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Shorten 700 SPS Barrel?

jam66

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
115
Location
WNY
I have a Remington 700 SPS,.223 with the 26" bull barrel, 1:12 twist. Is there any harm in shortening and recrowning(11 degree?) the barrel to 22" or even 20"?
 
None whatsoever,
I wacked 4" off my sps 24" sporter and didn't notice a bit of difference.
That same year I shot 3 jackrabbits in a row at 600 yds in arizona, with minimal difference in my turret come ups.
 
I had my ADL Varmint in 308 cut down to 20" and the groups tightened up to shoot sub 1/2 moa.
 
I had my ADL Varmint in 308 cut down to 20" and the groups tightened up to shoot sub 1/2 moa.
Barrel length is not a factor of accuracy. Cutting a barrel down WILL affect velocity (shorter barrel = lower velocities). Most likely what happened there, was there was either a bad spot in the rifling, or the barrel needed recrowning before you cut the barrel down. If it shot ok before, then it was most likely needing to have the end of the factory barrel milled a couple thousandths, and then professionally recrowned.
 
a 26" barrel with a .223 is a complete waste of metal! A 22" barrel would be about perfect for such a small case volume. I cut back a 700 varmint barrel a few years back Could probably gain that 74 fps back if I made a serious reloading effort!

Dan Lilja commented once that a #7 contour barrel 21" long was 2.75 times stiffer than the same in a 26' length. I did his test to see if he was right, but used the factory Remington barrel. Saw similar results, even though I went with a 20" length in a #5.5 contour. I had a bad chamber in the factory barrel, so I cut two inches off the big end for a new .223 N.M. chamber. I had several loose spots as well as some tight spots in the barrel, and the last three inches were very loose. That's how I ended up with a 20" barrel. Groups went from 4.25" to about .45" using the same exact load.

I kept the factory Remington stock even though I heavily reworked it internally. What I ended up with was a very nice rifle with a heavy barrel that I could easily shoot offhand due to a near perfect balance between the hands. The only things different that I would have done, were to rechamber it in .222, with an aftermarket barrel in the same length.

gary
 
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