Anyone have an idea what the velocity difference might be between a 22" and a 24" barrel on a .225 Winchester? I was guessing as much as 100 fps, but thought one of you with real experience with high intensity small bore cartridges might have better information.

Thanks.

There is no way to say how much difference to expect between two different barrels; the 22" barrel could actually produce higher velocities depending on the chamber dimensions, bore dimensions, and bore finish. If you were to cut the same barrel from 24" to 22", I would anticipate about a 50 fps reduction. However that is only a horseback guess of the average velocity loss -- loss will vary from powder to powder and load to load.

Velocity loss is typically greater with cases that are larger in proportion to the bore than cases that are smaller. You could look at some data for the slightly larger .22-250 and for the slightly smaller .223 and project the .225 Winchester somewhere in between. Once again, this is with broad averages of lots of different loads and barrels. A single load/barrel may vary significantly from the mean.

Ditto to Stonecreek's answer.

quote:

Originally posted by Remington40x:
Anyone have an idea what the velocity difference might be between a 22" and a 24" barrel on a .225 Winchester? I was guessing as much as 100 fps,

Thanks.

I'm thinking your guess is quite high. Possibly half of that at the most.

Stonecreeks answer is correct and precise.

A practical answer is: "probably not enough to matter."

Notice how the Texans stick together?