The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I am looking at rifles and options. Dreaming at this stage as I have some way to go to get my FAC sorted etc. Shooting at Bisley coming along nicely and have now shot a variety of rifles including the RPA target rifle and a very nice AI.

So, I was wondering about what to expect in terms of accuracy from a 20" barrel v 24" and longer? I would like to reach out to the 1000 yard range and be reasonably accurate eventually, but as I start out would like a rifle that is a little easier to handle. Caliber would be .308. What would you experienced guys advice in terms of choosing barrel length on a first rifle? This rifle will be for gaining experience and getting in to the sport. I expect I will buy more over time if I enjoy it as much as I do already .

Cheers,


C

In my humble opinion If you're looking at shooting accuratley out to 1000 yards don't go for anything less than 26" you'll struggle to get the velocities.

Alan

I shoot with a 24" at 1000 yards however I also have a very robust receiver behind the barrel to help things along. If you can find something with an extra couple of inches it will bring your MV up a tad. The other thing to consider is bullet weight, if you are lobbing big heavy bullets down range you need every fps you can find, at 1000 this is less so with lighter bullets such as the 150/155 range.

20" is fine for 600 yards.

Ok thanks for the replies. I will have a think about this but it seems a 26" would be a good start then. Was hoping to have a smaller rifle to lug around but it would be nice to be able to get out to 1000 when the opportunity to shoot that far comes up. I am going back to Bisley next week to shoot at 600 yards so will see how I find that. I think the AI I shot was a 20" barrel. Very nice rifle it was too :)

C

Depending on how much cash you have - I would strongly recommend the AI that is for sale on this Forum. If I thought I could pay it off over 12 months I would have snapped it up!

The Remington 700 SPS Varmint and the Tikka T3 Varmint (Varmint = heavier barrel which is a good thing) are both good sub £1000 guns.

Tikka do a T3 Sporter which looks very attractive and comes in at under £1500 depending where you shop.

Ask yourself how often you are going to shoot at 1000 yards and how competitive you are. If you are only shooting for fun then around 26" will see you OK. Your ammunition is unlikely to be supersonic past 900 yards, but it will get to the target and give others with similar rifles a run for their money. I shot my Rem 700 with 26" barrel out to 1200 yards with mixed results.

Should you be interested in getting in to F Class, then you should really be looking at 30 - 32" to get the most MV. This is an expensive discipline, however if you fancy it there are several good rifle builders to chose from. My first stop would be Dolphin arms as I really like his new stock and he is selling a good rifle for around £2200,

All the best,

DM

Thanks Dangermouse. I have been to the Dolphin web site and they have some really nice gear there. I really would like to get in to F class once I get going, or at least that was the idea when I joined the NRA. I would likely get a rifle to play around with and get used to shooting with first, and then look at a dedicated F class rifle further down the line when I know what I am looking for. Was hoping to get away with a shorter barrel, but it seems that 26" would be a good compromise. Hohum... sign92

C

If you want to shoot 155gr .308win at 1000x (ie Target Rifle and its derivatives) in the UK ( temp about 20C, altitude near sea level) you need a 30" barrel to get the velocity to keep the bullet sufficiently above Mach 1 that it arrives at the target in a stable condition.

Other combinations or locations may get away with less - outside my experience.

Iain
Captain GB Target Rifle Team

IainWR wrote:If you want to shoot 155gr .308win at 1000x (ie Target Rifle and its derivatives) in the UK ( temp about 20C, altitude near sea level) you need a 30" barrel to get the velocity to keep the bullet sufficiently above Mach 1 that it arrives at the target in a stable condition.

Other combinations or locations may get away with less - outside my experience.

Iain
Captain GB Target Rifle Team

Not sure I agree with this statement, I shoot an AI with 24" barrel running 155 Scenars, Fed210M primers and N540 powder. At 20C sea level I would expect to get to the target at around 395m/s and the speed of sound is 340m/sec ish at sea level. Admittedly they will start going transonic at around 400m/sec however I strongly believe it is quite possible to shoot 1000y with a 24" barrel.

We should put this to the test one day

ovenpaa wrote:
Not sure I agree with this statement, I shoot an AI with 24" barrel running 155 Scenars, Fed210M primers and N540 powder. At 20C sea level I would expect to get to the target at around 395m/s and the speed of sound is 340m/sec ish at sea level. Admittedly they will start going transonic at around 400m/sec however I strongly believe it is quite possible to shoot 1000y with a 24" barrel.

We should put this to the test one day

Could we have those numbers in proper values please so that it means something to some of us.

This is a UK forum after all.