Short Barrels

[ahoyza]

How short can a 7x57 or 8x57 barrel be and still provide reasonable accuracy?

I have seen factory 8mm as short as 19"

I have only seen one short 7mm factory barrel in my life. (Mannlicher-Schoen. sporter)

Would 358 or 35 whelen work well short?

I am not worried about muzzle blast or recoil at this time.

Thanks-

ahoyza

ps once my brainstorming turns into progress I will post pics

[Clemson]

Barrel length will not affect accuracy to any meaningful extent. Shorter barrels, in fact, tend to be more accurate than longer ones because of their relative stiffness. What WILL be affected is velocity. Still, for hunting, a short barrel generally gives up little in practical terms.

 

Clemson

[gun nutty]

Barrel length has little, if anything to do with accuracy; for a 7X57 Mauser barrel, a 28" length is no more or less accurate than an 18". The only way that I am aware of in which barrel length could potentially affect accuracy is with the sight radius. With open sights, by shortening the barrel you reduce the distance between the front and rear sights. With a scope, there will be no difference.

 

Accuracy has more to do with barrel harmonics, rigidity, and temperature than any other factor.

 

Now muzzle blast and velocity are completely different issues. 22" for non-magnums seems the norm, and 24" in for magnums. For a 7X57, I'm guessing you'll lose 50-75 fps for every 2 inches removed from a barrel.

 

My first shotgun was an old Winchester Model 12 with a 30 inch barrel. Chasing pheasants through brush was miserable; I will not do it again. My Remington 870 has a comfortable 24". They didn't have 22" barrels at the time I bought the Hastings barrel for it.

 

For a bolt action, handy carry rifle, 20" for a non-magnum is nice. Easy to move through through the thick, lighter to carry, not much of a sacrifice on velocity.

[ken98k]

I recall reading an article by Finn Aagard many years ago in which he cut 2" off the barrels of several rifles and found no difference is accuracy.

As previously stated, velocity will be affected.

 

When using metallic sights, shooters with longer barreled rifles usually do somewhat better due to the longer sight plane, not that the rifles are any more or less accurate.

 

The original kar98a had very short barrels, 18" I think. They were discontinued due to the muzzle blast, not accuracy issues.