Getting ready to purchase a new barrel for my savage 110 in 7mm-08. I plan to use it for some deer hunting but mostly target practice. What would be ideal barrel length for 600-700 yards max pushing 162-168 gr bullets.? I was planning to get a 24" barrel but hear the shorter barrel works just as well. Any advice would be great.
Was thinking 22" varmint .800" muzzle end, but might be too heavy to carry in the field.
For Hunting a 20" barrel is ideal but for target use 24 or 26 would be best. After 22" there is very
little gain in velocity and the shorter barrel is very handy and is well balanced if using a heaver
barrel.
For target shooting I would go to 26" for the weight and extra velocity.
For both uses I would go with 23" in a varmint contour or heaver.
I started with a 18.5 barrel on my 7/08 and when I put a custom barrel on it I made it 20" and it
picked up almost 100 ft/sec velocity.
The next one I built had a 22" barrel and it only picked up barely 60 ft/sec.
I built one for a friend with a 28" barrel (6'' more than mine) and he only gets 70+ ft/sec more.
Somewhere between 22'' and 24'' seems to be about the optimum barrel length (Most gain per
inch).
The bigger the bullet the longer the barrel needs to be. I use 120s and 140s for the 7/08 and with
the 22" barrel the velocity for the 120 grain bullets are between 3000 ft/sec and 3150 ft/sec
depending on the powder used.
Hope this helps.
J E CUSTOM
