barrel length, and follow thru....

[billdncn]

I'm I at an advantage, or disadvantage with a 24" (smallbore) barrel length?

The barrel hangs out there real nice (a bit muzzle heavy for me maybe) but, how much more important is follow thru with a 24" vs a 22", 20", 18", etc.

I heard that a 22LR reaches optimum vel. at around 16". Is this true?

It seems to me that the longer the bullet is in the barrel the more probability there is of pulling off the target during the shot.

I'm toying with the idea of having my 1710's 24"barrel cut and recrowned to 22". Mainly to help make weight and hopefully, for a little better balance. Will this help make follow thru mistakes, if any, less important?

[CB]

I'll offer an opinion, and it's just that an opinion based upon a few years screwups uh-- experience. Don't cut off that barrel! From a real world application a good "hang time" balance will probably do more for your scores than a fraction of a millisecond barrel time. I was told by a top level shooter that thats what makes 22rf a good trainer for HP, air rifle a good trainer for 22rf. It forces a more focused attention to trigger control and followthrough.
 I've heard but have no first hand info of back boring RF barrels to attain 18" or so barrel length for actual rifling with additional 6" or so for balance. Perhaps someone here with experience in this will comment.

[billdncn]

 I've heard but have no first hand info of back boring RF barrels to attain 18" or so barrel length for actual rifling with additional 6" or so for balance.

That's very interesting and a neat idea. I never thought of that. I've seen and heard of bloop tubes, but never this. Would this be legel for Hunting Rifle? I'm guessing so.

[ajj]

I read somewhere that a 22 bullet is in the barrel 8 milliseconds. Whatever the time, it is not insignificant but most of it must be spent in the first half of the barrel while the bullet is accelerated from rest. Lock time, from trigger break to ignition, must be added to the follow through challenge. Lock time varies with the action type but what is it, at least 4 milliseconds? I'm with CB. The way the rifle hangs and handles has got to be more important than whatever time the bullet spends in the last few inches of the barrel. (It's easier to follow through when the rifle hangs well.)

[hh4064]

I totally agree . The shorter the barrel the quicker you can get the bullet away from you so you cant screw it up. That is why many of the TOP silhouetters have very short barrels and bloop tubes. But dont ruin the value of a nice rifle by wacking off 2 inches. Instead practice your follow thru. If you are not watching the animal fall off the stand thru the scope you are not following thru long enough. If you are convenced that you need to shoot a shorter barreled rifle buy a cheaper gun. Example..... The money that you will loose cutting the barrel of a expensive rifle, you could probably buy a cz452 silhouette gun. I bought a new cz silhouette using federal gold medal match and this thing shoots almost as good as my anschutz. HONEST!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course there will be folks that disagree and that is ok.
This is just another opinion.
But if you choose this route you will own another gun.
You can NEVER own enough guns HEHEHEHEHE
good luck
4064

[yankee]

Just think---if the rifle shoots good now then you cut a couple inches off and it doesn't shoot what will you do then??

[billdncn]

I have traded back the 1710 for my Sako due to an overweight issue with the 1710. I have just installed a 21" Lilja on the Sako, but I haven't had much time to shoot it. I did move up to "AAA" in Hunting Rifle with it this month. I know have almost 4 ozs. to spare. I may eventually mess around with adding weight to the forearm area of the stock for balance. As for follow thru, I don't know if I can tell if 3 inches is that big of a difference. The Sako is suppose to have a really fast lock time. This and the barrel lgth. of 21" may help a bit for offhand shooting but, I'm just not that experienced to tell the difference. I haven't shot enough matches to say "yeah, I'm hitting more targets with this combo".

I can say the Sako/Lilja groups well @ 50 from the bench, but I need to test for 100meter accuracy. Wolf does ok, I guess, coming in a about 1.5" under less then ideal conditions. How many of you use one type of ammo for C,P,T and something else for Rams? What about needing fouling shoots to go from one ammo to the next between Turkey's and Rams. Is this an issue? I know this is an apples/oranges type of question but what ammo do you find holds tight and groups well @ 100m? I'm wanting to try Eley Match EPS. This is what my chamber is cut for. Has anyone tried the EPS Fast?

Sorry for all the rambling and questions, Bill

[ajj]

Yo, Bill: Without rambling and questions we wouldn't have a board. Things can get slow in the winter. Summer, too. Anyway, I missed the rambling part. Looked like a focused post to me.
I shoot Match EPS fast. The box is marked 1154, I believe. I don't hear a sonic crack but I don't hear that well under any circumstances. Rifle is a 1712. Haven't chronographed yet. I really like this ammo. It averages right at an inch at 100 meters which is a terrific AVERAGE. Since Dave Imas set new standards for candor by declaring that he wasn't a great bench shooter, I can say it, too. Say it about myself that is. EPS fast shoots about an inch higher at 100 than Wolf MT and regular speed Eley. I bought a case when I was still shooting a stock Finnfire and the rifle just didn't like it. I'm glad I held onto it until I got the Anschutz. It's expensive, of course. McLemore's gave me the best price I've found. I went that route in the first place after watching a shot of Wolf (off the bench) go 6 inches low at 100. Money won't guarantee freedom from bloopers but I felt it was worth the peace of mind knowing I had done what I could.
I don't switch ammo during the match but I don't shoot the Eley every match. Presumably, the effect of a change of ammo could be tested from the bench.
On the follow-through issue, I may be completly wrong but I've got the feeling that follow-through is something you either do or you don't. That is, when you fail to follow through properly it's unlikely that a slightly shorter barrel will save you.

[CB]

The BR shooters are a buzz about the black box Eley, "semi-auto" on some of the packaging, Calfee bullet. I'm hearing equal to or greater than the Midas, at half the price. your mileage may vary, and they only shoot 50yds. I shoot 711B out to pigs or turkeys, to save my 900. break the shot with a steady center hold without disturbing sight picture and fowling becomes a non issue, last instant spasm with resulting wide shot, built in excuse!!

[PAndy]

Many, many world records have been set with Anschutz rifles and 27" barrels, so I would not worry about those milliseconds TOO much.  The ten ring on an international smallbore target is a lot smaller than a chicken.  Someone with spare time and good math skills might be able to calculate the difference between an 18" and 24" barrels, if he/she could come up with an average barrel movement speed. :-)
Up to you; fiddling with equipment is fun, too.