The Effects Of Reducing The Barrel Length On Velocity And Accuracy In The 223 Remington

The Effects Of Reducing The Barrel Length On Velocity And Accuracy In The 223 Remington

We started off with a brand new Sako S 491 rifle with a 22-inch barrel. A B&L 6-24X scope was installed in Sako mounts. We used Federal brass and Federal 205M primers in all the following loads. Brawand 52 grain bullets, molly coated were also used. All groups are 5 shots at 100 yards.

POWDER	22-INCH	21-INCH	20-INCH	19-INCH

20.0 H 4198	2771 – 0.628	2741 – 0.865	2713 – 0.481	2659 - 0.628
20.7	2881 – 0.665	2830 – 0.586	2810 – 0.434	2754 - 0.567
21.4	2951 – 0.650	2923 – 0.537	2909 – 0.779	2867 - 0.721
22.1	3065 – 0.860	3027 – 0.722	3015 – 0.530	2971 - 0.630
22.8	3199 – 0.646	3153 – 0.619	3130 – 0.259	3107 - 0.407
22.0 H 322	2777 – 0.720	2740 – 0.746	2694 – 0.413	2676 - 0.596
22.7	2871 – 0.579	2857 – 0.568	2813 – 0.692	2778 - 0.454
23.4	2980 – 0.719	2962 – 0.754	2924 – 0.311	2875 - 0.632
24.1	3087 – 0.702	3054 – 0.307	3029 – 0.485	2975 - 0.690
24.8	3204 – 0.527	3184 – 0.493	3142 – 0.355	3101 - 0.634
25.5	3318 – 0.522	3277 – 0.490	3253 – 0.483	3213 - 0.520
25.0 VVN 135	3177 – 0.658	3165 – 0.510	3134 – 0.724	3088 - 0.587
25.7	3278 – 0.528	3235 – 0.550	3220 – 0.733	3185 - 0.604
26.4	3336 – 0.317	3300 – 0.506	3292 – 0.524	3235 - 0.709

POWDER	18-INCH	17-INCH	16-INCH	15-INCH

20.0 H 4198	2645 - 0.856	2594 - 0.412	2555 - 0.601	2484 - 0.581
20.7	2740 - 0.782	2696 - 0.846	2649 - 0.647	2588 - 0.409
21.4	2832 - 0.454	2785 - 0.412	2759 - 0.732	2688 - 0.555
22.1	2949 - 0.400	2891 - 0.438	2866 - 0.719	2807 - 0.603
22.8	3047 - 0.639	3007 - 0.399	2973 - 0.884	2914 - 0.233
22.0 H 322	2625 - 0.231	2577 - 0.217	2542 - 0.600	2487 - 0.535
22.7	2721 - 0.439	2697 - 0.512	2654 - 0.445	2580 - 0.581
23.4	2757 - 0.563	2795 - 0.669	2766 - 0.432	2697 - 0.303
24.1	2846 - 0.547	2900 - 0.710	2850 - 0.695	2796 - 0.289
24.8	2946 - 0.448	2987 - 1.113	2947 - 0.876	2912 - 0.322
25.5	3167 - 0.404	3132 - 0.365	3085 - 0.447	3038 - 0.305
25.0 VVN 135	3056 - 0.546	3018 - 0.762	2965 - 0.513	2923 - 0.450
25.7	3153 - 0.510	3097 - 0.308	3040 - 0.431	3007 - 0.415
26.4	3205 - 0.539	3154 - 0.626	3102 - 0.541	3048 - 0.307

POWDER	14-INCH	13-INCH	12-INCH	11-INCH

20.0 H 4198	2431 - 0.873	2377 - 0.722	2337 - 0.730	2292 - 0.708
20.7	2545 - 0.679	2499 - 0.661	2453 - 0.700	2400 - 0.668
21.4	2649 - 0.621	2600 - 0.612	2548 - 0.599	2499 - 0.578
22.1	2756 - 0.722	2701 - 0.688	2651 - 0.641	2599 - 0.705
22.8	2855 - 0.768	2798 - 0.731	2746 - 0.703	2690 - 0.625
22.0 H 322	2439 - 0.534	2392 - 0.555	2330 - 0.596	2277 - 0.610
22.7	2559 - 0.549	2532 - 0.511	2492 - 0.544	2451 - 0.516
23.4	2637 - 0.622	2588 - 0.498	2542 - 0.551	2493 - 0.478
24.1	2751 - 0.621	2703 - 0.600	2651 - 0.611	2596 - 0.598
24.8	2851 - 0.546	2793 - 0.522	2733 - 0.555	2669 - 0.566
25.5	3025 - 0.555	2998 - 0.510	2934 - 0.604	2881 - 0.517
25.0 VVN 135	2871 - 0.549	2815 - 0.518	2761 - 0.511	2701 - 0.623
25.7	2988 - 0.511	2951 - 0.496	2910 - 0.606	2861 - 0.729
26.4	3001 - 0.685	2955 - 0.612	2900 - 0.600	2842 - 0.607

POWDER	10-INCH

20.0 H 4198	2247 - 0.622
20.7	2278 - 0.608
21.4	2390 - 0.574
22.1	2572 - 0.720
22.8	2654 - 0.623
22.0 H 322	2219 - 0.633
22.7	2398 - 0.720
23.4	2439 - 0.660
24.1	2533 - 0.576
24.8	2600 - 0.651
25.5	2818 - 0.640
25.0 VVN 135	2633 - 0.660
25.7	2808 - 0.681
26.4	2779 - 0.710

I will update this table with addition information as we shoot the same loads through shorter barrels.