With the permission of buffybr fellow I call if there are big difference for practical purposes to shoot the 300 Weatherby Magnum cartridge with a barrel of 24 "to do with one of 26". The partner buffybr I made it clear that the difference in muzzle velocity was not excessive but,and for practical purposes, distance, impact?

Thanks,

Oscar.

No, the difference between a 300 Wby Mag with a 24 inch barrel and one with a 26 inch barrel is not that huge, but it does exist.

I own a Remington 700 Classic chambered in 300 Wby Mag and it is a little dissapointing in the velocity department. It has a 24 inch barrel and the best loads I shoot in it with 180 grain bullets are only about 3100 to 3150 fps.

I have friends who have 300 Wby Magnum rifles with 26 inch barrels and the get a good 100 fps more velocity, some more than that.

Now does this keep me from killing game with my 300 Wby Mag? Heck no, the last two 6x6 bull elk I shot were killed with that 24 inch barreled gun and they never knew the difference.

Most Weatherby cartridges benefit from a 26 inch barrel. Some of the new "short" magnum really do not. I own two 300 WSM rifles, one with a 24 inch barrel, one with a 26 inch barrel. The 26 inch barrel does not quite average an increase of 50 fps over the other rifle.

If you shoot your rifle some and learn what it can do a 2 inch difference in barrel length really does not matter.

IMO the handling advantages of a shorter barrel far outweighs the slight disadvantage of lost velocity.....When I carry a rifle on a sling over my shoulder the longer barrels are always a pain....I'd not hesitate to reduce it to 22"....

Look at it this way.....a 22" .300 WBY is probably as fast as a 26" .300 Winny.....what's wrong with that?

One may also want to consider that shortening the barrel will also reduce or even eliminate the resale value....so do so with your eyes wide open.....

My .300 Win Mag has a 26" barrel on it and I love the performance with it. We shoot a lot of the longer distance shots in open terrain and the 26" is not a hindrance at all.

If you were hunting out of a truck and needed to get out in a hurry or hunting in real heavy brush I don't see why you would want a 24" over a 26" yet alone a 22". Once you out in the open and it's on your shoulder do you feel that extra 2" of barrel???? Not at all yet the performance is improved by those extra inches of barrel.

26" all the way.

The difference is more significant using the hotter 300's than it is using a 308. The bullets accelerate down the barrels meaning they gain momentum exponentially so the greater the powder charge the greater the acceleration. This reaches a point of negative return out past 30 inches. That means that 2" off a 300 rum could be twice that of the same 2" off a 308, hence the 26" standardization for the big boomers.

As stated, barrel length is a personal choice depending upon ones desired hunting or target conditions so as long as the loss of velocity, energy and trajectory are acceptable cut it as short as you want.

Velocity gains with longer barrels is a reality, but varies from caliber to caliber. However, the rate of increase per inch will decrease and ultimately may even fall to a lower level when the barrel becomes too long, but this is seldom the case when we consider practical barrel lengths mostly in use.

Generally high-velocity Magnums loaded with slow burning powders stand to gain more from longer barrels, as the prime objective is to gain velocity over standard calibers with standard length barrels. We do know faster burning powders work better in shorter barrels such as the 308 Win where a 20 to 22" inch barrel makes for a light carrying mountain rifle, as opposed to my 300 H&H that is better paired off with its 25" barrel. The application of the rifle is paramount here - in bushy terrain, at shorter distances, the shorter barrel is more comfortable vs a long-range open field rifle would be better matched with a longer barrel to gain more reach and a flatter trajectory.

Here is an interesting table comparing some calibers, and of interest here is to see how the 7 mm Rem Mag benefits from a longer barrel. It gains substantially more velocity than all the others in the list. Unfortunately the various 300 Magnums is not included in this list, but it will show a similar trend as the 7 mm Rem Mag.

http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/October05.htm

Warrior

Hello, I thank you for your cooperation in principle as I read your post is advisable to use the 300 Weatherby rifle with a barrel of 26 "to avoid loss of speed. The point is not that I'm going to cut into the rifle barrel that two inches of the gun barrel but I bought (I'm waiting to give it to me) is the Weatherby Vanguard rifle Sinthetyc and only comes with 24 inch barrel

I know I could have bought a Weatherby Mark V, but I chose Vanguard because my budget is limited and could not access the great Mark V. I was worried about a big loss of speed and energy of the 300 Weatherby, even I thought I'd buy it in 300 or 270 WSM caliber but I always wanted a 300 Weatherby, so hopefully not regret.

Again thank you for your invaluable help and I beg pardon for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Oscar.

Frankly, if you are going to shoot the weatherby calibers, you need the barrel length to get that advertised performance out of them.
To exaggerate the phenomenon, you don't see any 50 BMG's with 22" barrels, for the same reason.
Mike73

well, not being much of a weatherby manglem shooter i believe i'd find the difference to be about 2"

300 Weatherby

220 grain Hornady RN # 3090

IMR 7828 75.4 grains 95% Fill

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:
300 Weatherby

220 grain Hornady RN # 3090

IMR 7828 75.4 grains 95% Fill

Hi, I can see that the difference is almost negligible. Thanks I'm more at ease. Regards, Oscar. Hi, I can see that the difference is almost negligible. Thanks I'm more at ease.

Regards,

Oscar.

Dose everyone notice the "percentage of powder burnt" difference 0.19%

quote:

Generally high-velocity Magnums loaded with slow burning powders stand to gain more from longer barrels, as the prime objective is to gain velocity over standard calibers with standard length barrels. We do know faster burning powders work better in shorter barrels such as the 308 Win where a 20 to 22" inch barrel makes for a light carrying mountain rifle, as opposed to my 300 H&H that is better paired off with its 25" barrel. The application of the rifle is paramount here - in bushy terrain, at shorter distances, the shorter barrel is more comfortable vs a long-range open field rifle would be better matched with a longer barrel to gain more reach and a flatter trajectory.

Warrior, Finlander, and Mick really nailed it here. The larger the powder capacity, the more over bore, the slower the powder, the more benefit you gain from a longer barrel. That why you will see alot of custom STW's and 30-378's with 28-30" barrels.

This topic has been addressed well already, but I thought I'd add some chronograph data from last summer. This was using the new lower-priced Weatherby ammunition with Norma bullets.

Claimed factory muzzle velocity is 3,150 fps. In a Mk V 26" barrel I got an average velocity of 3,144 fps, in a Vanguard with 24" barrel the average was 3,043 fps. This agrees closely with the experience of R Flowers in his earlier message. The difference in drop at 500 yards is about 2.5".

Ideally one should chronograph in the 26" barrel, cut it to 24" and chrono again to maintain consistency, as barrels do differ. However the Mk V I was using was borrowed from a friend and I was fairly sure he didn't want me cutting on his rifle!

The testing was for an article in GUNS Magazine, I am providing a link if anyone is interested. http://fmgpublications.ipaperu...NS/GUNS1110/?page=28

For a 24" 300weathby, I would select a suitable faster burning power for more efficient burn, and select ballistically efficient hunting bullets.

I doubt it would lack the downrange performance the .300weathby originally established its reputation on some decades ago.

Hi Trax, in principle I am going to use commercial ammo, especially tip Nosler Partition 180-grain .

Thanks,

Oscar.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Anderson:
This topic has been addressed well already, but I thought I'd add some chronograph data from last summer. This was using the new lower-priced Weatherby ammunition with Norma bullets.

Claimed factory muzzle velocity is 3,150 fps. In a Mk V 26" barrel I got an average velocity of 3,144 fps, in a Vanguard with 24" barrel the average was 3,043 fps. This agrees closely with the experience of R Flowers in his earlier message. The difference in drop at 500 yards is about 2.5".

Ideally one should chronograph in the 26" barrel, cut it to 24" and chrono again to maintain consistency, as barrels do differ. However the Mk V I was using was borrowed from a friend and I was fairly sure he didn't want me cutting on his rifle!

The testing was for an article in GUNS Magazine, I am providing a link if anyone is interested. http://fmgpublications.ipaperu...NS/GUNS1110/?page=28

Excellent article, with your permission, I keep the magazine in PDF format. I think I worried for no reason, I enjoy it as much with my Vanguard, now saving for hunting hehe.

Thank you,

Oscar.

Just to satisfy curiosity let’s see what QL shows for barrel lengths from 18” to 32”.

300 Weatherby
220 grain Hornady RN
IMR 7828 (95% fill)

I edited this post to make it easier to read.

I edited this post to make it easier to read.

About 6 weeks ago I was at the range to chronograph some loads and a couple guys were there with 2 300 weatherby Mk V's. One had a 24" the other a 26" barrel. So I shot both rifles over the screens with the same box of weatherby ammo loaded with 180 accubonds.
The 24" averaged 3193 FPS.
The 26" averaged 3241 FPS.
48 FPS average difference.
On the first shot out of a cold barrel the 24" velocity (it's high) was 2 FPS faster than the first shot (it's low) out of the 26" with a cold barrel.
IMO this isn't enough to worry about.

quote:

Originally posted by Akhutr:
About 6 weeks ago I was at the range to chronograph some loads and a couple guys were there with 2 300 weatherby Mk V's. One had a 24" the other a 26" barrel. So I shot both rifles over the screens with the same box of weatherby ammo loaded with 180 accubonds.
The 24" averaged 3193 FPS.
The 26" averaged 3241 FPS.
48 FPS average difference.
On the first shot out of a cold barrel the 24" velocity (it's high) was 2 FPS faster than the first shot (it's low) out of the 26" with a cold barrel.
IMO this isn't enough to worry about.

Thank you very much for your response. Experiences like this make me to stay calmer. The reality is that I get obsessed with issues that are sometimes not of the utmost importance. What I have to do is aim .

Thanks,

Oscar.

quote:

Ideally one should chronograph in the 26" barrel, cut it to 24" and chrono again to maintain consistency, as barrels do differ....

Yes, that is ideal and the only truly accurate data. Experienced shooters know that two "identical" production rifles with the same barrel lengths can give widely varying muzzle velocities with the same ammo. Comparing two different rifles with different barrel lengths is NOT really comparing barrel lengths. Computer models can be very useful but they are not real.

From RifleShooter, Sept/Oct 2003, pg 62; .300 Win Mag with 180-grain bullets and RL-22 powder; barrel was cut off and crowned for each length:

Barrel..MV fps
27"......3055
26"......3031
25"......3024
24"......3003
23"......2984
22"......2960

That's less than 100 fps lost with five inches of barrel length lost, and just 28 fps going from 26" to 24". The .300 Win has ~90% of the capacity of the .300 Weatherby, so the comparison is pretty valid. This is just one test, but it is better than guessing or "rules of thumb" originally published 50 years ago...



.

quote:

The bullets accelerate down the barrels meaning they gain momentum exponentially so the greater the powder charge the greater the acceleration...

Sorry, but I cannot let this one go - I'm not being picky but trying to be accurate in terms and what really happens in a rifle barrel. Ignore this post if you don't care.

Momentum is not an exponential value, it is a linear function so it cannot increase exponentially. Well, it [u]can[/u] if the velocity increases exponentially, but that isn't what happens at the muzzle of a rifle barrel. The rate of acceleration does increase rapidly for the first few microseconds, but then the rate drops off. near the muzzle this rate is dropping off fast. This is why cutting off a few inches of barrel length doesn't always make a big difference in muzzle velocity.

Perhaps what the poster meant to say was "kinetic energy" rather than "momentum". The chart below shows the velocity curve (and the pressure curve) of a bullet traversing a 7.62 NATO barrel. It will be similar - but not identical - for other high pressure cartridges.

The "need more barrel" goes back to pre WW2 when the slowest powder they had was IMR 4320 and when you started to blow primers all you could do was back off a grain and uses a longer barrel. I have found in going down to a faster powder the extream spread goes up wich can negate the gain in speed. They were also useing iron sights and the added lenght helped. When I had my Win70 rebarrled to 6TCU the barrel smith said there was only 125fps difference between 26" and 20" on 223Rem based cases on barrles that he had done so I did 20".

quote:

Originally posted by Fat_Albert:
The "need more barrel" goes back to pre WW2 when the slowest powder they had was IMR 4320 and when you started to blow primers all you could do was back off a grain and uses a longer barrel. I have found in going down to a faster powder the extream spread goes up wich can negate the gain in speed. They were also useing iron sights and the added lenght helped. When I had my Win70 rebarrled to 6TCU the barrel smith said there was only 125fps difference between 26" and 20" on 223Rem based cases on barrles that he had done so I did 20".

But I guess you say that this depends on the cartridge is fired, it is not the same as a 300 Weatherby, a Remington 223, right?