Shortening Barrel/threading on .308

There is a relationship between length of barrel and long range accuracy distance, a good 20 inch barrel should be accurate out to 600 yards so when used for stalking distances should be well within its capabilities.
 
Shorten it, add a mod, never look back and go stalking. Shorter moderated rifles are much easier to carry, more comfortable to shoot and good for your ears.
 
IVe a tikka t3 hunter. 308 with factory 20 inch barrel. Dpt mod on it. Its as quiet as the tikka 243 with a dpt mod. Theres zero recoil. Ive used 150 grain ppu which were grand on paper and zeroing in but a nightmare on fallow deer. Lost 2 deer with them
Ive bought some sako 123grain ammo to try out which are faster.
If you shorten you will need imo a faster bullet to use up the powders in the lenght it travels up and out of the short barrel. Try some fast ammo thats around 3000fps at the muzzle and see if your rifle likes it. Then you could consider chopping the barrel.
I was thinking of chopping the barrel to 16 inches but i found that the 20 inch factory barrel is nice and light and easy to use in heavy cover and forestry.
 
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Do not be put off in shortening your barrel and having it re crowned and threaded. I shoot a 16" barrel in .308w and for woodland stalking I find this very easy in its handling characteristics. Considering that the majority of shots will be 200m and less, then the ballistic performance of your bullet although 100 - 200fps slower compared to a 22/24", they still do the job! The .308w is a great round and has enough punch to give away some velocity and resultant energy.

atb

RHE.
 
If you shorten you will need imo a faster bullet to use up the powders in the lenght it travels up and out of the short barrel.

It's your opinion, as you said, but I don't fully agree. If a bullet is faster, it's in the barrel less time so the powders have less time to burn.

You want an efficient burn to get the highest velocity you can, but powder burn rate is what mainly influences that.
Bullet weight plays a part but since heavy bullets build pressure quicker they usually suffer less velocity drop when used out of a short barrel.
On top of that, as light bullets generate less pressure they have more powder behind them so there is more to burn.

With factory ammunition it's out of your hands really and you can only hope that the powder they chose to use happens to work well out of your short barrel.
If it were me I wouldn't be changing to lighter bullets, I'd be sticking with 150gr and just changing the type used since you don't have confidence in Prvi.


But that's just my opinion.
 
I reduced my 308 down to 16", and it shoots 150g @ 2700fps, and once I found the right load, it shoots better than I can.

What powder are you using in that load? I have an 18" .308 and have experimented with a couple of loads, would be interested to know what you use.
Thanks
2teal
 
I've used an 18 inch barreled 308 many times, the one I used gave 1/4 MOA so no problems with accuracy, use a heaver slower bullet a 180 grain with IMR 3031 will give you 100% burn and still be supersonic at 1000 yards, it will also reduce meat damage
 
Just got a DPT Duralium over barrel,its very good so far,also have a couple of Lawrence Precision Titanium over barrels which are also very good...........
Which model Laurence precision titanium you got as I got the neon model which does Nothing for sound
 
Changing anything on a barrel will affect the barrel harmonics. This may have no effect with your current rifle / ammo combination, or it may have an affect and you may need to change the ammo to find something that shoots more accurately.
 
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