22250 short barrel help

[JORTZ]

Was thinking of building a varmint rifle. Going to be a 22250 20 inch barrel shooting 80amax. Going short barrel to add a suppressor and still be short oal.
Anyone have any info on this combo like velocity accuracy ect
Thanks

 

[SheepDog]

Velocity and accuracy will depend on you, the barrel, and the work done mating the two.
Typically a barrel loses a bit of velocity for every inch cut off, however I have seen barrels produce more velocity with an inch cut off than they made with the same load in the same barrel before cutting. I have also seen two barrels the same length shoot 200 fps apart. A shorter barrel will normally be more accurate than a longer barrel with the same taper, although that is not always the case either. Each barrel is an individual.

 

[yotehater]

It sounds like an interesting project. I see better performance in the short barrel using a faster burning powder. The reduced muzzle flash is a benefit. The pistol data of several reloading manuals.

 

[boltfluter]

Jortz,
Sounds like an awesome coyote rifle. We need pics when it is up and running.

Paul
www.boltfluting.com

 

[JORTZ]

I

Jortz,
Sounds like an awesome coyote rifle. We need pics when it is up and running.

Paul
www.boltfluting.com

Ive been thinking of this gun for awhile got me all excited about building it. Im even thinking of a 16 inch barrel with a suppressor

 

[John from MN]

I tried an 18 inch 8 twist 22-250 a couple years back.

The only reliable accuracy node I could find was right at 2900 fps with 75 and 80 grain bullets. Any faster than that and I found it impossible to keep the barrel in tune from one day to the next. It would shoot in the 3's one day and struggle to hold MOA the next. Nearly lost my mind trying to get that gun to shoot. I'm not used to getting my azz kicked like that. The result were the same with a host of different powders from Varget to H4831, and most of the popular 75 and 80 grain bullets.

The barrel in question was a Remington Varmint contour Shilen Select Match. It might be that a lighter or heavier contour may have behaved differently. I really can't say for certain. Max velocity at reasonable pressure was around 3125, if that matters to you.

Just to prove to myself that there is nothing wrong with the components I used, I dug that barrel out from under the bench a couple weeks back, set it back .008 and rechambered it to 22-250AI. The stupid thing hammers with the ammo for my old barrel loaded with 75 grain Amaxes and H1000. Dope at 400 suggests a rather sedate velocity of 3075, but atleast the damned thing shoots well day in day out. Below is a pic of the rifle I took this afternoon.

 

[JORTZ]

I tried an 18 inch 8 twist 22-250 a couple years back.

The only reliable accuracy node I could find was right at 2900 fps with 75 and 80 grain bullets. Any faster than that and I found it impossible to keep the barrel in tune from one day to the next. It would shoot in the 3's one day and struggle to hold MOA the next. Nearly lost my mind trying to get that gun to shoot. I'm not used to getting my azz kicked like that. The result were the same with a host of different powders from Varget to H4831, and most of the popular 75 and 80 grain bullets.

The barrel in question was a Remington Varmint contour Shilen Select Match. It might be that a lighter or heavier contour may have behaved differently. I really can't say for certain. Max velocity at reasonable pressure was around 3125, if that matters to you.

Just to prove to myself that there is nothing wrong with the components I used, I dug that barrel out from under the bench a couple weeks back, set it back .008 and rechambered it to 22-250AI. The stupid thing hammers with the ammo for my old barrel loaded with 75 grain Amaxes and H1000. Dope at 400 suggests a rather sedate velocity of 3075, but atleast the damned thing shoots well day in day out. Below is a pic of the rifle I took this afternoon.

Thanks for the info this is exactly the info im looking for. I was thinking the shorter barrel at high velocity would be iratic. My thoughts that 2800 to 3000 might work better but will never know until i try different loads.

 

[John from MN]

Bottom line is that I can't recommend an 18 inch or shorter. Good luck.