243 barrel length

viper

viper

Well-known member
How short of a barrel can I have made for a Encore and not lose a great deal of energy. I would like to make up one for a truck gun and for my wife to use hunting. Would like to stay in the 20"-22" range if possible and still have a 300 + yard gun. This would be in a 243 and I do not reload and would like to shoot 85 to 100 grain ammo. What do you guys think?
 
A 20" barreled .243 Win would make a fine 300 yard truck gun.

As to "300+", it depends on how much "+" you mean. More "+" = more "barrel". While 20" is fine at 300, you'd be giving up quite a bit at 500 yards compared to a 26" tube.

Mike
 
Since the encore has no action, I would stay with a 24" barrel, which is much shorter than a Remington 700 with a 24" barrel.

Don't forget the horrible muzzle blast from a short barrel 243. I had one in a 22" that I shot p. dogs with and the concusion on my head gave me a headache by the end of the day.
 
Stick with 22", you'll maintain enough velocity to reach past 300 and get your overall rifle shortness from the shortness of the single-shot action.
 
Most literature say you loose about 50 fps per inch of barrel cut off from the length tested at with a certain load. I think you'd be fine out to 300 yards even going to 18 inches.

I shoot a 308 Rem model 7 carbine with an 18.5 inch tube and I've shot it out to 400 yards. You'll get more drop as velocity goes down, but that doesn't mean it won't hit hard, you just have to compensate a little more for the increased drop.
 
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