barrel length for a 7/30

[huntinhick]

I have decided that my first barrel for my g2 will be a 7/30 waters.  I have not decied on a length yet.  it is a carbine so 16 to 24 inch is what I am looking for.  does anyone have any idea what the performance diffrances will be between the 16 and say a 23 inch barrel?  also does anyone see a reason to go with a bull over standard contour for use as a hunting round?  I can see going with a bull for a varmit gun that is going to be shot all day but for a big game barrel it seems like a lot of weight for very little gain.  

thanks

Huntinhick

[Gitzit]

Because the G2 is about a pound lighter than the Encore to start with I find the 23" bull barrels balance the G2 just about right.  My G2 currently has the 23" 6.8 Rem barrel and it is a joy to carry all day.  As for length the one thing I like about these single shot actions is that I can carry a full length barrel and still have a rifle that is shorter overall that the bolt or lever guns with shorter barrels.

[davidsan]

Purchased a 24" bull barrel chambered in 7 30 Waters for my Contender frame a few months ago,best accuracy and mv was obtained with H4895 and Sierra 120 gr pro hunter bullets,adv mv was 2735.                          The barrel was to long for my likeing,the outfit didn't balance well and wasn't as handy as I would have liked.                                                  Cut the barrel back to 18",useing the same bullets and the same charge of H4895 200 fps in mv was lost.After trying several powders settled on IMR4895 and W748 with the 120 gr Sierra's,MV with either runs around 2640 fps and accury is exelent,better than befour the barrel was cut.       The charges of powder are near max but would not be considred hot.       Although I would not try a sholder shot on a large animal at 200 yards the little cartrage has proven to be a exelent deer round with well placed shots.                                                                                                  The 7 30 is easy to load for and accurate.                                               I much pefer the little carbine in its current form,hope this helps.

[offhand35]

Over the years, Ken Waters has revisited and reviewed his cartridge and loadings in Handloader Magazine. I do recall that his initial workup for the 7-30 Waters cartridge was with a lever action carbine. He had a goal MV of 2700 fps, which he found he could not reach until he went to a rifle barrel of 24".  As a result, when the Winchester 94AE was available in this caliber, it had a 24" bbl.

Years ago, when I had the Contender handgun in t 7-30W, I recall not getting much over 2400 fps.

I have recently acquired another Contender, in carbine form [21"] bbl. I am still in the process of fireforming brass, and so have not gotten to work up loads to Chrony. I'm not sure what MV I will reach.

All this is leading to ......if you have a choice of bbl length, you may want to consider one as long as possible up to the 24" length Ken Waters used.
In the G2, that may be the 23" length.

[Gregory]

At one time I owned a 16" and a 21" TC barrel in 7-30 Waters.  With the Federal factory 120 load I got 2530 fps from the 16" and 2660 fps from the 21" one.

[ilv2hnt]

I also have a 21" coming,  I also have a 14" w/ mb but acquired approx. 400 rounds of reloaded ammo for it.  I haven't reloaded for it yet

I have been leaning toward starting with IMR4895 as it is an old standby with me, but the carbine is going to be fired by my 11 year old son, not me (much anyway),  I am going to load some 100 hp from hornady for a little groundhog hunting, and probably stick with a 120 gr  for deer, has anyone used a ballistic tip on deer and how much damage?  We work our deer up ourselves, and will eat at least 4 a year, more if we are lucky, but I hate to see meat ruined, ANY SUGGESTIONS ON BULLET WEIGHT AND TYPE FOR THE 21" CARBINE FOR MY 11 YEAR OLD TO DEER HUNT, WITH ,  MINIMAL MEAT DAMAGE?
Most shots about 75 yards or so, can shoot up to 300 yards at a few stands though.

TAKE A CHILD HUNTING TODAY, YOU WANT HAVE TO HUNT FOR THEM TOMORROW

[hunter]

I have a super14 7x30 waters contender. 3 shots 3 deer. Go for it