears, while something like the ultra lux will be the quietest thing you can shoot.
I did a test a while back, shooting scoped rifles offhand at 50 yards comparing a thumbhole 10/22 short HB (around 8.5 lbs) to a Norinco JW-20 around 5.5 lbs. Both guns are similarly accurate (10 shots into 1 inch at 50 yards from the bench). The 10 shot grouping were similar to each other, around 2.5 inches as I recall. This surprised me, and now personally think the trigger makes more difference than all the other factors when comparing relative field accuracy of various platforms.
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Much more than you'd think, actually. Fine tuning the harmonics is perhaps the most critical part of the accuracy puzzle. Even a heavy barrel requires a tuner to shoot it's best, but without one a heavy barrel is slightly less sensitive to harmonics than a thin barrel. Assuming exactly equal internal quality between the barrels, there is no difference in accuracy potential between them when they are properly tuned. You'll see a thin barrel get a little more "wild" with ammo that it doesn't like compared to a heavy barrel, and it might be a little pickier about what shoots well in it, but both barrels will shoot well when paired with ammo they like.
Travis Bickle
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Upper Lower Middle Alberta
Seen but again in a .22LR we might be talking about a 0.3" change in accuracy out to 75 meters or something essentially almost non existent from personal experience shooting both models of a reg barrel and heavy barrel in a semi auto here.
If he's going to be doing accuracy bench competitions with it then I would suggest go for it but if not it's just a lot of extra money and weight for no real world gains.
calvados.boulard
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria BC
I own 22lr's in 12.5", 16", 22", 24", and 28" and contours from sporter to heavy bull. My go to for walking around is the 16" sporter. Light, nimble, and deadly accurate. I've shot some very nice groups with it, but not as tight as my Lilja. For your purposes (pest control and informal target shooting) I wouldn't sweat the decision. Pick them up, shoulder them, and buy what feels good. Either way you go, you'll have a blast.
Thanks,
Cal.
Thanks,
Cal.
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