Barrel length

[kiwi shooter]

In sure it’s been asked before
But what’s the best barrel length
For a 6.5 Grendel hunting rifle

I want it as short as possible while making sure that I still get good Velocity
Dose dose anyone know the point at which Velocity’s start dropping Exponentially per inch of barrel removed? Ie benefits of a shorter barrel being outweighed by Velocity loss

In my country I can go as short as I want as long as the over all lenth of the rifle from muzzle to recoil pad is above 762mm (30 inches)

The rifle will be suppressed

Thanks in advance

[garyrapp55]

Personally I wouldn't go less than 20.

[mdram]

define your use
if your hunting you want the velocity at the target for bullet expansion
so in that case what is your max range?

[Harpoon1]

In sure it’s been asked before
But what’s the best barrel length
For a 6.5 Grendel hunting rifle

I want it as short as possible while making sure that I still get good Velocity
Dose dose anyone know the point at which Velocity’s start dropping Exponentially per inch of barrel removed? Ie benefits of a shorter barrel being outweighed by Velocity loss

In my country I can go as short as I want as long as the over all lenth of the rifle from muzzle to recoil pad is above 762mm (30 inches)

The rifle will be suppressed

Thanks in advance

That is an interesting question! Respectfully, you need to define what “good velocity” is !

I’m with you, looking to cut down a bolt gun to the minimum, here in the states, @14.5”, then weld on a brake/compensator on to exceed the 16” minimum.

How many FPS does one recover per inch with suppressor length, on average! Obviously, each “Can” is different. Just ballpark?

[kiwi shooter]

Good points
Id be happy with arround 2600fps with a 120-123 (im handloading and I don’t mind loading them hot) as long as theres no pressure signs

The longest shot I’ve ever taken on a deer is 300y
But normally inside 100y

300 is the longest shot I would consider taking

[Kosh65]

If you require 2600 from a 120-123 pill? Then I would say a 22” tube would be bare minimum. But a 24” would be a better choice.

[grayfox]

You're really going to need 24". On another point, the typical 120-123 will have 300 yd range if MV is at or above about 2500, which a 22" can do. This leaves 2050 +/- and 1140 of ke.

[JCart]

Would also consider type of booolit, if I’m not mistaken a number initiate mushrooming at 1800 fps as a minimum. So I’ve developed loads for my Ruger American Ranch with 16.1” barrel using Hornady ELD-M in 100 grain for predators. Also have some Nosler partitions in 100g. The notion is little lighter booolit for higher FPS, improved expansion initiation. I think Nosler Accubond Long Range, initiate expansion down at 1300 fps and I’d like to give those a whirl.

[kiwi shooter]

Thanks guys
A bit of background
My original Grendel was a 20” howa
Im very much a Traditional looking rifle guy and love my wood blue guns
And I sold the howa because I absolutely hated the amount of plastic
Involved
About 6 months ago I brought a ruger ranch and only fired 30 rounds before selling that hahaha

Decided if i was going to say with the Grendel I need to buy a rifle I like
So am currently putting together another howa
But this time I have spent the money and imported a boyed’s walnut Heritage stock
And have also brought the Jefferson outdoors bottom metal falling plate style
So building a very Traditional looking hunting rifle

Against most of the advice on this thread i think im going to take the risk and go for 20” my creedmoor is 20 and that’s a very nice length for the hunting I do
Ill go to 100gn projectiles if I can’t get what I want out of the 120’s

[mdram]

Good points
Id be happy with arround 2600fps with a 120-123 (im handloading and I don’t mind loading them hot) as long as theres no pressure signs

The longest shot I’ve ever taken on a deer is 300y
But normally inside 100y

300 is the longest shot I would consider taking

i get 2450 with 123's from a 20"
2550 with 107's

[garyrapp55]

kiwi,
Are you looking to use the factory barrel, or replace? I think the longest Howa barrel in 6.5G is 20" and like I said, personally, I wouldn't go shorter. If you are looking to replace the barrel, seems like a shame to cut it short and lose performance.

[kiwi shooter]

kiwi,
Are you looking to use the factory barrel, or replace? I think the longest Howa barrel in 6.5G is 20" and like I said, personally, I wouldn't go shorter. If you are looking to replace the barrel, seems like a shame to cut it short and lose performance.

just the factory barrel
The barreled action I have brought is 22” but it’s not yet threaded
So it’s gotta go get that done

[kiwi shooter]

i get 2450 with 123's from a 20"
2550 with 107's

Mmm ok
Thanks

[Harpoon1]

Mmm ok
Thanks

Finally getting around to work some more on this load. Ammo is loaded, just need to hit the range. Hopefully tomorrow.

Not sure if you can get Leverevelution down there but, fwiw………from an earlier post.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...revolution

CFE 223 and Power Pro 2000- MR have similar burn rates and are reasonable alternatives.

[kiwi shooter]

Finally getting around to work some more on this load. Ammo is loaded, just need to hit the range. Hopefully tomorrow.

Not sure if you can get Leverevelution down there but, fwiw………from an earlier post.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...revolution

CFE 223 and Power Pro 2000- MR have similar burn rates and are reasonable alternatives.

Yeah we can get all the hodgon stuff
I have a stock of cfe223 but I’ll grab some leverrev
Powder is hard to get here at the moment

I use Reloader 16 in the creedmoor which has Earned the nickname unicorn dust

[grayfox]

The 2450-2475 I was speaking from is from my 20" HB howa.
I will confess that I have pushed it to 2525 +/- but the pressures were above 52ksi for gas; in a bolt action it is below the 58-60ksi limit.
There is a node, sort of, in the 2510-2525 region with the right powders, but I am coming to think it is a narrow one.
So next time I take out my howa I will be looking at the 2450-2475 range. That range can also work in my AR style grendel, also 20".
With 123 Eldms and SSTs. Maybe the 120 gold dots if they come back in stock.
You don't lose much distance down at 2450, lose 50 ft/s translates to about 25 yds. But you still have 300 in your pocket.

O one more thing. Mfrs like to say expansion down to xxx ft/s, but in reality they are saying any expansion, even just an itty bitty expansion of the nose. I like to keep my lowest velocity/range so that there is some room for a decent expansion... say "mfr min+ 200" and 1000 ke lbs -- something like that. It's more of an art than a science.

[kiwi shooter]

Finally getting around to work some more on this load. Ammo is loaded, just need to hit the range. Hopefully tomorrow.

Not sure if you can get Leverevelution down there but, fwiw………from an earlier post.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...revolution

CFE 223 and Power Pro 2000- MR have similar burn rates and are reasonable alternatives.

Just read though your thread
Those Velocities are more what I remember from my last howa 20”
Seem to remember it being reasonably easy to get upto around 2600 with a 123
Every howa I have owned (about 20 in all sorts of Cals) have liked being loaded hot

Modern load data is a joke
I have some old loading manuals from the 80’s
And with common caliber’s and very common and unchanged powders they can be upto 5gns over what the modern manuals say

The way I load is i load up 2 rounds of each charge starting about halfway between min and max
(Im not interested in Minimum loads Especially in Hunting rifles)
Till about 3gn over max or till I get a compressed load
With a bigger case.5gn Increments with the Grendel I use.3gn

And shoot keeping a close eye on pressure signs also take the crony to give me an idea of speeds
At the 1st sign of pressure i stop shooting and pull left over rounds
I set my maximum load for that Combination .5 below where I started seeing pressure

And I then look for accuracy nodes in the velocity range I want

Typically works really well I don’t really except anything less than 1/2 moa even though 1moa would be fine it’s typically easy to get smaller than that howa’s shoot fantastic thats what I love about them

[Harpoon1]

Just read though your thread
Those Velocities are more what I remember from my last howa 20”
Seem to remember it being reasonably easy to get upto around 2600 with a 123
Every howa I have owned (about 20 in all sorts of Cals) have liked being loaded hot

Modern load data is a joke
I have some old loading manuals from the 80’s
And with common caliber’s and very common and unchanged powders they can be upto 5gns over what the modern manuals say

The way I load is i load up 2 rounds of each charge starting about halfway between min and max
(Im not interested in Minimum loads Especially in Hunting rifles)
Till about 3gn over max or till I get a compressed load
With a bigger case.5gn Increments with the Grendel I use.3gn

And shoot keeping a close eye on pressure signs also take the crony to give me an idea of speeds
At the 1st sign of pressure i stop shooting and pull left over rounds
I set my maximum load for that Combination .5 below where I started seeing pressure

And I then look for accuracy nodes in the velocity range I want

Typically works really well I don’t really except anything less than 1/2 moa even though 1moa would be fine it’s typically easy to get smaller than that howa’s shoot fantastic thats what I love about them

Yep agree.

I initially went .4 this time because it was the first time using Lever and wanted to start low, then cover a lot of ground. Then went a conservative .2 over the “perceived” SAAMI max. I hate pulling bullets and generally only just load one round per when looking for pressure. As you saw, speeds were very well behaved and the gun handled it easily.

[Stinky Coyote]

20-25 fps per inch is my experience from factory barrels. which is inline with well known rules of thumb from most centerfire hunting cartridges, cz 527 American with it's 23.5" barrel did 2552 fps average 5 shot string with hornady black (rated at 2580 fps), it did about 2475 un broken in on a howa 20" to start and got up to about 2500 fps after some rounds, and my ruger 16.1" barrel rigs are doing 2386 fps and have a fat whitetail doe from Alberta at 420 yards (1800 fps impact) that exited on a quartering shot, I did put a 24" proof carbon barrel on one rifle and it shot that hornady black at 2605 fps average...but hand lapped custom vs factory, you can math it from there, I only shoot hornady black fyi

as for the shooting experience, we are not allowed suppressors here, I would not go shorter than the ruger 16.1" barrel for anything without a suppressor, it's about the max muzzle blast and sound you'd want, equivalent to a 20" plain barrel in a regular short action cartridge like a .308...so consider that your standard comparison, brakes are the dumbest things ever unless it's just a range queen and you don't hunt so forget that nonsense, suppressors would be the ideal way to go and my personal minimum length would be 16" with or without suppressor as we hunt up to approx 400 so that's as much velocity we'd give up, suppressors apparently add a few fps anyway so maybe expect 2400 fps out of the ruger ranch suppressed with that ammo