mounting man

Why do loading manuals,most of the time,state it was fired from a 26 inch barrel and give the speed of the bullet?
How many guns,today,have a barrel over 22 or 24 inches long?

Bbj270

The newer Remington 700s have 24" barrels on the standard rounds and 26" on the magnums.

d80hunter

That is something that always bugged me. Those higher velocity numbers do strive me to work harder to make a better reload, but at the ends of the day accuracy counts. Maybe they use bench rest rifles when making manuals. Those rifles can come with 26" barrels.

With handgun calibers and a chronograph, I could get the bullet as fast or faster with the shorter barrel. If that worked out then my reloads, with proper bullet selection and precision, could be more accurate and deadly than factory ammo.

Now I am more green about rifle reloading. I never outdo to the longer barrel velocities. I can match factory ammo velocities and accuracy but not completely outperform them yet.

Game Stalker

There are still quite a few 22 and 24" barrels being produced. A quick glance at the Remington site shows rifle barrel lengths from 20-26".
Longer barrels are used by ammo co.'s to make their product look more desirable. Manual list speed as a general guideline for expectations and velocity can also be a pressure indicator.

Bbj270

The standard Remington 700 sps. And cdl has either a 24" or 26" barrel.

Nomercy448

Why does it really matter? The reloading manuals and the stated specs on the box of factory ammo are just guidelines, even if you had a 26" barrel, there's no guarantee that you'd get within 50fps of that mark anyway.

Usually you're only talking about 25-50fps per inch, in my experience, nearer to the 25 than the 50, so you're only talking about 150fps or so difference for a 26" vs. a 22"... Not enough to turn a good rifle into an "under powered" rifle.

They've been using long barrels for testing for years. If they ever changed and scrubbed off some velocity, they'd get accused of being overly conservative (look at what happens when a powder blend changes, or the change over from crusher to electronic piezo methods).

Start at the low end, work up, stop when your accuracy gets worse, or you see pressure signs. It's really that simple, fellas.

Game Stalker

Good clarification there, for the OP, but the question wasn't specific to a certain Rem. model, or even to Remington. The fact is 22 and 24" barrels are still quite common to Rem. and other brands regardless of magnum or standard class load.

Being able to properly place the right bullet properly is more important than (a couple of inches in) barrel length.

Alsatian

My preferred big game to hunt now is elk. i use a .30-06 with great success for that hunting. i think it hs a 24" barrel. Having said that, I would like to have a special purpose elk hunting rifle and particularly a .338 Winchester Magnum with a 26" rifle. I personally do not want a light rifle to shoot a .338 Winchester Magnum. A couple more inches of barrel is all the better. My .30-06 is a rifle made by my father that is heavier than commercial rifles made today. Last I checked my rifle weighs 11+ LBS. I hunt at 11,500' and above. I walk in about 4 miles to hunt. I'm 59 years old. Don't tell me that you can't carry a gun that heavy. I can. I'm 6' 2" tall and hunt weighing about 200 LBS.

So, I grant that 26" barrels aren't for everyone. At the same time, some people -- me -- do want 26" barrles for some things. Freedom and diversity are great. Let freedom reign! Including in the lengths of our barrels.