16 inch barrelled handy rifle - max range and caliber?l

[EXPRESS]

I've become fond of the Blaser R93 in .308win with a 16" barrel. It shoots sub MOA and it's proven itself as perfectly capable for big game in normal hunting situations.

What I'm thinking of doing now is getting a custom barrel sticking with the 16" length and the obvious choice seems to be to stick with the .308win and a 1:7 twist carbon barrel from Hardy in NZ.

These rifles with their switch barrel and switch scope capability are so very versatile.

I have a Blaser .338 win set up with a muzzle brake, Kahles k624i, bipod and zeroed with 300 grain Bergers.
That same rifle also has a Zeis z6 1.5-10 scope, which is zeroed with 250grain partitions, no muzzle brake, no bipod and becomes a great forest still hunting rifle...

I don't expect it to have serious long range capabilities but I would like to hope to be able to reach the 600-800 mark and still be effective.

I'm thinking that with a high BC monolithic bullet I should be able to do that.

The other thought I have is for the .338 Federal with a bigger bore that might get better velocities for same weight bullets but I'm not sure if I want to go to a round that is basically commercially unavailable.

So should I go .308 win and hope to get a 175 grain mono bullet to shoot well? Or go to a higher weight? MV drops significantly with a 16" barrel so it becomes a real factor, by running some numbers it seems like that by using a 16" barrel you are adding about 250 yards to your distances compared to a 24-26" barrels rifle.

 

[HARPERC]

Terminal velocity being important, are there bullets available to you with both muzzle velocity, and BC to maintain enough to perform at 600-800 yards?

Hammer is the "softest" mono I know of here, and they recommend 1800 FPS for good results.

 

[adk hunter]

I have a few .308 and .338 Federals. I have shot the .338's ALOT! I doubt that is best avenue for you. Sometimes the barrel tells you what it likes best and mine are identical one loves 160ttsx the other 210 scirocco. Neither great at longer range. .308 opens options by tons! Having loaded high bc bullets in mono's means losing lots of powder space. The 168ttsx isn't afraid of anything out there and I think it is a good balance for the .308. I did some work with a box of their 130 grainers too but the rifle didn't like them and I ran out of them before I found a decent load. Now wait for someone to start in on the 7mms, and they won't be wrong either haha

 

[hunterbob]

If you want the 308 to shoot like a 22 250 load up some 110 gr Hornady Vmax.. same hole at 100 yds awesome...but I agree on that 165-168 gr too,,,wound channel will be 20" 1!/2 inch too

 

[adam32]

Who is going to make you a carbon Blaser barrel?

 

[Hand Skills]

What I'm thinking of doing now is getting a custom barrel sticking with the 16" length and the obvious choice seems to be to stick with the .308win and a 1:7 twist carbon barrel from Hardy in NZ.

@adam32 ^^

 

[adam32]

@adam32 ^^

Yes, I read that. But Hardy doesn't make Blaser barrels, so I'm wondering if he's getting a factory Blaser barrel and then getting them to wrap it or maybe getting a blank from Elmer and then getting Hardy to wrap it.

 

[Hand Skills]

I have a 308win with a 1:12 18"bbl. I have worked with bullets from 125-200gr. Limited to OACL of 2.8", I would not recommend this platform for live targets much beyond 400m.

Not saying it can't be done. Many individuals have had great success with the 208gr ELDM, but to make this work (with accuracy) you will very likely need to load cartridges to 3.1" or more.

Yes, I read that. But Hardy doesn't make Blaser barrels, so I'm wondering if he's getting a factory Blaser barrel and then getting them to wrap it or maybe getting a blank from Elmer and then getting Hardy to wrap it.

I see now, thanks for expanding on that! This is sounding like quite an eccentric endeavour.

 

[EXPRESS]

Hardy does offer both R8 and R93 profiled barrels now, in carbon sleeved and steel versions. They offer them both as profiled blanks and I think as finished barrels as well.

The cool thing is that in .308 they run as fast as 1:7 which is appealing to me as I seem to always have trouble stabilizing heavier mono mullets.
Also I'm not sure of the validity of this idea but I feel like such a short barrel will do better with a faster twist.

The numbers don't show enough speed beyond 400m for reliable expansion, that is going to be the real limiting factor.

 

[adam32]

How much are their Blaser barrels? I don't see them on the website.

I'm glad someone is making aftermarket Blaser barrels!

 

[Ernie]

With a 16" barrel in a 308 Win based parent cartridge, you are going to be struggling at 800 yards.
My guess is that your impact velocity at 800 yards will be below the bullet's design parameters. 500-600 yards is another story. Run the numbers, and see what you come up with. With short barrels, you have to pick up case capacity to get higher performance.