Ric
That's not all the toys, plus I have a VERY good friend who is a gunsmith. I didn't mention I have been shooting since I was 12 yrs old and am now 62.
I have collected many rifles in those years and have shot many others that I no longer own.
Even my 22/284 that I didn't mention, has a 30" barrel.
I was trying to get the point across that there are many benifits to the additional barrel length beside additional velocity.
One of them is, you can set the barrel back when/if you run excessive rounds through the rifle and still give additional life to that same barrel. Additional velocity will give additional energy downrange too.
As per the length of a barrel with a muzzle brake attached. A muzzle brake adds NO benificial length to the bullet traveling down a barrel. As a matter of fact, when the bullet goes through a muzzle brake there must be clearance all around the bullet to make the brake work correctly. Some people add the brake as extra barrel length for bullet velocity, but that's not true. A 27" barrel is a 27" barrel even if a brake attached to it is 12" longer.
As mentioned, there are times when the rifle must be shorter for carry purposes and this is understandable in your case with the horse scabbard.
The added velocity in my style of hunting warrents longer barrels because of the range we ususlly are shooting.
Like in other things, I think "longer" is "better."
and have seen the velocity increase at extended range in just about every cartridge that I have shot over the years.
If I can run a "240 Gr" bullet in a 34" barrel at 3235 FPS and a 220 gr at 3300FPS in the 300 RUM Imp (Tomahawk) and you are running a "220 gr" at 3000 FPS, I will take the additional velocity and remaining downrange energy, everytime.
3025 to 3040 FPS is what I run the 220 gr in my match guns at Williamsport from my 300 Weatherbys with 30" barrels.
When LR Hunting, I want more velocity (to a degree)to fight the winds in the high ridges we hunt from. I still want to retain the accuracy also.
A person chambering a new barrel must decide;
1. What range he will be reaching out to when hunting.
2. Is the barrel going to be used for hunting or match shooting or both.
3. What caliber will be used with that barrel.
4. What length barrel can be used effectively when/if short range shooting with the same rifle, if one plans on doing that.
If I go short range hunting here in PA, I usually just grab my 280 Remington Mountain rifle and take a walk.
When walking in Colorado, I take the 7/300 Weatherby with the 30" barrel in case I catch one across a canyon.
When a person figures that for every 100 FPS of additional velocity the longer barrel will give, means a flatter shooting rifle by 12" to 20" (at least) at 1000 yards plus the added velocity also carries with it more retained energy
.
Just thought I would point out the benifits of the longer barrels that I have found over the last 50 years.
****, I'm getting old
Hope we didn't confuse the original poster there in Wyoming.
Later
Ric---As an add on here, the 308 Win I have is the Shilen DGA action and 30" Shilen barrel. I have not shot the rifle in about 4 yrs now and the last time I did was at Williamsport using the 175 Gr MK.
The 30" barrel gave me another 105 to 135 FPS over the other 308s I have owned over the years that had 24 and 26" barrels.
My powder of choice was 4064.
[ 02-25-2003: Message edited by: Darryl Cassel ]