Question for Remmy pump and autos owners

[holahead]

I have a question for you guys who have a Remington 7400 or 7600 rifles with a 18 1/2 inch barrel. I am wanting to have a barrel cut down to 18 1/2 inches (Handi rifle) I have always wanted a rifle with that length barrel in 30-06.What I want to know is what kind of factory ammo do ya'lll use in that in that length. Also how does it perform on deer. All my shooting is done at 150 yards or less. Thanks for any response.

[kyelkhunter3006]

I was going to buy one of the carbines, but decided that the 18 1/2" barrel looked too stubby for me.  I took my old 22" barrel and cut it down to 20" and was happy.  You could use any factory ammo you want.  I'v used 150, 165, and 180 grain loads with no issues.  Barrel length doesn't make that big of a difference in the 30-06.  You'd lose about 100 fps or so, and that means you'd at least have the same velocity/power as a standard .308 in a longer 22" barrel.  A deer doesn't know the difference between a 150 grain at 2900 fps or 2750 fps.  Maybe an inch more drop at 300 yds.  You'd never be able to tell yourself.  Muzzle blast and jump would be the bigger issue, with that short barrel.  It will be LOUD.  I can tell a differece in the jump between the 20" and a longer barrel too.

[fknipfer]

I have the synthetic model 7600 w/18.5" barrel in 30-06.  As for noise I only have shot it at the range and no one around me seemed to be disturbed by any extra noise.  I couldn't tell because I had ear protection.   I have only shot up to 165gr Nosler and Hornady thru it and it zeroed in at 2" at 100yds.  I have never take a shot at a deer or anything over 200yds so I couldn't tell you about 300yds.  One thing I know is, it ranks high in the handiest rifle I have ever owned.
The only thing I don't like about it is that on pointed bullets it sometimes hits the tip and distorts the tip when loading.  I heard a good suggestion on this forum the other night was to use the tipped bullets (elastomer) and the problem goes away.  I sent an email to Remington about 220gr bullets, I was a little nervous about such a big bullet in a pump and they returned my email and said if I didn't shoot anything but 220grs in it from now on (factory loads) everything would be ok.  It was built to handle the 220gr bullets.

Well hope this helped,
fknipfer