Hi
Does anyone have any data or opinion on the effect of barrel length on velocity in Big Bores. ie: .416 and up.
Dr B

One normally loses about 35fps for every inch one cuts off.

I went with a 25 in on my 416 taylor I get good vel with out haveing to push the loads to max, less muzzle blast and it hangs very well for off hand shots.

The only thing I have agaist short barrel first is they are very loud and the preformance isn't there.. Other then that they work.

The 404 Jeffery rifles I am having made will sport 26" barrels. Why? I just like long barrels!

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Dear Mr DR B

Here is my .416 Rigby with a 26" barrel! I think the 26" gives the rifle a good balance!

I believe when going for a fairly powerfull medium bore rifle like the .416 Rigby, balance of the rifle should be more of concern! Rigbys .416 caliber is very flexible, so if I cut my barrel down to let say to 20", I could easely dublicate factory ballistics by adding more powder without overloading the gun!

But go for gunbalance when having your gun fitted!

I have chronoed the 458 Win and Lott in 22, 24 and 25" barrels. These included factory and handloads. I observed a very consistent 20 fps change per inch of barrel length.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by jens poulsen:
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Dear Mr DR B

Here is my .416 Rigby with a 26" barrel! I think the 26" gives the rifle a good balance!

I believe when going for a fairly powerfull medium bore rifle like the .416 Rigby, balance of the rifle should be more of concern! Rigbys .416 caliber is very flexible, so if I cut my barrel down to let say to 20", I could easely dublicate factory ballistics by adding more powder without overloading the gun!

But go for gunbalance when having your gun fitted!

To each his own, but I like 26 or 25 inch.

Using the Remington Ballistics data and assuming a 24" Bbl as base length you change 20fps per inch for cartridges with 2500-3000fps velocity. 10fps for those in the 2000-3000fps. Most of my barrels are 22" length. My Brno 602ZKK in 375H&H is 21" and my CZ 550 416Rigby is also 21". The elephant I took last year with the 416 didn't know the difference. I find the short barrels to really be handy getting in and out of a vehicle and since I prefer stiff rather heavy Bbls they balance well and are quick pointers. Everyone to their personal preference because the velocity loss is in my estimation insignificient. Good bullets with good placement equal good shot and dead animal.

You won't see much difference until you go the to the slowest or powders then you will see a real upheaval in velocity in the big bores...but conviencing some of the posters on AR of that is akin to beating your head against the wall...

As to actual killing power in big bores I doubt it makes a bit of difference as what makes a bit bore more deadly is cross section of the bullet, or in other words a bigger hole in the barrel if you have the bullet weight to keep the SD at .325 or there abouts.

I can get 2653 FPS with a 400 gr. bullet in a modern 404 Jefferys with 95 grs. of IMR-4831 and a 27 " barrel or about 2580 with a 24 inch barrel as I recall....but 93 grs. will give me 2450 plus FPS and I cannot tell much difference if any on the effect both loads have on Buff and I have shot a lot of buff with both...

I would certainly cut that tube off to whatever suited me best...I like a 26" tuber as it certainly enhances my off hand shooting and on running shots...especially with iron sights.

I like nothing more than 24 and prefer 22" why - because I carry my big bores a lot in the brush & shoot them little. the shorter barrel length catches the bush alot less than the longer ones. & normally the game I'm after with a big bore is in the bush

Balance is very important, and one can get a 26" barrel to balance just as well as a 22", though they will require different contours. My 458 Lott was built with a Ruger #1 458 take off barrel, shortened 2" at the breech, and it produced a nice muzzle heavy solid balancing rifle.

I haven't chronoed the new rifle, but my previous 21 1/2" lott had no problem pushing 500 gr 2300 fps. A 25" lott would be good for another 50-75 fps.