Minimum Barrel length for .223

Question for those of you who have had the snip to 16 inches..
What is the drop at 200 yards if you zero it at 1" high at 100?
and do you use a faster burning powder so you do not get muzzle flash?
 
I looked at a Steyr but with a ridiculous trigger weight of 9.1/2 or something silly oh and if you but the special kit it will come down to 6lb? That went out the window. But a nice idea.

next question.
does any of you 16 inch barrels people use it with nightvision?
can you use factory ammo or does do you have to reload? Reduces flash maybe?
 
Question for those of you who have had the snip to 16 inches..
What is the drop at 200 yards if you zero it at 1" high at 100?
and do you use a faster burning powder so you do not get muzzle flash?
Hello mines 14 1/2" using 55 hornady vmax 25 varget 3/4" high at 100yds it's about 2 1/2" low at 200yds
hope this helps
​Darren
 
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I looked at a Steyr but with a ridiculous trigger weight of 9.1/2 or something silly oh and if you but the special kit it will come down to 6lb? That went out the window. But a nice idea.

next question.
does any of you 16 inch barrels people use it with nightvision?
can you use factory ammo or does do you have to reload? Reduces flash maybe?
man up! its standard military fare :D
 
would love to, should they ever make it in a straightpull format, and at a price I could afford, untill then I have to rely on my K31 for my Swiss fix :D

Ah yes, that is a shame. Come over to Switzerland, we might even be able to find you one with a fully functional "Naughty Switch" ;)
 
Exactly, go to that range of yours at a weekend and the place is full of really "interesting" hardware!!!!

David.
 
Well just to bring this up to date I chopped my barrel to 16 inches. What a difference to handling. Great truck gun, easy over the shoulder as well out in the fields.
just gotta sort out the best bullet for it. 40 trainers are out. Grouping is about 1.3/4 at 100 yards. 55grain hornady vmax give me about 3/4 of an Inch. Which isn't bad but could be better. I would be happy with 1/2 inch. Going to try 60 grains to see what that does. Rifle is a t3 lite 223 with 1/12 if anybody wants to offer suggestions. And don't chop it is not an option. I am glad I did and would do it again. :D
 
Hi, i have a Remington 700 varmint barreled in .223. I am going to have it threaded but feel it will be rather unwieldy with a mod at its current barrel length. How short can i go with the barrel (1 in 12 twist) and not lose anything. i am typically using 50 grain bullets.

Thanks

Andy
You are going to lose speed, the shorter you go the more speed you will lose.

How do you shoot it generally? I don’t find my 22/24/26” rifles unwieldy off a bipod or quads and that’s with an all-stee ASE. Mod on the end
 
You are going to lose speed, the shorter you go the more speed you will lose.

How do you shoot it generally? I don’t find my 22/24/26” rifles unwieldy off a bipod or quads and that’s with an all-stee ASE. Mod on the end
I joined in this thread before I noticed it was seven years old! Surely the original folks involved can add their experience now? Interestingly, a .223 test I read recently showed in some instances an Increase in MV when shortening the barrel from 26" to 20" when friction becomes a factor as pressure decreases, but from 20" to 16" a MV loss of +/- 100fps per inch was recorded.
 
Well, I sold my rifle yonks ago. I am now however thinking about buying one again. Now with 7 years more experience.
I did sell it to Carlton Rifle range and he was using it for foxing and from what I can remember he was very pleased with it and intended to keep it for himself.
 
I joined in this thread before I noticed it was seven years old! Surely the original folks involved can add their experience now? Interestingly, a .223 test I read recently showed in some instances an Increase in MV when shortening the barrel from 26" to 20" when friction becomes a factor as pressure decreases, but from 20" to 16" a MV loss of +/- 100fps per inch was recorded.
I would suggest that depends a lot on the powder involved, a slower burning powder would be able to make more use of the additional burning time, weight of bullet probably has a bearing too . A play on quick load would allow an optimum powder and bullet combination for that length I’m sure. Equally a shorter barrel would probably benefit from a faster powder.

Not a .223 but my 25-45 is a necked up .223 and that wears a 25” barrel. With my current 100 gr load over 29.5 gr of ball powder cutting anything on this would definitely result in less velocity, not more.
 
I had my ruger M77 chopped down to 18 inches and made a hell of a difference to handling in vehicle and balance point especially as the mod was an ase which are heavy to begin with.
 
I would suggest that depends a lot on the powder involved, a slower burning powder would be able to make more use of the additional burning time, weight of bullet probably has a bearing too . A play on quick load would allow an optimum powder and bullet combination for that length I’m sure. Equally a shorter barrel would probably benefit from a faster powder.

Not a .223 but my 25-45 is a necked up .223 and that wears a 25” barrel. With my current 100 gr load over 29.5 gr of ball powder cutting anything on this would definitely result in less velocity, not more.
You're absolutely right, the whole MV thing "depends" on many variables. I should have said, the 26"to 20" increase in speed mentioned was with factory ammunition, not a load designed to take advantage of a long barrel. The history of some of these calibre's is fascinating, the .223 round (Originally known as the .222 Special) was originally developed for the US Military in around 1959 for the Armalite AR15 which was adopted by them as the famous M16 and which has a 20" barrel.
 
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