Best length for 308 Win?

[Mocsin1]

I want a good handling deer rifle in 308. What is the shortest length barrel I can get in 308  and it still burn all the powder and stabilize the bullet. I would like for it to be good for up to 300yds. It will be a barrel for my encore.   

[shot1]

I would do no shorter than a 20" for myself. I have a Rem 700 with a 21.5" that handles really well and I get plenty of velocity and accuracy.

[charles p]

Hunted all this year with a Mod 7 Rem in 308.  Mine has a 20" barrel.  It is very accurate and sweet to handle in a box stand.

[nomosendero]

I want a good handling deer rifle in 308. What is the shortest length barrel I can get in 308  and it still burn all the powder and stabilize the bullet. I would like for it to be good for up to 300yds. It will be a barrel for my encore.   

In principle I agree with the 2 previous comments from shot1 & charles p, the 20" is quite nice & gives a good balance of handling & velocity. Keep in mind that a 20" tube on an Encore will have an overall length aprox. the
same as a 16" tube on a bolt gun, which is a dang short gun. Even though I feel the 20" is about right, you can
go down to 18" & still get decent vel., though your blast changes, vel drops too much for my taste below 18" for sure. I recently worked up loads for a friends DPMS with a 16.5" barrel, the vel. was pretty much
the same as an average 30-30AI with a 20", for my uses unacceptable. By the same token, vel. per inch gain gets less after 24" with this modest case. Again, for your use & most uses, 20" makes alot of sense.
Also, when the tube gets shorter than 20", blast & noise increases, not too bad with an 18", but I did note an
obvious diff. with the DPMS 16.5".

You can go to Snipershide & SniperCentral & get pages of info on this subject to help you decide, you will see the 20"
is the direction most go. As far as twist goes, 1-12 is fine for 175gr & less, not to say they won't shoot heavier, just going with optimum here, I would rather go with 11.25 or 1-10 for heavier bullets or the shortest tubes where vel. can drop off.

Here is a couple of bery good articles on this subject:

http://www.6mmbr.com/308Win.html

http://www.tacticaloperations.com/SWATbarrel/
Notice in this one they even advise a 22" on the 300 Win Mag in general, however they make an exception if you want max. vel with the heavy bullets. To me, that's what a 300WM is all about, hence I use a 26" in the 300WM.

Good shooting.

[Swampman]

I like a 22" because it doesn't seem so loud.

[james]

The Remington Model 600 was about 18 inches and accurate but had a hefty muzzle blast. A friend has one and he has made some long shots with it.   I prefer a 22 inch tube and that is what is on my 788 Rem.  On a single shot, such as a TC Encore, a 24" barrel balances nicely and keeps the blast farther from your ear.

[TLARbb]

I'm going to vote for 20" as well.  If you want a shorter barrel than that, get a .30-30 or .35 Remington.  Remington's 141 or 760/7600 pump in .35 Remington makes a great fast handling round in the carbine length barrel.  Of course the single shots (Encore, Ruger #1, etc.) are short with standard 22" length tubes.

EJ

[BBF]

18 1/2" is fine with heavier  bullets since your V loss is less with them per barrel inch then higher velocity stuff. Ideal: something between 20 and 22 inch. 

[teddy12b]

Maybe this will help, maybe not, but I have a DPMS 308B.  It's an 18" heavy barreled 308.  With federal 168gr gold medal match ammo my velocity average is 2,562 fps.  Keep in mind that a not semi auto gun will be a little more fps on the same round.  That rifle shoots a lot farther than 300 yards just fine.

I'd also like to agree with what was said about the TC encore.  I bought one years ago and took my first deer with my 26" 30-06 barrel.  If you wanted full length barrel power, but still compact the encore is a really good option.

[Bayou Stalker]

Velocity loss may be less than you think.  I found this article while researching the Ruger compact in .308.  Read both parts of this article, I think most will be surprised as much as I...

http://www.realguns.com/archives/180.htm

[thumbcocker]

I have a remington 7600 with an 181/2 inch barrel. I really like the way it handles. Shot 2 deer with it this year. I get 2552 f.p.s. with remington 180 core lokt's and 2539 f.p.s. with 180 fusions. I love this gun.

[nomosendero]

Velocity loss may be less than you think.  I found this article while researching the Ruger compact in .308.  Read both parts of this article, I think most will be surprised as much as I...

http://www.realguns.com/archives/180.htm

Bayou Stalker, thanks for the link, very good article. That 16.5 is as fast as any 18" I have seen. The 16.5 DPMS I tested was way short of that. Was the DPMS a "slow" barrel & the Ruger a "fast" barrel, does the barrel used on this model Ruger simply yield better vel, who know. I tested just one & he tested just one, we would have to test severalof each model to be sure. I got alot of my info too from Snipers Hide & Sniper Central, tons of it & most of those guys stop at 18", just like the link I provided on this thread.
But I did see one rifle on the Hide that was being used out to 800 with a 16.5 with a can & he was getting good vel, thou I think a little short of this Ruger.

I did notice that he commented that everyone that shot it noticed the blast, I did as well with the DPMS. I think most would like an 18"-20" better in user comfort. However, if I knew I could get one that fast I would be tempted.

I saw a tip or two in this article to try, I noticed the use of BLC2 powder with those good speeds. I did not try that, maybe the ticket with that tube.

Thanks again.

[41 mag]

I have one of those Ruger Compact's with the short 16.5" tube on it. I have shot factory CL's almost exclusively since I got it mainly due to the price on them as well as the performance I have gotten. They shoot great grouping around 1.5" @ 200yds and have knocked everything I have put them on down where it stood.

As mentioned I personally thought the velocity would be an issue when I got it, but I picked it up for stalking through the river bottom thickets after feral hogs. I needed something that could be tucked up tight and not hang up on all the vines and such we encounter which it does to perfection. Coming in at 6.5 pounds with the 1.5x6 power Burris electro dot scope and a full magazine, it is about as good as it gets for quick handling and busting hogs.

I have used it to take several large hogs out to ranges of 400+ yards and it worked as good to those ranges as it did up close and personal. I loaded some reduced loads for my grandson with H4895 and the 130gr TTSX which he also used to bag several hogs with.

To be quite honest I have not been a bit bothered with the recoil, (except from the bench) or blast while shooting or hunting with it. Several others who have also used it have always come back telling me how well they thought it performed for such a lightweight short rifle.

When I chrono'ed the factory 150's they ran around 2650'ish so I don't feel too awfully handicapped with it for the use I put it to. I have several '06's with various barrel lengths for longer range or more velocity, but to be honest, I have for the most part hauled the shorty .308 with me 99% of the time since I got it.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a stainless model 7 with an 18 inch barrel. It came with a 20 but the guy i bought if from had it ported and i hated that so i wacked it off. It has accounted for many deer. 5 just this year doing crop damage and the longest was 325 yards and was a bang flop kill. Ive also got a ar10 with a 16 inch barrel that ive taken deer with without a problem.  Id say anything over 16 inch is fine and it will be more of a matter of what feels good to you then how any animal will react to being hit by it. I guess my thought with the 308 have allways gone to small compact guns and if im going to tote around something with a barrel longer then 20 inch id prefer it in an 06

[Coyote Hunter]

... They shoot great grouping around 1.5" @ 200yds and have knocked everything I have put them on down where it stood.
...
To be quite honest I have not been a bit bothered with the recoil, (except from the bench) or blast while shooting or hunting with it. Several others who have also used it have always come back telling me how well they thought it performed for such a lightweight short rifle.

When I chrono'ed the factory 150's they ran around 2650'ish ...    ... I have for the most part hauled the shorty .308 with me 99% of the time since I got it.

41  Mag –

That is a good report – meaning just what I want to hear!  The Ruger Compacts have often caught my eye and I’d love to have one in 7mm-08 or .260 Rem.  (Don’t want a .308 Win as I have one already and if the handloads don’t develop the same it causes issues I’d rather not deal with.  (Have three .30-06’’s and one is an oddball load-wise.  It is going to get the chamber reamed to lengthen the leade so I can use the same ammo in all.)

I run 165’s at 2650 in my 22” .308 Win so you really aren’t losing much by comparison. 

[teddy12b]

For whatever this is worth there was a show on the other night that was focused on the new SCAR 17 in 308.  It's a 16" barrel, but have a long flash hider too.

[john keyes]

I struggled with this choice for a while, wanted an FN PBR or TSR in .308.  really wanted the 24" but, I wanted a tacticool rifle to play with in the vogue of the LTR so a long barrel wouldn't really fit in.  So I got the 20" and though its not here yet I presume I will never notice the difference. 
there is a lot of info out there long vs short and the long range guys do well with the 20". 

[nomosendero]

41 Mag, good post!! Which weight CL did you use?

[41 mag]

41 Mag, good post!! Which weight CL did you use?

I have used the 150gr loads almost exclusively. I've loaded a few rounds for myself back when I first picked it up using the 170gr RN CL which was meant for the 30-30. I simply dropped the charge weight down a bit since I was really only wanting a thumper type load for up in the brush. They shot well, and dropped several hogs right where they stood. I also worked up a few other loads using some 150gr Solid Base, BT's and a few others like the SST's, and they all grouped wonderfully from it. I simply had a hard time loading rounds for it when the standard plain green and yellow factory 150's preformed so well. I was then picking them up 10 boxes at a time from Academy at the end of hunting season for $9.99 a box. I happened upon some of the Fusions back when they first came out for about the same price and picked up 10 boxes of them simply due to the price. Now I am about out of my cheap Rem's, and have about 4-5 boxes of the Fusions left, then it will be load development time for sure.

I did purchase a box of 180's the week of Thanksgiving due to an unplanned meat hunt. I got the chance to go over to a ranch which borders my bud's property and get a cow elk for a good price. Since we had put in for a draw hunt and it fell through, I figured what the heck. The hunt was booked on Sunday and we took it on Tuesday. I purchased the 180gr Fusions on Monday afternoon, sighted it in with 10 rounds and dropped the hammer at about 70yds, after a long stalk through a forest of youpon and then 200yd across a wide open coastal field. It was what it was, but they knew the jig was up and weren't about to make it easy. Our only saving grace was they went over a hill and stopped long enough on the other side for us to make the advance. The 180gr Fusion hit her hard and she only went about 30yds before piling up. I was very happy we didn't have to drag her out of the youpon as it was everything 4 of us could do to load her in the truck after we dressed her out.

Here's a link to some online pics of mine. Feel free to look around in there. Most of the hogs pictured were downed using this particular rifle. The grandsons first hog, the cow elk and last years buck as well.
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f285/41nag/

[cole k]

I have three .308 Win's. One is a M1A1 with 22” barrel, one is a Model 7 with a 20” barrel, and one is an Encore with a 24” barrel.
I prefer to hunt with the Encore because it's more accurate than the other two.