I have a Remington 700 SPS in a 243, it came with a 24" barrel which to me is rediculous for a 243. It was a tack driver with the 24" barrel but just to long for my tastes, I have no use for ANY standard cartridge with a barrel longer than 22". I took the 243 down to a gunsmith and had the barrel cut back and recrowned to 18.5", It is now very handy to carry, and actually I think it shoots tighter groups with the 18.5" vs. the 24" barrel. When you shorten a sporter weight barrel you increase the stiffness of the barrel, it was cut about were it started tapering down so it now has a short but kinda heavy barrel on it. To be honest I dont think it has hurt it at all having a shorter barrel, it is still a 300 yard deer gun, but is so much nicer to carry. JMO.