Hello everybody, I've been lurking here for awhile and want to say thank you for all the great information provided by the members of this forum. And, I hope I can benefit from your expertise with a question.
I have a HV taper barrel in .308 with a 1-9" twist that will finish at 26". The good thing is I got it for a steal from a friend, but my dilemma is I don't know what to do with it. Is the twist too fast for a 308Win? Is there any cartridge that would be a good match with this length barrel, twist and caliber? I would like to build a gun for 3-600 yard shots for upstate PA dear and the occasional unlucky ground hog.
Thanks in advance for your recomendations. I want to start this as a winter project and need some help getting off square one.
Re: Hart HV .308 barrel, 1-9" - what to do with it??
As mentioned before, the 1/9 will stablize the heavy .30 cal. bullets. You really only have to determine how fast you want to drive them, the rest will fall into place.
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Re: Hart HV .308 barrel, 1-9" - what to do with it??
Thanks for all the input. If I'd look at a 300WSM, what type of performance could I expect from the heavy bullets? I'm starting to formulate the conclusion that with this barrel length (26"), and if I want to play with the heavy bullets, I may do best by sticking with 300 Win Mag?? I admit I'm bitten by the bug to drive the bullet as fast as possible, but I suspect that with any of the "big" cases (300RUM, 30-378, etc...), the increase in velocity per increase in case capcity over the 300WinMag starts to drop dramatically??
Re: Hart HV .308 barrel, 1-9" - what to do with it??
Joe, I think you've nailed it. Putting over 100gr of powder through a 26" pipe will gain probably 100-150 fps over a 300WinMag. At the cost of more powder, more blast, more recoil, and less barrel life.
Only you can decide what will make you happy though.