What do you think guys? Having an E.A.Brown rifle built in 256 Win Mag and I am leaning towards a 26" barrel to get every fps possible from the case. Is this too long and would a 24" barrel get top velocity from this case? Going with a 12 twist. Need advice. Thanks.

Alan

I like long barrels , tests have it that for every inch shorter you loose average 12 to 15 ft per second velocity , so all my barrels are over 26" .

Get the 26" barrel. Later if you decide it's too long cut to desired length and re-crown. The 26" Green Mtn. tapered octogon barrel on my 256/Martini Cadet looks just right to me.

Allan F.
A 75gr Hornady V-max and 16.0gr of H110 at about
62K will give you 2719ft/sec with a 24" barrel and 2748 with a 26" barrel. This is a full case of powder with a filling ratio of 101.6%.
The 29 ft is not worth the extra 2" of barrel in my opinion.

I have two break open single shots a 6x47 and a 257 Roberts both with 24" barrels. They are very well ballanced. The Ruger#1 25-06 with a 26" barrel feels clumsy compared.

Hell, I even went to 26" on a .223.

Wish I could get 28" for some big bore's in the works. Love them long tubes!

George

Get the longer bbl. and pare back if it doesn't work out for you.

I have a Czech BRNO Mauser 98/22. LONG barrel and it turns out more fps than the shorter Yugo M 48. Also, it's more accurate because of the sight radius.

(Yes I realize these are old war surplus iron, and you're building a "rifle.")

But what I'd consider is what sort of hunting you're doing. Open plains, long distance shots and you'd want a longer barrel.

Woods, terrain, ground cover, and you'd want a "carbine."

Then there's the school that thinks shorter, stiffer barrels "whip" less and are more accurate with a good scope.

You can always cut it shorter. Hard to cut it longer.