Nearly all the .308Win.s I've encountered have 22" barrels. I guess it's considered ideal.
I prescribe to Lawdog's theory.
It's a bit like recoil really.
Recoil is, in the end, a
felt effect and so what is considered as quite reasonable by one person is uncomfortable for another.
In the same way there is a deep seated feeling with some people that the extra 2" or 4" will somehow be that much more unweildy in the forest/on the mountain/etc., not to discount the fact that carbines are much more appropriate in some situations.
However, my thoughts on the commonality of 22" barrels is different.
I rarely find that "
ideal", at least in a performance/user sense, enters into any common feature or dimension on a mass produced product.
Instead, it is usually marketed that way to the public or produced for some economic manufacturing reason(
i.e. 10 can be made out of a certain length of billet instead of 8 and a bit).
If a giant in the industry like the
Big "R" or the
Slightly-less-big "W" then sticks to this it becomes an industry standard and other companies follow in order to compete and provide a point of comparison for their products.
I don't deny that 22" is a suitable barrel length to get good performance from the .308 Win but I'm not counting the above suggested brands to establish what is the optimum, especially considering the
Big "R"'s recent record on market response. :roll:
Then again, I may be wrong. :wink:
