26inch barrel

[saskhunter]

just curious if any one knows off the top of there head how much fps i would gain if i went from a 24 inch barrel shooting 3000fps to a 26 inch in 300wsm. im bored right know and im thinking about my future build and wanna play with a ballistic calculator.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The 300 wsm is a very efficient cartridge using faster burning powders than most magnums. For that reason it would not gain as much with longer barrels. I have not tested it though so could not get you a number. An educated guess though would be less than 25 fps per inch. I would guess 20-25 per inch.

 

[LouBoyd]

Since you stated 3000 fps for a 300 WSM I assumed a 168 grain Hornady A-max and Hodgdon H4350 as that's a "factory pressure" load according to Quickload which gives close to 3000 fps. By adjusting the load a bit to give exactly 3000 fps then changing the barrel length from 24 to 26 inches Quickload showed 3055 fps. Changing the bullet and powder could give a range of answers, but that's in the ballpark.
( close to LTLR's educated guess)