shortening a 243 barrel?

terez

terez

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I want to put together a 243 that is compact.

I have aline on a Rem700 older heavy barrel that currently has a 26in barrel.
I would want to trim it down to 20in or so and stock it in a Tactical stock.

It'll be a coyote and deer gun and informal sniper.

Will this barrel work well at this length? I know i'll give up a couple hundred fps but that's no prob....just wondering about twist rate and the shorter length?
Gonna shoot factory ammo to start with till I identify loads.

Thanks
 
I did much the same thing with a 308 match barrel I cut down to 20". So long as the scope for deer hunting was something like a 2-7 or a fixed 3X, the rifle was quite handy to hunt with.

Your factory twist will handle 100 gr bullets, so it is ok for deer. Accuracy will be good. You will lose 200 to 300 fps.

Muzzle blast may be an issue. Different brands of ammo will blast more or less. if you hand load, try different powders. You don't want a hunting load that is painful or dangerous to your hearing.
 
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Twist rate doesn't require a change with barrel length... you will still be spinning them fast enough... more muzzle blast and less velocity is about all you will experience... The bore will probably be offset at the crown though... it shows up when you cut back that much..
 
One way to look at an optimal coyote rifle is to go for a 22 inch heavy sporter weight or slightly lighter even. As long as it is highly accurate say to .5 MOA the 22 inches will be of more practical use than the heavy barrel shortened to 20 inches given that you will in the long run appreciate what the extra velocity will do for you.

When I was doing predator control work for BC F&W years ago I used a Sako Forester with a heavy barrel and when its accuracy dropped off in a few years of shooting it a lot, I replaced the original barrel with a sporter weight Shilen 22 inch barrel. Way nicer to shoot and better on both me and the horse to carry as well. I slimmed the stock a bit but not a whole lot, and installed a Canjar set trigger as well. As far as accuracy went it would readily do 0.5 MOA for 5 shot groups.

With your short action Remington, you could do worse than to restock it to one of the Hogue Overmold stocks with the full length aluminum beddding block. Those are the best thing I found yet for that kind of hunting.

http://www.hoguestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=654_671
 
blwebster said:
One way to look at an optimal coyote rifle is to go for a 22 inch heavy sporter weight or slightly lighter even. As long as it is highly accurate say to .5 MOA the 22 inches will be of more practical use than the heavy barrel shortened to 20 inches given that you will in the long run appreciate what the extra velocity will do for you.

When I was doing predator control work for BC F&W years ago I used a Sako Forester with a heavy barrel and when its accuracy dropped off in a few years of shooting it a lot, I replaced the original barrel with a sporter weight Shilen 22 inch barrel. Way nicer to shoot and better on both me and the horse to carry as well. I slimmed the stock a bit but not a whole lot, and installed a Canjar set trigger as well. As far as accuracy went it would readily do 0.5 MOA for 5 shot groups.

With your short action Remington, you could do worse than to restock it to one of the Hogue Overmold stocks with the full length aluminum beddding block. Those are the best thing I found yet for that kind of hunting.

http://www.hoguestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=654_671
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Funny you should mention that stock as that is what I have sitting on the bench for the project. The tactical crowd all piss and moan how flexible they are so they are pretty much given away on the net. Bought this one as a new take off for $40!

The only reason I am looking at the shortening route is I have a line on a barreld action that is a factory HB 26in varmint setup and it is a great price.
If I was building with just an action I would go with a heavy sporter 22in just as you mentioned. I find they hold off hand shooting/sling shooting much better and are stiff enough for 3 to 7 shots before wandering.
 
guntech said:
Twist rate doesn't require a change with barrel length... you will still be spinning them fast enough.....
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In my books that is not exactly correct. With all barrel twists, the longer the barrel the faster spin of the bullet leaving that barrel. Shorter barrels in overbore cartridge like 243Win reguire faster twist for lets say 105gr VLD bullet than slightly slower twist but much longer barrel to stabilize the same bullet from the same cartridge. Its not MHO its a fact.
 
gunrunner8 said:
In my books that is not exactly correct. With all barrel twists, the longer the barrel the faster spin of the bullet leaving that barrel. Shorter barrels in overbore cartridge like 243Win reguire faster twist for lets say 105gr VLD bullet than slightly slower twist but much longer barrel to stabilize the same bullet from the same cartridge. Its not MHO its a fact.
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I understand the relationship of twist and velocity and rpm.

But if the twist of the barrel is so slow that you have to reply on a longer barrel to get higher velocity to get the correct spin, the barrel is the wrong twist to start with... all factory 243's have sufficient twist to handle standard bullet lengths and shortening a factory barrel will not reduce the rpm so much that bullet stabilization will be affected. Factory 243's do not have enough twist to stabilize many VLD bullets regardless of barrel length.
 
I owned a short Remington 700 VTR 243 Win with a 20" effective barrel length which was re-barreled with a match 28" barrel.

Here is my take on short 243 Win:
  • better handling (+)
  • better pointability (+)
  • lighter (+)
  • increased accuracy (+)
  • lower muzzle velocity 200fps (-)
  • increased muzzle blast (-)

If you're interested in primarily long range shooting (600 yards+) , stick with a long barrel.
If you're looking for something more practical, a shorter barrel works perfectly at medium ranges (200-300 yards).

As for bullet stability, 200fps makes only a minor difference in stability.

Alex
 
gunrunner8 said:
In my books that is not exactly correct. With all barrel twists, the longer the barrel the faster spin of the bullet leaving that barrel. Shorter barrels in overbore cartridge like 243Win reguire faster twist for lets say 105gr VLD bullet than slightly slower twist but much longer barrel to stabilize the same bullet from the same cartridge. Its not MHO its a fact.
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I rebarreled the Sako to maximize accuracy in the 22 inch barrel for 85 grain Sierra match bullets. Great for coyotes. You could do such for a shorter barrel and even alter the rate of twist if you figured heavier bullets were desirable, but a short bull barrel for carrying and hunting coyotes is in my opinion not as useful or comfortable for shooting in the bush as a sporter weight 22 inch barrel. May be that people like short barrels but I also prefer the balance of the sporter weights/lengths as well. A short less heavy like 16 to 18 inch sporter weight might be fine (or heavier to match balance).

Not that I have no rifles with short bull barrels, I do, and they have their place...just don't prefer to carry one in the bush all day calling coyotes. As to 28 or 30 inch barrels, I have no use for them as I use my rifles for hunting.
 
guntech said:
But if the twist of the barrel is so slow that you have to rely on a longer barrel to get higher velocity to get the correct spin, the barrel is the wrong twist to start with...

All factory 243's have sufficient twist to handle standard bullet lengths, and shortening a factory barrel will not reduce the rpm so much that bullet stabilization will be affected.

Factory 243's do not have enough twist to stabilize many VLD bullets regardless of barrel length.
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Contradictory, no ?

IMHO, cutting a slow-twist barrel down is acceptable to a certain limit... And application is also a factor, inaccuracy while hunting is inexcusable.

Minimum 1.5-1.75 twists of the bullet in anything shooting >100m, but any barrel with 2 full twists is sufficient. That's my opinion.

IE: 1:9 twist barrel shouldn't be cut to less than ~ 14", a 1:10 twist to ~ 16" minimum, 1:12 to about 20", etc...
 
Boomer74 said:
but any barrel with 2 full twists is sufficient. That's my opinion.
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How fast a bullet spins depends on the rate of twist... not how many times the twist goes around within the barrel length... a bullet leaving a 6 inch barrel with a 12 twist at 3000 f/s will be spinning at the exact same rpm a bullet leaving a 24 inch 12 twist barrel at 3000 f/s - 180,000 rpm.
 
Ganderite said:
Your factory twist will handle 100 gr bullets, so it is ok for deer. Accuracy will be good. You will lose 200 to 300 fps.

Muzzle blast may be an issue.
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That's as good advice as you are going to get. Useing heavy for cal bullets in 243Win for deer hunting makes a lot of sense. As long as you are going to stay away from the newest long VLD style hunting bullets, then chop it away even to 18,5" if you like, otherwise stay with at least 24" long barrel. The difference in 10" twist barrel for a bullet shot at 3000FPS and 2700FPS is 21 600RPM and that might be deciding factor down the road if you change your mind. Cutting it short is easy, lenghtening involves very expensive rebareling.
 
All the replies are appreciated fella's....Some things I wasn't considering and some I have predicted.

Again the rationale for this particular project is that the barreled action is mint, inexpensive and available. The mandate for the gun is to be field friendly but still maintain "minute of coyote" or even as close to MOA or not far off when shooting a decent string of shots. Rarely shooting past 300yds.

If I was building without regard for cost I would very likely go 22in heavy sporter weight.....but cost is important and I'm only looking to go forward with this peach of a deal avail at this time.
 
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