Is 23" too short for a .338winmag?
picture it on a custom walnut stocked Blackburndropbox M70.

It should work fine you would lose 25 fps of any given load over the standard 24" if thats what you want go for it, you may luck out and get a fast barrel and beat some 24" barrels !!

I prefer this lenght for the .338 Win. and have it on my Dakota 76; I used to have a pair of Hart barreled P-64 70s in the 23" lenght as well. I find that you can do 2700+ fps-mv with 250 NPs and that is all I want or need.

23" should work just fine. I had the barrel on my Model 70 cut from 26" to 24" and I'm very satisfied with the performance. Another inch would be just fine.

Jeff

I have a factory M77. I had the barrel cut from 24 to 22". I gave up right at 50FPS. The Elk couldn't tell the difference.

The 338 Win. Mag. is one of the few belted-magnums that will allow you to get away with a 22" or 23" bbl. and still get nearly full velocity. The current trend with factory rifles, specifically the Model 70, is to go with a 26 " bbl., which is an unnecessary encumbrance. I have a 24 bbl. on my 338 Win. Mag. which is the length I personally prefer, and mostly because it provides less muzzle blast.

AD

Yeah it would/work just fine! I have one I had cut back to 22" and I really like it. Nate

quote:

Originally posted by Woodjack:
Is 23" too short for a .338winmag?
picture it on a custom walnut stocked Blackburndropbox M70.

No, even down to 22" you shouldn't notice enough difference to worry about but it will be much handier. The biggest concern will be muzzle blast.

I've had four cut at 22" and it's what I prefer. 21" would work well too.

I hear tell that 23" works on cal's like the 340 and others as well. I've always thought it was bad karma to go with a even number for a tube length.

Mark D

Yeah, but you're strange

My .338 Mag is 26" and I'm seriously considering cutting it to the 22" mark. It's too darn much and totally unnecessary.

My Mannlicher stocked rifle is about 21", works fine.

I own a 23" custom M-70 in this caliber, with a lothar-walther barrel. I use only light bullets (180-200 gr) in this rifle, and the accuracy is excellent, it's very handy and the loss of speed when I cut the barrel from 25" to 23" was less than 40 ft/s. I load the cartridges with medium to low burning powders (tu-5000 equivalent to IMR 4895 or Tu-7000 equvalent to IMR 4350.

23" is no problem, I've used one tht way for years.

I own the 338 RUM with a 26" barrel but there are times that I wish my barrel was 23". Like climbing into a bear stand it seems to get in the way.