7x30 waters rifle

[DLH]

what length of barrel should I look for in a 7x30 waters rifle?

[IOWA DON]

With a 24-inch barrel, and loaded to higher than standard pressure, in a strong rifle one can get a 120-grain pointed bullet up to about 2,900 fps. That would be a good 300-yard deer gun. With the small case capacity and a longer barrel muzzle blast would be low. My opinion is that there is not much in a short barrel as the rifle would be muzzle light and difficult to hold steady. Also, since your thread is in the single shot forum, I assume you would be using a single shot action. A 24-inch barrel on a single shot generally results in a rifle with the same overal length as a bolt action with a 20-inch barrel. I would even consider a 26-inch barrel.

[Graybeard]

20" to 21" is plenty.

[IOWA DON]

The 7-30 Waters is similar to the .308 Winchester in that it will drive bullets of the same sectional density to similar velocities if loaded to the same pressure. That is, it's like a .308 scaled down in bore size. I have an old table that shows the difference in velocity of a .308 with a 20 or 24 inch barrel is about 80 fps. The difference for a 7-30 Waters would be similar. At one time I was considering a Contender rifle with a 18-inch barrel in 7-30 Waters for a gun to always have with in car or truck. If one wanted a light, short deer or coyote rifle good to 300 yards with minimum recoil I think a 7-30 Waters would be hard to beat.