.243 Barrel length

[spready]

Ive got a Howa 1500, with a 22" sporter barrel, I'm thinking about having it shortened down , so its more manageable from inside a vehicle, I've got a wildcat evo moderator so goes over the barrel 5" , i thought about getting chopping it down to 18" had a measure and that would make it nice and point able. the rifle is just used for foxing to about 300 yards. any pro's or cons for shorting the barrel? i understand it will have a slight velocity drop and slightly louder.

[kent]

The 243 needs a longer barrel to produce it's top velocities. 18 " should be OK but be aware if you shorten this calibre too much it will cease to hold its deer legal requirements. Also your wasting a lot of powder without gain

[JRDS]

20 inch is not Deer legal more often than not, if you are keeping it fine if not it will kill the resale. 22 inch plus a shortish Mod should not be unmanageable unless you have a Jimny or Defender.

[Redgum]

Mate of mine uses an 18inch barrel on his Remington and its a brilliant deer rifle, no doubt it will be falling below the legal limit for deer but he takes fallow out to over 200yds with ease, how often do muzzle velocities get checked, and I'm sure you could reload using a suitable powder to get a 100gr bullet out the end to meet legal requirements if you really wanted to.

[Graham M]

Mate of mine uses an 18inch barrel on his Remington and its a brilliant deer rifle, no doubt it will be falling below the legal limit for deer but he takes fallow out to over 200yds with ease, how often do muzzle velocities get checked, and I'm sure you could reload using a suitable powder to get a 100gr bullet out the end to meet legal requirements if you really wanted to.

And how often do duck shooters get checked that they are using non-toxic loads.............................................so they may just as well ignore that as well

 

And how often do you get breathalysed......................so why not get drunk and drive home

 

G

Edited April 29, 2016 by Graham M

[Davyo]

Ive got a Howa 1500, with a 22" sporter barrel, I'm thinking about having it shortened down , so its more manageable from inside a vehicle, I've got a wildcat evo moderator so goes over the barrel 5" , i thought about getting chopping it down to 18" had a measure and that would make it nice and point able. the rifle is just used for foxing to about 300 yards. any pro's or cons for shorting the barrel? i understand it will have a slight velocity drop and slightly louder.

I had the Howa 1500 with a sonic mod (big mod) never had an issue shooting foxes from the bus (jimny).However I knew my ground well and always had the bus parked up @ good angle (knew where Charlie would come from).I had a cz rimmy cut to 14" and that was sweet as a nut.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Davyo