22" barrel
 

I was just wondering how much of a difference a 22 inch barrel would make on a 30-06. Is it enough to reach it's full potential and if not would it really make that much of a difference. I know a lot of people consider the 06 a small caliber for moose and I was just wondering if any lost velocity would be worth any weight savings and convenience of a shorter barrel

RE: 22" barrel
 

The 30-06 was not designed to take advantage of a longer barrel, as it has no extra powder to burn, the 30-06 will reach it's full potential in a 22" barrel, With no lost velocity, you are thinking of a .30 cal magnum such a the .300 Winchester Magnum or the .300 Weatherby Magnum, which require a longer barrel because they have more powder to burn, those cartridges can actually lose performance with shorter barrels because of the amount of powder their case allows them to hold.

RE: 22" barrel
 

My new Rem. 700 in .06 has a 22" barrell.

RE: 22" barrel
 

Well, i'm NOT one of them, as i've seen waaaay to many big game animials fall to a 30-06...

My bullet of choise for moose in 30 cal..are the 200 grain Nosler partitions, but 180's are also a pretty good choise... At least that's what has worked for me over and over again...

DM

RE: 22" barrel
 

you may lost a small amount of velocity but it isn't going to matter. Dead is dead + or minus 200 fps.

RE: 22" barrel
 

I have several .30-06's, with certain loads, I get considerable muzzle flash out of 24" bbl models, even in some loads with a 26" bbl. As mentioned above, the .30-06 is a fairly well designed cartridge, even possibly underbored (less powder than it's bore can handle efficiently), so dropping a few inches of bbl length isn't devastating to muzzle velocity and energy. The difference between my 24 and 26" bbls is typically less than 200fps, even less difference with faster burning powders.

And there's the easy answer...if you're concerned about having a short bbl, load your cartridges with a faster burning powder...easy as that.