308 barrel length

[Recon$$]

500 on elk I'd take a hard look at Barnes 168 ttsx. I used em on a safari in a 20" Savage with great results to include accuracy. Dropped a big kudu along with everything else. I'm sure the hammer guys will chime in as well. I'm about to go down the hammer road to see what all the hype is about.

 

[SamuelBerryhill308]

500 on elk I'd take a hard look at Barnes 168 ttsx. I used em on a safari in a 20" Savage with great results to include accuracy. Dropped a big kudu along with everything else. I'm sure the hammer guys will chime in as well. I'm about to go down the hammer road to see what all the hype is about.

Thanks for your input.and I've talk to Steve couple times about which bullets and for white tail but havnt asked about elk yet I know I fell in love with hammer bullets this year lol what I seen them do from my 308 this year on deer was really great and I will be sticking with them for sure

 

[Bucklowery]

You will like the hammers. I am sold. They always have them when I call or order. They work great on small to big game, up close and far away. Soon as I am out of these amax in these stubby 308 we have it will have a hammer load. They are on the shelf waiting

Thanks

Buck

 

[Will Gray]

For me this kind of thinking always leads to another rifle and now that has caused me to need a new gun safe.

 

[baldhunter]

I'm getting just a little over 2800fps with a 168gr Nosler Ballistic Tip in my three 308 Win's with 26" barrels.Two are CZ 550 Varmints and one is a Sako a7.The 45.0gr load of IMR 4895 ran 2804fps.I loaded 51.0grs of Big Game and got 2815fps.These velocities are about the same as I was getting in a 22" barreled 30-06 I used to have.

 

[baldhunter]

For me this kind of thinking always leads to another rifle and now that has caused me to need a new gun safe.

I started out with one safe and I was happy.Then the safe got too full,so I bought another.That one also became too full,so I found a good deal on a third so I didn't have my guns so crowded.Now I look and say where in the hell did all those guns come from.Oh well,unlike our dollar,they continue to hold their value.The other thing I learned was,a safe is not happy unless it's full.

 

[gvjm]

Hello all I'm sure this has been asked on here before but I wasn't able to find what I was looking for.my question is what is the optimal barrel length for 308 win I have a remington 700 sps tatical with 20 inch barrel and I can't get the fps I would like to get out of it im getting just over 2700fps with 152 hh and mid 2600 with 168 amaxs I've been thanking of having it rebarreled but this rifle shoots .350 with both loads and before I just chunk a good barrel with less than 500 rounds on it I've been looking at just buying another rifle with longer barrel either 22 or 24 inchs.so my question is which barrel length would be optimal for 308 and also is these velocity good or just average for a 20 inch barrel and what should I try to get more fps out of it.by the way both loads are 45.5 grains of varget in lupua brass 2x and federal 210m.with the long chamber/throat in this rifle I'm around loading to max box length because the bullets aren't hardly in the case any were near the lands.thanks in advance

My 2 cents, I hunted with a 19 1/2" 308 for over 20 years. Never lost an animal and never had one go too far after being hit. One year I went to deer camp and a guy showed up with a 24" barrel 308. We were both using 150 grain Nosler Ballistic tips. We both shoulder shot deer at 100 yards. At camp we compared terminal ballistics on both animals. The difference was obvious. The 24" gun had way more tissue damage! Don't let anyone tell you a couple of hundred feet per second doesn't make a difference!! I now have a 24" 308 and took a deer just last weekend. The internal damage of the animal was way more extensive than what I used to get with my old 19 1/2" gun. Go with as long a barrel as you can deal with. As far as your 20" gun. Load some 130 Barnes TTSX and your good to go.

 

[BamaMike63]

I have a Remington LTR 20 inch, SR-25 24 inch and Chandler 26 inch Hart barrel. The velocity difference with the same round, same lot of 165 Nosler showed only 105 fps from shortest to longest barrel. I'm not sure that you will gain a lot with a longer length barrel.

 

[Texis]

Hi guys, new to the forum, wanted to chime in on this one. I had a Savage 308 with the 18" heavy barrel and it was "ok". I swapped it out to a 26" Shilen varmint profile.. What a difference it made. Speed went up considerably with any load. Recoil dropped significantly. Personally I would do it again in a heartbeat. I liked the rifle before, I love the rifle now.

 

[Texis]

May add also, it was difficult for me to dial in a load with the 18". Only thing that worked was 168 AMax. Almost every load I build shoots well in the 26".

 

[Teri Anne]

Hello all I'm sure this has been asked on here before but I wasn't able to find what I was looking for.my question is what is the optimal barrel length for 308 win I have a remington 700 sps tatical with 20 inch barrel and I can't get the fps I would like to get out of it im getting just over 2700fps with 152 hh and mid 2600 with 168 amaxs I've been thanking of having it rebarreled but this rifle shoots .350 with both loads and before I just chunk a good barrel with less than 500 rounds on it I've been looking at just buying another rifle with longer barrel either 22 or 24 inchs.so my question is which barrel length would be optimal for 308 and also is these velocity good or just average for a 20 inch barrel and what should I try to get more fps out of it.by the way both loads are 45.5 grains of varget in lupua brass 2x and federal 210m.with the long chamber/throat in this rifle I'm around loading to max box length because the bullets aren't hardly in the case any were near the lands.thanks in advance

Well here we go with the barrel length question again The optimum barrel length for any cartridge is the one where all of the powder will be burned in the barrel and not out in front of it. To determine this for ANY barrel and any load simply take the rifle out and shoot it in the few moments before sunset. Have someone stand off to the side and watch when you shoot. If there is a big flame coming out the end of the barrel when you shoot then either the barrel is too short for the load or you need to reduce the load since powder burned outside of the barrel is wasted powder. For a .308 with factory loads that will be around 24 inches.