Cutting a 308 barrel down to 13". What do you all think?

[Dezynco]

I've got a 15" Encore barrel in 308 Winchester.  I'm thinking about having the barrel cut down to 13" for a couple of reasons:

1. There is a little pitting near the muzzle, don't know why, may have missed wiping that spot once and left it stored too long.

2.  It once had a front sight, which was removed and plug screws put in, this would cut just behind the back screw, thus removing them completely.

3.  It would lighten the barrel (a little).\

Just wondering what would this do to my accuracy.  I know that I would lose a little velocity.  Have any of you ever done this, and if so, what was the outcome?

[yooper77]

I have a T/C Encore 10" factory 7mm-08 Remington barrel that is very accurate and is manageable.

If your 308 Winchester barrel is accurate now, it still will be accurate when its shortened.  You will lose some velocity, but not much to make a difference.

I would send it too SSK Industries, also I would email them with your questions.

http://www.sskindustries.com/
http://www.sskindustries.com/prices/price1.pdf (Shorten your barrel & re-crown $50.00)
Email: info@sskindustries.com.

I had a 15" 454 Casull barrel that SSK shortended for me to 12", they do a great job.

yooper77

[Steve P]

If you're going to send it to SSK to shorten it, you may as well have them put a muzzle brake on it.  If it were mine, I would clean up the pitting, put in nice looking cap screws and use it as is.

Steve

[bilmac]

I've shortened several barrels myself. Hacksaw it off where you want it, square it up with a file, and crown it. The only thing that takes a little effort and patience is the crowning. I take various size round surfaces on a stem and spin them in a drill. I put a small piece of emory cloth between the ball and the hole in the barrel and kind of wobble it around as it spins. Depending on the caliber you are doing different size balls work. One of the best I've used was an old military bolt handle. Round head machine bolts also work, the screwdriver slot doesn't bother.

All I cut down shot just as well afterwords. There are a couple more tricks to do the job I can help you with if you are interested. What is there to loose, if you don't like it, then send it to your gunsmith and have him take off another 1/2 inch.

[Lone Star]

In 1987, Bob Forker with G&A took a 24" .308 barrel and cut it off in 2" increments, chronographing it each time.  Loads were with IMR4320 powder and 180-grain bullets at 52,000 cup - a stout load.  Here are the velocities he obtained:

Length...Velocity
24".........2700 fps
15".........2450
14".........2400
13".........2350
12".........2300


100 fps is not much to lose, but to say that accuracy won't be effected is not necessarily true.  Shortening the barrel results in higher muzzle pressures, which means more turbulence as the bullet exits the barrel.  You may see no change in accuracy, or you may see a loss.  You will see (hear) more muzzle blast.


.

[Graybeard]

You will lose something in the neighborhood of 100 fps with any given load but that can be picked back up if you want by changing loads. You will change barrel harmonics so what was an accuracy load before might not be worth using afterward so you'll need to work up loads again or maybe not you'll not know without trying. You'll bring the muzzle blast 2" closer to your ears.

I'm not much on barrels shorter than 14" to 15" with rounds like the .308 or 7-08 but in reality a couple inches really isn't a lot. I did once have a 21" 7-30 Waters barrel cut to 14" plus a very minor extra just in case it needed to be recrowned again it could still be a full 14". I never shot it as a 21" so can't say how it affected accuracy but afterward it sure was an accurate barrel even tho the crown to my eyes looked pretty sick it sure worked. After the cut I shot hundreds of sub inch at 100 yard groups and out to 250 yards it still shot groups as small as 1.5" on a fairly regular basis. My best with it at 100 was three shots in 0.27" that's center to center measurement.