Should i use a faster powder in a shorter barrel?

[Oldschool280]

I am loading for a carbine length 280, cant seem to get it where i want it with 160 grain bullets . Im grouping an inch at 100 yards with 160 game kings and rl22. With lighter bullets139 sst's i can group about half of that with the same powder. Have tried different charges (ladder) and have been anywhere from .040 to .010 of of the lands. Getting the inch in 160 grain at .020 off of the lands and 52.5 g rl22. I would like to get 1/2 moa with the 160's . Is this just the best I'm going to get out of this rifle? I should add , I have a 100 yard range that I've been working with this rifle on, The rate of twist is one in 9 1/4

 

[243winxb]

Run the 160 thru the Stability calculator. JBM - Calculations See how it does.

I would try a different powder, but not because of a short barrel.

Different bullets are going to produce different accuracy, at times, ever a different lot of the same bullet will produce different accuracy.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Oldschool280,

Answering your posted question, I read an article where the guy worked up the fastest load. He tried different powders as he cut the barrel off. The slowest powder that got the best velocity with the long barrel was the best even with a short barrel.

 

[Oldschool280]

Looks like im gonna try nosler partition's and see if the flat base makes the difference

 

[dah605]

This is definitely not super scientific... I have two 7mm Rem Mag rifles, one with a 28" heavy barrel and one with a 23" light barrel. Both are shooting Berger EOL 195grain bullets.

The 28" barrel shoots great with H1000--slow powder for longer barrel. I talked to a bunch of people more knowledgeable than me and for the 23" barrel, we thought H4831SC would be a better powder being a little faster burn rate to be able to burn all of the powder inside the shorter barrel to give me the speeds I want--translating to a good 600-650 yard gun for elk.

Consistent with the other post about the barrel tests... H1000 produced the best results, with practically no recoil. The 23" rifle shoots holes at 2700fps, with room in the case for more powder. The 28" is at 2850fps with a slightly compressed load. I think I could go higher in the 23", but the 0.2" groups are too addictive and I really don't need the additional recoil in a light gun.

-David