The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Small Calibers Savage 22-250 Barrell LengthGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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One of Us |
I am looking to buy a Savage model 12 22-250 for varmint hunting. Does the 24" vs 26" barrel length make a difference for accuracy? If so, how much and which length is best? I am looking at taking shots anywhere from 200-500 yards. Thanks in advance for your input. | ||
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| one of us |
Don'tthink barrel lenght well do any thing for accuracy but the 26 inch well give you a bit more vel. I have a 26 inch tube on mine works well but a 24 inch woud do the same thing I have shot lots of p dogs with it | |||
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| One of Us |
That is good to know. Thank you. | |||
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| one of us |
A long whippy barrel can actually be harder to find an accurate load for as opposed to a shorter stiffer one. That's why unlimited class benchrest guns usually have barrels that are relatively short but very large in diameter. Having said that, I'd still go with a 26" barrel on a varmint rifle. The velocity gain will make the trajectory a little bit flatter. | |||
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| One of Us |
The longer barrel may or may not give higher velocity than the 24" barrel. I have an early '90s Savage M112 with 26" barrel. For whatever reason, Savage decided to make it with a long throat (a friend has an identical rifle of similar vintage with a normal throat, so throat length was obviously variable at that time). With both factory loads and handloads my rifle runs about 100 to 250 fps slower than expected for a 24" barrel. Cheers, Al | |||
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| One of Us |
Thanks again for all of the input. This really helps. | |||
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| new member |
Stiffer the better is the rule for accurate. So the longer a brl is the more "limber" it is for a given size. Velocity depends on a LOT of things. Longer does not always me faster. I am currently shooting a remington 223 with a 26" brl that is shootin 145fps SLOWER than the exact same load was shooting in a remington 223 with a 20" brl! A friend had excellent accuracy with his savage 22-250 with H380 using the load listed on the powder bottle for 52gr match bullets and it averaged 2920fps!!!!!!! So you never really know what velocity a rifle shoots till you use a chronograph. BUT generally the consensus is that longer is faster and stiffer is more accurate, but there are a lot of exceptions to the rule! In a 22-250 I would persinally suggest a 26" heavy brl for bench varmint hunting and target shooting. If you have the option of a 1-9 twist instead of the normal 1-12 twist GET IT. You can then shoot from 40 grain up to the 75-80gr bullets that will make hitting effectivly at the longer ranges a LOT easier! You will also usually get more explosive bullet expansion with a faster twist. The standard 1-12 twist will usually not stabilize a 60gr+ spitzer shaped bullet. These 69gr+ bullets start out slower but shoot flatter and drift considreably LESS at long range than standard varmint bullets! Shooting to 500 yards is EASY....hitting at that range is HARD....but a BLAST! Just for reference a typical 55gr 22-250 load will drop 35" at 500 yards with a 200 yard zero and drift 30" in a 10 mph wind!!!!! But a guy can have LOADS of fun shooting to learn how to hit at long range with a varmint rifle. thanks 224TTH | |||
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| One of Us |
WOW, this was a very informative post! Thanks. I have been using my brother's savage 22-250 model 112 with the 55gr VMAX at 38.6 grains of H380. It has the 24" bull barrel but I do not have a chrono so I have know idea how fast the bullet is traveling. Your post is very concise and really helpful. | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Small Calibers Savage 22-250 Barrell Length
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