Wondering what your thoughts are on the optimum barrel length for 308 and 30-06 bolt guns.

I have built a few AR-10 for myself and friends and really like the 18" in that platform for the 308.

Realistically 300yrd MAX shots but 95% would be 150yrds and in. I am a Northeast hunter and these 2 I'm looking to get worked would not travel out west or up north to Canada. I would have to being out the beauties for a good long distance hunting trip!!!

I'm thinking 20" for the 308 and really not sure if 20" or 22" would allow powders to burn properly in the 30-06. No experience on that one.

THanks in advance.

For hunting, I prefer a 20" on a 308, a 22" on the 30-06 and a 24" on a 270.

quote:

Originally posted by RaySendero:
For hunting, I prefer a 20" on a 308, a 22" on the 30-06 and a 24" on a 270.

Ray, Why the difference between 30-06 and 270?

quote:

Originally posted by BISCUT:

quote:

Originally posted by RaySendero:
For hunting, I prefer a 20" on a 308, a 22" on the 30-06 and a 24" on a 270.

Ray, Why the difference between 30-06 and 270?

The bigger bore & heavier bullet weight allow the "06" to burn the powder in a shorter barrel length?

Both those cartridges will gain speed with barreles over 30"-32". The F class shooters regularly shoot 32" 308s to get as much speed as possible for 1000 yard shooting. So the optimum barrel length on a hunting rifle is whatever you need for handling and conveience.

I usually order a 26" whenever there is a choice and if that is not available, I always go with the longest that is offered.

My concern is for the added barrel length for velocity and the use of slower burning powders.

I'm looking at Varget or BLC2 for 308 with 150 - 180gr boolits and a 20" barrel. Hunting and range rifle.

I also shoot a lot of IMR/H4350 in 30-06 with primarily 165 - 180gr boolits. THinking 22" for woods gun.

My main hunting rig as of late is 30-06AI w. 165, 180, and 200gr. Loves IMR4350 and RL25 but is a bit longer at 24"\.

Longer is better velocitywise. Shorter is better handlingwise. All within reason. You make the call. Anywhere between 20-26 inches should work fine for the cartridges you mentioned. If you hunt in real dense stuff you may want to go on the short side, if that's not a consideration, I would tend to go on the long side. It's easier to cut off and recrown than add barrel.

For these guns I'm really looking at some dense woods to 200yrd or so farm pasture shootin. Lots of paper punchin as well.

I feel ok w. 308 at 20" and 30-06 at 22".

quote:

Originally posted by BISCUT:

quote:

Originally posted by RaySendero:
For hunting, I prefer a 20" on a 308, a 22" on the 30-06 and a 24" on a 270.

Ray, Why the difference between 30-06 and 270?

I was discussing rifles for hunting - Although I do agree w/ SWD that a pure target rifle would benefit from longer barrels.

My reasoning was - MY CONCEPT of a hunting rifle would differ for each of the 3 calibers! Even though they are similar with quite alot of performance overlap - The rifle I would buy or build for each would differ.

I'm not sure there is an optimum, all calibers benefir from longer bbl.s It realyl comes down to personal preference. On bolt guns, I like nothing shorter than 22" regardless of caliber. Magnums, 24". It's more about balance than a few feet/sec vel.

22-24 inches for either. Lou

When guiding for moose in Canada, one of the rifles I used to rely on was a gun none of you likely would be caught dead with....a Remington 742 carbine in .30-06. I think the barrel length was 19" IIRC, but am not sure.

(My memory is still perfect, but it has shrunk to where it's now only 0.00783" long....so is hard for me to lean on sometimes.)

The 742 worked just fine with Nosler 200 grain Partitions and GI cases full of H-4831. With it up by Grande Cache, Alberta (Sheep Creek to be exact) I also killed the biggest Canadian moose I have ever shot or seen shot, in 1972.

It was strictly a working rig, no beauty involved...had a 2-7X scope in one of those Weaver mounts that you just tipped over to the left side if you needed the iron sights.

Anyway, the 19"barrel worked fine for me. I also had a pre-'64 M70 FW in '06 and a standard weight pre-war M70 '06 at the same time. The FW had the standard 22" factory barrel, and the pre-war had the original 24" barrel, but for my use in the thick northern bush, I preferred the 19" Remington. It was a much handier gun and still killed things so they laid down right there.

I don't think you can go wrong with any length barrel you find most comfortable. And, for actual hunting, I'd recommend "gun comfort" over any ballistic advantages that any particular barrel length can demonstrate.

Like has been mentioned, the length can be personalized easier from long to short rather than the other way.

I have hunted wide open pasture lands as well as dense river bottom tangles, and through the years I have found that for the wide open areas I liked the longer heavier taper tubes and for anything with woods involved, I preferred 22" as a max.

A few years back I purchased what quickly became my all time favorite packing around rifle. IT was a Ruger MK II Compact in .308. It sports a 16.5" barrel and comes in at 6.5 pounds loaded and ready to hunt. I mounted a Burris 1.5x6 power on top of it and have cleanly taken feral hogs out to 400+ yards with running nothing but factory ammo through it. Anything in close is a chip shot.

For the '06 I would go with a 22" and be happy as the next guy. Yes you can get more velocity out of them but if your putting the bullet where it needs to be in the first place, then more velocity doesn't matter. I figure that if the standard Remington 150gr CL works out to 400yds from the 16.5" then anything else would be icing on the cake.

Between Weatherby's ultralight...with a 24 inch barrel..

or the Christensen Arms rifles with a 28 in carbon fibre barrel...

those would be my idea of an ideal firearm..

for brush and thick cover... then it would be a Ruger International..

Done deal. My 308 will be cut to a 20" and my 30-06 will be a 22". These guys will see the brunt of my shooting and the veracity of my 2yr old and 4yrs old -- when they get a bit bigger of course.

For now the 4yr old is stuc on 22's!!!

Thanks for all your help.

I like 22 inches on the 30-06, the 270 works fine with a 22 inch as well.

I had one of those short barreled remmington 742 in 30-06 also. The muzzel blast was incredible, nastiest gun to shoot that I have ever owned. No fun at all. My brother bought a Remington 700 mountain rifle in 30-06 with I believe a 22 inch barrel. I could not believe what a pussy cat it was to shoot. Maybe not big thing if the only shooting you are going todo is durring the hunt, but if you frequent the range A 22-26 inch barrel can be a lot more comfortable.

While most of my rifles wear ~22 inch barrels I fancy a longer barrel myself, not much for performance reasons, but for best balance and to move the muzzleblast further from my long suffering eardrums. Some folks worry about having too long a barrel but my .62 smoothbore flintlock, which I only use it in the thick stuff, has a 42 inch barrel so when it comes to cartridge rifles anything shorter than four feet or so overall is a cinch. I say 22 inches for 308 sized cases, 24 for 30'06 length, and 26 for magnum bottles on bolt-actions. Single-shots can go two to four inches longer in each category. Selfloaders tend to be heavier in the middle so they can have a shorter tube and still retain their balance but a 16-18 inch rifle frequently barks all out of proportion to its bite. $0.02

quote:

Originally posted by nordrseta:
While most of my rifles wear ~22 inch barrels I fancy a longer barrel myself, not much for performance reasons, but for best balance and to move the muzzleblast further from my long suffering eardrums. Some folks worry about having too long a barrel but my .62 smoothbore flintlock, which I only use it in the thick stuff, has a 42 inch barrel so when it comes to cartridge rifles anything shorter than four feet or so overall is a cinch. I say 22 inches for 308 sized cases, 24 for 30'06 length, and 26 for magnum bottles on bolt-actions. Single-shots can go two to four inches longer in each category. Selfloaders tend to be heavier in the middle so they can have a shorter tube and still retain their balance but a 16-18 inch rifle frequently barks all out of proportion to its bite. $0.02

What he said!!!! It is mostly about balance. I have several M-70 Featherweights with 22" and they simply do not balance very well FOR ME. But put a 24" bbl. on one and they are perfect.

quote:

Originally posted by wfh:
I had one of those short barreled remmington 742 in 30-06 also. The muzzel blast was incredible, nastiest gun to shoot that I have ever owned. No fun at all. My brother bought a Remington 700 mountain rifle in 30-06 with I believe a 22 inch barrel. I could not believe what a pussy cat it was to shoot. Maybe not big thing if the only shooting you are going todo is durring the hunt, but if you frequent the range A 22-26 inch barrel can be a lot more comfortable.

This quote makes good sense. But, in fairness to the Model 742 Carbine, hunting is what it was made for. It wasn't a gun intended for making nice little picture perfect groups from a bench at the range...especially if the range had a roof over it which slanted downward in front of the benches to keep rain or snow from blowing onto them. Such a roof will capture and reflect back muzzleblast and really let an '06 carbine make itself known.

Anyway, my 742 was easy for me to put up with in the field, and shooting moose and backing up other hunters is what I used it for. It probably took me less than 40 rounds over its entire life to work up a good load for it and sight it in. Other than that it virtually never went to a rifle range. It was a very effective rifle, and in my opinion just about perfect for its job.

The only '06 I have which has spent most of its lifetime on a range is my original Shultz & Larsen "free rifle". It was intended by the factory for 300 meter offhand match competition, complete with palm rest, hooked buttplate, and fine original S&L factory micrometer sights. It has a very heavy original factory barrel on it, 28" IIRC, though it might be 30".

I once also had an '06 which John Buhmiller put together for "over the course" (highpower) competition which wore a heavy 26" Buhmiller barrel, but after I started moose hunting I had it re-bored and re-chambered to .358 Norma Mag by Al Petersen over in Saskatchewan. I didn't use it long before I got rid of it though...barrel was too long and too heavy, and the stock was waaaayyyy too long for where I hunted in the dense northern Alberta bush. So I traded it for a ANIB Schultz & Larsen M '68 sporter in the same chambering.

I still say the best barrel length for anyone is the length they find most practical for their own real-time use, regardless of ballistic advantages or disadvantages, whether 16" or 32".

23" for both the 30-06 and 308

Just enough length to muffle the percussive quick blast these rounds produce and gives good velocity and accuracy. Also great for bush. Not a big fan of 26" tubes in bush.