.223 performance with different length barrels?

[thejanitor]

Can someone tell me what was the smallest/ lightes .223 Rem. barrel H&R has made? I have a longer bull barrel for me, but I also need a lighter barrel for my daughter. I was hoping to get a performance report. So I can either send in a frame for a fitted barrel or find one here once I know what I should be looking for. She would do ok with a standard taper 22 inch, but I know she would rather have as short light as we can get without throwing all the efficiency of an ok cartridge out the window. ( I thought they offered one a few years ago that was shorter with sights as a youth model) So if you have had one or your kid still has one and you can let me know how it works for them I would appreciate the info.

Thanks thejanitor

[quickdtoo]

20" Superlight or Compact.

Tim

[thejanitor]

Thanks Tim-  Does anyone that has one have any kind of review to share? Does the smaller length lose much? Compared to a standard? I sometimes wonder if some can be too light....
 Thanks thejanitor

[DARKCLOUD]

hi
 i have a camo 223 superlight,i got for grandson to start deer hunting
with.i use it a lot as a plinker and varmint ,and have several more rifles
to choose from.
i do not know how much velocity it loses,but i love the little gun.
 it makes a great kid's gun,my wife even took it deer hunting.
 she is small stature and she likes it.
 a lot of military rifles have 16 and 18 inch barrells.
sorry i wasn't more help on specifics.
mark

[xhare]

Not only do many ARs have short barrels, they have gas operated systems which bleed a bit of barrel pressure off to operate the action which lowers velocity a smidgon.  Search the AR pages to get an idea of velocities.  That said, there is a huge variety of ammo out there, finding an apples to apples comparison will be tough. 

[thejanitor]

True - "Apples to apples"  And I suppose if she shoots it enough like we are all supposed to- it won't matter if it hits different than mine, she will know where hers hits.
Yeah- the AR lovers kill tons of critters with those short barrels, I should have thought about that before starting a thread, but at least now I know what barrel H&R offered.
Thanks all!   thejanitor

[PHATINJUN]

I had one of the 20" and a 24" bull @ the same time had them both with me one yr PD hunting both on the bench at the same time .As one cooled shot the other back and forth . Although I had differant loads for each as one was 1-12 and the other 1-9 twist I was shooting @ the same critters with no noticable differance to me. other than the fact you may not be able to use the heavy bullets out of a 1-12 for deer with a little looking you should be able to find a bullet that would work well. I think all the new 223's come 1-9 today though.But as far as there being a big enough noticable differance between 20" and 24"it ain't big enough to matter in my opinion. Kurt

[bikerbeans]

janitor,

I worked up a 2,900 FPS load with 60 grn Sierra Varminter, Xterminator powder for the 223 Rem.  This load was shot out of a Handi with 24" HB.  I plugged the data into a velocity estimating program and changed the barrel length to 17".   The program says 2,727 fps plus or minus.   I have used the program for estimating 45 cal rifle loads and have found it to be fairly close.  I have not tried to verify the program with faster/lighter bullets.

BB

[thejanitor]

Thank you! That is not bad at all! I would have thought it to be much slower than the 24", it is still a pretty impressive round then even in a "shorty" even though I wouldn't make one quite that short for a handi- The AR crowd doesn't lose near as much as I thought they would.
Thank you, thejanitor

[LanceR]

Shorter, lighter barreled rifles tend to be harder for most folks to hold steadily due to the light weight on the support hand.  The key to success will not be how it shoots off a bench but how she shoots it offhand or from other field firing positions.

As far as performance drops with shorter barrels the Remington 2003 catalog article titled "Centerfire Rifle Velocity Vs Barrel Length"  and the 45th edition of the Lyman Reloading Handbook both show the same information:  For projectiles in the 2500-3000 FPS range the approximate loss of velocity for a 1" drop in barrel length is 20 FPS. 

To put it in perspective for shooting varmints for which you want the bullet to stay within 2" above or below the line of sight (known as a 4" mean point blank range or 4" MPBR) and with the same load for both rifles:

 A 24" barreled .223 rifle firing a 55 grain Sierra spitzer Varminter at 2900 FPS will be within 2" of the crosshairs out to 228 yards.  It will be 0.2" below the crosshairs at 200 yards.

Shorten the barrel to 20" and the approximate velocity becomes 2820 FPS.  The bullet hangs within 2" of the crosshairs out to 222 yards and at 200 yards the bullet is at 0.5" below the crosshairs. 

The difference between the 24" and the 20" barrel results in measly 6 yard loss of MPBR.

BTW, the trajectory is within 0.3" all the way out to 200 yards and the windage, with a 10 MPH wind directly from the side is also within 0.3".  At 200 yards the windage is 6.2" for the 2900 FPS barrel and 6.5" for the 2820 FPS barrel. 

In short, the critter will never now the distance.  Barrel length seldom has a practical effect on downrange performance....

Buy what you think she can shoot well and enjoy yourselves. 

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Lance

P.S.  The trajectories above assume a scope that has it's crosshairs 1.5" above the bore center of the rifle.  The 2" mean point blank range will shorten up a bit for iron sights but the trajectory similarities will still be there.

[LanceR]

I should have added this:  Below 20" the muzzle blast and flash get rapidly and progressively worse.

Lance

[thejanitor]

Thanks LanceR,  I will have to make sure I get a scope that doesn't block out the PD. . . .  But after she practices she will know where to hold. Her gun will probably have a different favorite load than mine, especially if it is a different twist.  Thank you for the info.  thejanitor

[bikerbeans]

I should have added this:  Below 20" the muzzle blast and flash get rapidly and progressively worse.

Lance

I prove this fact every time I shoot my 18.5" 30-06!

BB

[petemi]

There's another advantage to getting old.  Muzzle blast and flash doesn't bother you a bit cause ya can't see or hear.

Pete