.22 barrel "to chop, or not to chop"

[foxbasher]

hi all. ive got a CZ452 american in .22lr, at the moment its got the std 20" barrel and i was toying with the idea of having it taken back to about 15" to reduce the overall length when the mod is fitted. has anyone done this already and can anyone reccomend a gunsmith that can shorten, re-crown and thread the barrel, or should i just leave it as it is. off the bipod it shoots sub 1" at 95 yards.

any ideas?. cheers, steve

Edited December 18, 2010 by foxbasher

[wymberley]

Damn me, FB, provided that you're not swinging the lead, touch that at your peril!

Cheers

[ollie]

The only real advantage of reducing the barrel size on a .22 is to make it easier to use from a vechile (ok it will reduce weight a touch but not loads). If you are getting good results already I would save yourself the money & keep the length.

[Dekers]

hi all. ive got a CZ452 american in .22lr, at the moment its got the std 20" barrel and i was toying with the idea of having it taken back to about 15" to reduce the overall length when the mod is fitted. has anyone done this already and can anyone reccomend a gunsmith that can shorten, re-crown and thread the barrel, or should i just leave it as it is. off the bipod it shoots sub 1" at 95 yards.

any ideas?. cheers, steve

 

 

If it is causing a problem then consider but otherwise leave it alone.

[fortune]

Can’t remember the tech details but I took about 6 inches off of one to make it the same length when the parker hale silencer was fitted. I put it in the lathe chuck and parted it off; re crowned the muzzle and threaded the barrel to take the silencer. Result was a much more handle able rifle and it shoot much better groups than it did before. Result.

Possible problems:

Thread not cut to correct barrel alignment so silencer is askew and possible bullet impact with internal baffles causing bullets to go all over the place. (really dangerous)

Crown not cut square to barrel axis.

Barrel harmonics upset by length and weight of silencer causing shift of point of group impact and groups getting much bigger. >> inaccurate.

[markm]

Get it cut down to 15. I done that with my silhouette, no difference to accuracy, handles a million times better, much easy to work with out a vehicle window and looks ace.

[Hornet 6]

Mine shot sun 1 inch at 100 yards when full length, now it's 12 3/4 inches long and still shoots sub 1 inch at 100 yards.

 

Neil.

[Paddy Galore!]

As long as it's done properly then it shouldn't make any difference to accuracy, sub 14" is when problems can start as that's optimum length for 22lr.

[bongo321]

Why not just do a trade exchange for a 16" model

[foxbasher]

ooohh, soo much advice. thanks to all that have posted. there seems to be about a 50/50 mix between getting it cut down and not!!. does anyone know the sort of costs involved?. im still interested in getting the "chop" (rifle that is) but don't want to destroy the accuracy. i guess it all comes down to the money involved.

many thanks, steve.

[Dekers]

ooohh, soo much advice. thanks to all that have posted. there seems to be about a 50/50 mix between getting it cut down and not!!. does anyone know the sort of costs involved?. im still interested in getting the "chop" (rifle that is) but don't want to destroy the accuracy. i guess it all comes down to the money involved.

many thanks, steve.

 

 

There is no issue in getting it cut down and the odds are it will shoot just as well.

 

You have given no specific reason for cutting it so it appears a whim, on that basis nobody can advise you.

 

Is it is too long (or do you think it will be), poorly balanced, too heavy, needs re-crown, difficult out of a vehicle, etc etc, then cut it.

 

If it is fine and not causing you any grief leave it.

 

If you just fancy it, do what you will!

 

Cut, thread, crown and proof is likely to be in the order of £100, but it can vary a lot! Odds are you will need a new slip as well if you take much off, so factor in cost for that too!

Edited December 19, 2010 by Dekers

[geordieh]

hi all. ive got a CZ452 american in .22lr, at the moment its got the std 20" barrel and i was toying with the idea of having it taken back to about 15" to reduce the overall length when the mod is fitted. has anyone done this already and can anyone reccomend a gunsmith that can shorten, re-crown and thread the barrel, or should i just leave it as it is. off the bipod it shoots sub 1" at 95 yards.

any ideas?. cheers, steve

Hi Steve

Where abouts are you i have taken 6 rifles down to a chap down in somerset over the last few months to have them cut and rethreaded and he has charged me £35 each and none of them were reproofed if you google it i believe jackson rifles took on the proof house and won as threading does not significally reduce the strength of a barrel

Geordie

[Redgum]

The powder will all be burnt in the first 15inches of the barrel, after that the friction in the barrel will just be slowing the bullet down so in theory the shorter barrel will fire a faster bullet. If threaded and recrowned properly there is no reason why the rifle will not be slightly more accurate or at least the same. A shorter barrel with a moderator on is much more balanced and easy to handle, especially from a vehicle.

[pigglet]

The powder will all be burnt in the first 15inches of the barrel, after that the friction in the barrel will just be slowing the bullet down so in theory the shorter barrel will fire a faster bullet. If threaded and recrowned properly there is no reason why the rifle will not be slightly more accurate or at least the same. A shorter barrel with a moderator on is much more balanced and easy to handle, especially from a vehicle.

 

 

As above. Ahortening the barrel anywhere between where it is now and 14" should have no detrimental effect on accuracy.

The most important thing to consider is who does the work. There are loads of gun shops and home based "gunsmiths" who will offer to do the work but after the amount of botched jobs I've heard of I would only use a competent dedicated and recomended riflesmith.

 

My finnfire went from being a tack driver to a scatter gun because a guy claiming to be a custom rifle builder cut the thread concentric to the outside of the barrel, not the bore. He had it back and checked it repeatedly and couldn't identify the fault.

He also cut the crown with a coutersink as opposed to a dedicated crowning tool.

 

Dave Wild at rimfire magic sarted it straight away by re cutting the threads and crown. Chopped down to 15" and as accurate as ever but what a difference in balance and handling.

 

Cost should be around £70, no need for a re proof.