Short rifle barrel accuracy

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Short rifle barrel accuracy

Post by peterjack » 29 Jul 2017, 7:32 pm

It's sort of accepted though that accuracy out of these isn't great, 1.5" - 2" or whatever seems pretty normal and people are happy with that.

Is it just not possible/practical to get 3/4 MOA out of a short barrel? 16" or that kind of length?

Anyone who buys a Tikka or Sako I think expects this kind of accuracy, but they don't really do short rifles?
Last edited by Blackened on 15 Aug 2017, 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Corrected topic title
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by in2anity » 31 Jul 2017, 2:17 pm

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking here? Are you stating that a (short-)barrel rifle is inherently inaccurate? If so, I fiercely disagree; barrel length does not improve inherent accuracy. In fact, often a shortened barrel suffers from less whip and can often be more accurate than the longer big brother version (of the same metallurgy). Barrel diameter/weight/quality on the other hand, now that can affect accuracy.

Short barrels will effect velocity, so over longer distances, rounds will go sub-subsonic sooner (causing tumbling/destabilisation), so in this sense, you want a nice long barrel for long range F-style shooting (to suit the longer burn time on a slower burning powder).

You can get target rifle performance out of a quality short, stiff, little bull barrel; take for example the Remington 700 SPS Tactical 16.5" - those things drive absolute nails (at short and medium ranges), and are regarded to be capable of accurate fire out to around 750yds. Beyond that, the slower bullet speeds really start to hurt you; they are not a 1-mile rifle.

Another factor is sight radius; with iron sights a short sight radius is your enemy; that's one of the reasons those old 45/70s with creedmoor style sights are so damned long. When hitting those gongs way way out there it's much easier to line the two sights up when they are a long distance apart. This is obviously NOT a factor for fancy modern optics and scopes however (where the front sight is irrelevant).

But perhaps I'm missing the point of OP here?
Last edited by in2anity on 31 Jul 2017, 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by southwest shooter » 31 Jul 2017, 2:53 pm

What you talkn bout willis ?
Please explain ?
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by Gun-nut » 31 Jul 2017, 6:45 pm

Where are you reading that 1.5-2 inch groups are the norm for short barrels?
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by bladeracer » 31 Jul 2017, 10:25 pm

peterjack wrote:It's sort of accepted though that accuracy out of these isn't great, 1.5" - 2" or whatever seems pretty normal and people are happy with that.

Is it just not possible/practical to get 3/4 MOA out of a short barrel? 16" or that kind of length?

Anyone who buys a Tikka or Sako I think expects this kind of accuracy, but they don't really do short rifles?


I don't believe barrel length has a significant effect on accuracy, at least not until you start going extreme - a four-inch barrelled .223 might suffer a bit.
The Ruger Amercian Ranch Rifle in .223, 300BLK and .450 Bushmaster is 16" and shoots pretty well.
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by Mitch » 01 Aug 2017, 5:16 am

300blk 16" barrel = 0.4MOA @ 100M
6X45 20" Barrel = 0.2MOA @ 100M
223Rem 16" Barrel = 0.37MOA @ 100M

Short barrels are not inaccurate. Do your research
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by Gwion » 01 Aug 2017, 9:12 am

Haha... Different Strokes! :lol:

Anyway, no. Short barrels can be extremely accurate. As mentioned, the myth that long barrels are more accurate is a hang over from iron sight times where the longer sight radius reduces parallax and so improves repeatable accuracy (precision).

If you can't get better that 2moa then there is something wrong, either with your shooting, your ammo or your gun or all of the above.
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by GLS_1956 » 01 Aug 2017, 6:16 pm

Decades ago I remember reading an article in one of the gun magazines, where in the author in his testing, found that the most accurate, and by that he meant smallest groups, of the guns that Remington Firearms offered was their XP-100 pistol, of which had barrels, depending on the model, running from 10 3/4 to 14 1/2 inches in length.
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by AlanK » 02 Aug 2017, 11:52 am

Do we all think this title was meant to be "Short barrel rifles" ? :huh:
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by sungazer » 02 Aug 2017, 12:51 pm

More like just a troll and it has worked. A lot of wasted effort. No response from OP
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Re: barrel rifles

Post by Gwion » 02 Aug 2017, 1:10 pm

sungazer wrote:More like just a troll and it has worked. A lot of wasted effort. No response from OP


Maybe.
Maybe the OP is just embarrassed that his thread title and initial post were almost incomprehensible! :lol:
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Re: Short rifle barrel accuracy

Post by Blackened » 15 Aug 2017, 2:54 pm

I've updated the title to be clearer and what I suspect it was meant to say.

OP has not returned to the forum since posting the topic however, so maybe consider this one finished.
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