Cut down a 15" T/C Pistol Barrel?

[Badgerbob]

Ok, after wondering for a while, I have to ask this question.

Has anyone ever cut down a 15" Encore Pistol barrel?  I have a .22/250 and .30/06 barrel.  I have often thought about how much lighter the pistol would be if I had the barrel cut down a bit.  Would accuracy, velocity suffer? Probably yes.  But has anyone cut down one of these barrels and what was the result?

[martineta]

You will lose a tad of velocity.  I think I read 40 fps less for each inch removed..  For my purposes, not a big deal.  Its going to cost a bit to cut a barrel and have it recrowned by an expert gunsmith. 

A trade might be easier and quicker than waiting in line at the gunsmith's shop.

I just traded off my two of my 14 inch contenders for 10's in the same calibers.  My guess is lots cheaper just to trade for what you want here.  Good luck.

[yooper77]

Ok, after wondering for a while, I have to ask this question.

Has anyone ever cut down a 15" Encore Pistol barrel?  I have a .22/250 and .30/06 barrel.  I have often thought about how much lighter the pistol would be if I had the barrel cut down a bit.  Would accuracy, velocity suffer? Probably yes.  But has anyone cut down one of these barrels and what was the result?

I have a 15" Encore 454 Casull barrel cut down to 12" by SSKIndustries.com They are the only gunsmith I would choose to work on a T/C barrel. To me it just made sense to have a shorter barrel for this revolver cartridge and it performs perfectly.

Their current price for such a job is $80 not including shipping.
http://sskindustries.com/prices.htm

I don't feel it is practical to cut down a 22-250 Remington or 30-06 Springfield, and I don't think you will find them available if you sell yours and buy what you need.  The weight you save and muzzle blast you get in return isn't worth the effort or money in my eyes.

yooper77

[shot1]

"I don't feel it is practical to cut down a 22-250 Remington or 30-06 Springfield, and I don't think you will find them available if you sell yours and buy what you need.  The weight you save and muzzle blast you get in return isn't worth the effort or money in my eyes."

I agree with you 100%.

A specialty pistol like an Encore is not meant to be compact and carried on a hip holster. If you want compact and ease of carry get a revolver. But try shooting a deer or groundhog  at 200 to 300 yards with a revolver and you will be glad you have the 15" scope sighted rifle cartridge shooting beast. 

[martineta]

    Me bad, I had not paid close attencion to the calibers 22-250 and 30-06.  Never heard of either offered in a short barrel.  My encores are all rifles and my contenders are pistols and lite calibers.  22 lr, 22 hornet, 223 rem and a new to me 300 whisper, all in ten inch.  not much recoil in those rounds and funnnnnn to shoot.

Good info on SSK.  I bought from SSK a 300 whisper barrel in 26 inches for my encore last year.  I am going to have him cut it down to 16 and have it threaded for a suppressor.  I wonder if he can make another encore pistol length barrel out of the 10 inch scrap?  Guess I will find out after the call.

[Ladobe]

Add one more that wouldn't cut 15" barrels down chambered for these two cartridges.   It would reduce resale value IMO even if you did find someone who wanted to buy a 12" of either of them.   

Whacking off 1" to 3" or more is not enough weight loss to worry about either IMO, muzzle blast will be worse, there will be a little more felt recoil, velocity loss and so effective range will be less, etc.   Since both are hunting barrels, that last one will matter to a lot of people, especially when the range gets longer and especially for the 22-250.

If the Encore's pound + of extra weight really bothers you, get a Contenter or G2.   Wildcats for them can approximate or exceed the 22-250 and 30-06 on that frame.

FWIW

L.

[southernutah]

I don't think you get a complete powder burn with the 15" barrel in 30-06 and would less burn with a shorter barrel. Short barrels need fast burning powder and develope more recoil so all the weight you can have will help the kick.

[Grumulkin]

Several things gentlemen:

1.  Shortening a barrel will lower velocity a little.

2.  You DO NOT need to use a faster powder.  Use whatever powder gives you the best accuracy results in a longer barrel.

3.  Recoil won't be increased much; i.e., hardly enough to notice, by shortening the barrel a couple of inches.

4.  You will get a complete powder burn in a shortened barrel even with a 30/06 provided you don't do something really crazy like shortening it to 2 or 3 inches.

5.  Anything you do to an Encore or Contender barrel, unless done by the factory, will probably decrease resale value.  That includes Krylon pain, adding muzzle brakes, etc.  Just because you buy a barrel for $200, have it cut down for $50, have a muzzle braked installed for $75, doesn't mean your barrel is then worth $325.  It will still probably be worth no more than $200 and maybe less when you get done with all that depending on how well the work was done and by whom.

Since my Encore and Contender handguns are scoped, I don't wish to have iron sights hanging out there.  For this reason, I've had more that one barrel shortened to remove the front sight holes.  Said shortened barrels include a 308 Winchester and a 7mm/08.  I have no regrets and, in fact have a new 30/06 handgun barrel I may do the same thing with.  SSK Industries does good and prompt work but I generally send barrels to Thompson/Center since having them work on the barrel doesn't void the lifetime warranty.