Is a 24'' barrel too short for long range shooting?

[Diezel]

Im about to order a rebarrel job and have been thinking a lott about the lenght of the new barrel and also asked about it on some Swedish gun forums.
Recently there was a test in a Swedish hunting magazine where the conclusion was that a short barreld 300wm (in this case a Browning Bar I belive) was nothing more than a 30-06 on high octane, the gain of the magnum round was considerd to little for the added recoil, muzzle flip and muzzle blast.
A shorter barrel is stiffer but at the same time, I got a magnum rifle just because I wanted it to be a magnum, not a 30-06 on a boost. :-)
Im looking at a Lothar Walther #2200 in 26", 27" or 28" my selfe, 27" seems like a good compromise between speed loss and handines/portability of the rifle.

[DONTSTROKEME]

Most reloading books list the 300WM as a 24" barrel.....the 30-06 is not very close to the 300 WM out of a 24". 180gr pills come out of my factory 300WM 24" barrel at close to 3100 fps. Not to discredit the 30-06 but the 300WM in a 24" barrel is better, go to a 22" it might really not matter which round is shot......

[diderr]

I have a 23.5" barrel on my 300wsm now. It shoots accurately, but my next barrel is going to be 28" to get more velocity.

[Ernie]

Originally Posted by KQguy

Sorry I forgot to mention it's a 300 win. mag.That's interesting,I didn't know a shorter barrel could be more accurate.

Depending on your distance, a 24" is not going to be that much of a handicap.
I use barrels quite a bit shorter and I am not handicapped accuracy wise.

[Down Under Hunter]

In the end, length really dosn't matter. Its how you use it that counts !!

[KQguy]

This is the story of my life,"It's too short""

24" is absolutly NOT to short.

I have had numerous LR hunting rigs with 24" barrels used to shoot out to 1200 yards.

300wsm
7wsm
260

all did 1K+ without a problem...

It is all in the powder/bullets/primer you choose.

There is this mindset that you need HUGE case capacity and 34" barrels to hunt LR. Absolutly not true.