Why so few short barreled bolt action hunting rifles??

My big game rig is a Winchester Model 70 Lightweight Carbine in .30/06. It is the cat's rearend with that 20" bbl, light and handy. The B&C synthetic stock and B&L Elite round it out nicely. It'll never be sold or traded.
 
guntech said:
Reasons for a 22-24 inch barrel over an 18.5 inch barrel in a hunting rifle..

Better sight radius with iron sights
Higher velocity
Less muzzle blast

Reason for an 18.5 inch barrel over a 22-24 inch barrel in a hunting rifle..

Slightly easier to handle if you are a bit clumsy. :p
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Too Funny, I've never really understood why a 24" barrel was too long for the woods.
 
The Cod Father said:
My big game rig is a Winchester Model 70 Lightweight Carbine in .30/06. It is the cat's rearend with that 20" bbl, light and handy. The B&C synthetic stock and B&L Elite round it out nicely. It'll never be sold or traded.
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My son's first rifle was one of those in 270, I hated the thing. Brendan was only 12 when I bought it for him so I did all the load development, he practised with a similarly equipped 223 and then hunted with the 270.

I found recoil was brutul, accuracy was spotty at best, muzzle jump and flash were ridiculous. I was glad when he was stronger a couple of years later and could handle a standard weight rifle.
 
I've got a couple of short barrelled rifles, and I like them fine, but I see them more as speciality rifles; I'll throw them on my back if I'm ATV'ing all day and want a rifle "just in case", or something like that. I'm trading velocity and accuracy for "handiness". Sometimes it's a good idea, but often it is not.

I've never found a 24" barrelled rifle to be long or unwieldy.

I think if you honestly compared the accuracy and velocity of that 18.5" 7x57 to the same rifle with a 24" bbl, you'd see why lots of fellows stick with standard barrel lengths.
 
Just chop down a barrel if you like the rifle.

It's not hard to find a gunsmith who can do the job.

This was 25" before I chopped it to 20". Handles way better in the field and it lost around 70-80 fps.

PA170025.jpg
 
I get a kick out of velocity and accuracy as being the reason for choosing a 22 inch barrel over an 18 or 19.

Now of course, there are rifles...the .264 mag....257 wby..etc that are designed with the velocity and barrel length in mind..

For all intents and purposes, the loss of velocity and accuracy is not a field hunting limitation for most hunting cartridges until you get out some decent distance... and at those ranges, the shorter barrel rifles, often with open sights, are not purposely designed.

My Sako Battue had a 19.5 inch barrel.
My velocity was barely 50 fps behind other 7mm-08 factory rifles shooting the same cartridge.

This rifle had no accuracy issues to 500 yrds, for hunting purposes.
 
Which is why the 30-30 has been so successful for so long. Handy and easy shouldering and not the punishment from recoil or muzzle jump of the big cartridges in a light rifle.
 
I appreciate the comments regarding short barrels being "handy"
However, I do not care for barrels shorter than 22" on anything other than a 30-30.
A magnum will be at a 24" minimum for me, with 26" making sense in many cases.

If I need a light rifle, I can live with a light profile 22" tube.
These can be accurate, and I am more concerned where the first shot goes out of a cold barrel than any susequent shot.
[I firmly believe that a 3-shot group tells one all they need to know about a slender barrel's integrity.]

I have a 6mm with the thinnest profile Shilen one can buy.
The whole rifle weighs under 6lbs.
It will place the first three 90gr. Sciroccos into ¾ moa or less.
I cannot imagine needing anything more for sheep, goats, etc.

I also have a 308 Norma Mag with a medium weight sporter barrel 26" long.
It is an honest ½ moa rifle. [rare, but lovely to own!]
A 180 TTSX or Accubond at 3100+ is a fine hunting projectile.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Sorry guys I'm in the long barrelled club I just find I shoot much better off-hand with a muzzle heavy rifle I don't find 2-4 inches of barrel a detriment to pack around
 
martinbns said:
Too Funny, I've never really understood why a 24" barrel was too long for the woods.
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I agree, but conversely I have never understood why 50-75 fps was detrimental to effectiveness in the field, nor how the dozen shots fired without ear protection (on a good year) was an issue either.

I guess people will always try to justify their preferences to others.
 
A longer barrel is also less "noisy". Particularly in the summers seal hunting from a boat a short barreled gun is very loud compared to a longer barreled one for other passengers and the captain when a seal suddenly pops up and someone does not have their ear protection on...

I borrowed a 20" 243 howa one summer and it was crazy loud on the boat.

It would be great if silencers became legal! My brother in Norway has a Tikka 30 06 with a silencer and it is almost like shooting a 22lr...


Edit: Both in regards to felt recoil and sound. And BTW almost all hunters in Norway now use silencers...
 
rgv said:
I agree, but conversely I have never understood why 50-75 fps was detrimental to effectiveness in the field, nor how the dozen shots fired without ear protection (on a good year) was an issue either.

I guess people will always try to justify their preferences to others.
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The noise thing is actually quite serious. One shot can do permanent damage. If your ears are ringing after a single shot without protection, you can assume you have some permanent hearing loss. Maybe it isn't much from one shot, but they ALL accumulate over your lifetime.

I have a .300 Win. that I have often thought about shortening because the velocity difference is not an issue. The only factor that stops me is increased muzzle blast. I just can't afford any more hearing loss, and that 24 inch barrel is already too loud for hearing safety without protection.
 
I like the longer barrel over short barrels as well, which is why I kept my ruger african and sold the alaskan. I don't find the extra 3 inches of the african barrel to be a problem in the woods. If I really need something shorter I just use one of my No1s, barrel lenghts are standard but the rifle is shorter overall.
 
If the market demanded short barrels, then the manufacturers would fill the need.

Bottom line is that there are few short barrels because few people buy them. People build and stock what they can sell.
 
martinbns said:
My son's first rifle was one of those in 270, I hated the thing. Brendan was only 12 when I bought it for him so I did all the load development, he practised with a similarly equipped 223 and then hunted with the 270.

I found recoil was brutul, accuracy was spotty at best, muzzle jump and flash were ridiculous. I was glad when he was stronger a couple of years later and could handle a standard weight rifle.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the recoil, but the B&C synthetic did tame it a bit, reduced the flip a little too. As far as accuracy goes, I have never had an issue, it'll print tight all day long if I don't let it heat up or start to flinch.
 
Both for me...

.... but leaning towards longer barrels.

For a .30-30 lever I prefer the 20" tube over anything shorter.

I prefer the 24" barrel on my Win 70 XTR in .30-06 over other rifles with 22" tubes. Although, a recently acquired pre 64 Model 70 fwt has the 22" barrel.

My one & only .30 cal "magnum", a Browning A-bolt composite stalker in .300 Win Mag has the factory 26" barrel, which I prefer for that ctg.

For my rifles in .243, 7mm-08 and .308 I am good with 22" barrels.

A Rem 700 in .264 Win Mag I had put together a few years back sports a 24" tube. But I was working with a factory barrel as received.

I do have a Rem 788 'carbine' in 7mm-08 with the factory 18.5" tube that is a tackdriver, though.

:canadaFlag:
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NAA.
 
A 24 inch barrel is pretty short. Long barrels start at 26 and go up. Shoot a Kentucky rifle and then you'll love that 24 inch carbine. Seriously though 24 inches is far from long and clunky. What i mean to say is that a standard length barrel of 24 inches is already at a very good balance of point ability/Handling characteristics
 
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