Shorten barrel?

[jackelope]

What would the disadvantages be to having a barrel shortened by 6" or so?? I have a 24" 9 twist .280 Rem barrel for my Encore and was considering shortening it to 16.5"-18" to make a lightweight rifle. Would the 9 twist have enough length in the barrel  to adequately spin the bullet? I've been shooting 140 grain Hornady gmx's with good results from the 24" tube. I'd have a smith cut and re crown. Just sort of an imagination kind of thing at this point. Not sure if its realistic to expect it to shoot.

[JLS]

I think you would have to use a really fast burning powder in .280 to be able to utilize a barrel that short?  You might be able to get away with 18".

[Bob33]

A general rule of thumb is 25-40 fps per inch of barrel length. That means 6" could reduce velocities by 150-200 fps.

As for accuracy there is no inherent reason a short barrel cannot shoot as well, or perhaps better than a long barrel.  It might be more difficult to streadily hold a whippy barrel. 

If you know and are close to the gunsmith, an interesting experiment would be to cut it to 18-19" and test fire it. If the accuracy is good, stop. If not, shave another 1/8" off and repeat. Barrels usually have sweet spots due to the harmonics of a bullet traveling down it.

[jackelope]

Not worried about muzzle blast. My .300wm is the mother of all muzzle blasters it would seem but it doesnt bother me. I  am worried about the rest though. Maybe i need a different caliber.

[kentrek]

I would make your rifle lighter in other ways...like the action an stock an scope.. Id call up some people that build UL rifles an see what they say

[jackelope]

I would make your rifle lighter in other ways...like the action an stock an scope.. Id call up some people that build UL rifles an see what they say

It's an Encore. Nothing left to change in the action. It's 7 pounds right now with the scope and the .280 barrel as is. Not too many options as far as stocks go. Definitely not like the options around for a Rem 700. Probably wont happen anyway. I was just wondering what the opinions were. I saw this one on YouTube and it made me curious.

[kentrek]

hmmm thats interesting...maybe have the barrel "thinned" or lathed down ?? that way you could keep the performance of your longer barrel.. its almost a pistol when it gets that short lol

[jackelope]

Encore pistols will shoot too!! Ha ha.

[Heredoggydoggy]

I would only take 4" off and make it a 20" barrel.  Easier to carry and handle, and not a lot of velocity loss.  Shorter than that and you might as well go to a different cartridge, in my opinion. 

PS: I was told years ago, that all the accuracy of a barrel is in the last 2" of the bore, so as long as the bore and crown job are good, the only difference would be velocity.

[david0]

Mike Bellm seems to know a lot about the Encores. I think you showed me he trigger job kit. Here he talks about shortening the encore barrels.

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=580

[high country]

Frank green of bartlein did a test and cut barrels back and measured the velocity change.....it will blow your mind in how little difference it makes. Charlie sisk also did a similar test and got very similar results. These are two power names in rifles. IMO, once you get inside of 20" things get pretty blasty. A recontour is doable, as is fluting.

[crazysccrmd]

I cut down my 8mm barrel to make a shorter, handier and better balanced rifle for use in the woods. I cut it from 23.25" to 18", but after fixing my crappy cut, squaring the muzzle and crowning it was about 17.5". With my handloads (51gr H4895, 150gr SP) there was no fireball, excessive muzzle blast or noticeable loss in accuracy. I'd give it a shot.

[carpsniperg2]

For sure with the muzzle blast and the loss of fps. I am sure the 280 will still crank them out more then fast enough to get the job done so I would not think of it as a factor to not do it. Muzzle blast can be dealt with and if you are use to it it would not mess with you that much. I think it would be a great little gun and would not cost a ton to get it done.

[huntnphool]

What would the disadvantages be to having a barrel shortened by 6" or so?? I have a 24" 9 twist .280 Rem barrel for my Encore and was considering shortening it to 16.5"-18" to make a lightweight rifle. Would the 9 twist have enough length in the barrel  to adequately spin the bullet? I've been shooting 140 grain Hornady gmx's with good results from the 24" tube. I'd have a smith cut and re crown. Just sort of an imagination kind of thing at this point. Not sure if its realistic to expect it to shoot.

I would look for a Ruger Hawkeye 7mm-08 Compact. Its what Shorty uses Josh, is light and has a 16.5" barrel. She shoots 140gr. partitions with it.

[jackelope]

But my Encore frame is already tricked out and a barrel mod is a lot cheaper than a whole rifle. With the current barrel as is, with the small stock, its still quite light at around 7#. It only gets heavy with the thumb hole stock and the heavy barrels.