How "risky" is it to take a good shooting barrel (minute of angle or slightly less) and shorten it? Is there much chance of ruining the accuracy, even assuming a good job on the re-crowning? Thanks! Mike

Shortening a barrel will make it stiffer which will not adversely affect accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Shortening a barrel will make it stiffer which will not adversely affect accuracy.

But! it will affect the harmonics which will affect accuracy, probably no worse, IMHO

I've shortened quite a few sub MOA barrels, and provided nothing else has changes and the crown is crisp and concentric, they continue to perform well. The loads usually need some tweaking to better match the new profile but they still perform.

Thanks, guys!

Everything that you do to a barrel effects accuracy. It may be better, worse or so small of a change that you don't really notice it but it does do something.

quote:

But! it will affect the harmonics which will affect accuracy, probably no worse, IMHO

Thats why i left the door open & said "adversely"

It depends upon how short.

The shorter barrels are stiffer which should improve accuracy but it may not continue to group the current load as well as it is. Velocity and energy drop off but for a paper puncher they are irrelevant considerations.

In general it has been my experience that shortening a barrel improves accuracy. I have seen going from 26" to 24" to have a dramatic improvement. Some of this might have been a bad crown. I am a believer in shorter barrels......Tom

Guess I should have been a little more specific. What I have is a Winchester 70 Ultimate Shadow in 308 Winchester with a 24" barrel. It was a rather unusual production gun put together in the final weeks of New Haven production.

It is a standard weight barrel, not featherweight. Stainless Steel. It is one of the most accurate guns I've owned, I believe. It is putting the two factory loads I've tried into 3/4" 3 shot groups with both factory loads printing almost identical points of impact. Even though one load is a 150 gr and the other a 165.

I would like to make a 20" rifle out of it. It will be used in deep woods in foul weather. Yes, I know that under those conditions, accuracy is not important. It is, however, important to me. I only like good shooting guns.

By the way, I own several last of production New Haven guns and they have all exceeded the accuracy of most of my earlier Winchester 70's, contrary to generally accepted opinion. One gun did have a defective stock (small splintered area). I love the flat bolt shroud on those guns.

You will most likely be good to go, but some guns just do not shoot the same with a shortened barrels and it has to do with harmonics and concentricity.

Some barrels are just the same when you cut them shorter. Some are not near as concentric at the particular spot that you cut them off.

That is a fine shooting barrel, but definitely detracts from the benefits of a 308 in the length department, i.e. close to 30-06 in a much shorter package(action and barrel).

Roll the dice and cut that to 20" if not 18"!! Cut it to 20" and if it doesn't look right, keep trimming 1/4" until you get to a nice concentric spot.

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
You will most likely be good to go, but some guns just do not shoot the same with a shortened barrels and it has to do with harmonics and concentricity.

Some barrels are just the same when you cut them shorter. Some are not near as concentric at the particular spot that you cut them off.

That is a fine shooting barrel, but definitely detracts from the benefits of a 308 in the length department, i.e. close to 30-06 in a much shorter package(action and barrel).

Roll the dice and cut that to 20" if not 18"!! Cut it to 20" and if it doesn't look right, keep trimming 1/4" until you get to a nice concentric spot.

I don't believe the concentricity between the OD and ID make any difference, anybody?

I agree with you Jim unless somebody indicates the OD when doing the barrel work.
Butch

Can only speak of one of my rifles that had its barrel cut; twice. Started at 30" ,went to 28" and finally down to 26". It was a light weight barrel that had MOA to start with and never lost it. It was a 6mm X .270 IMP

Great comments everyone. I really do appreciate them all. m