While there are differences between the amounts of pressure generated by each round, the nominal difference is around 12,000 PSI, although in practice, that number is closer to 4,000. In the coming weeks Ill be combining the data from both experiments into one post. Based on the data published in the Rifle Shooter article, the average of most efficient barrel length is 21.7 inches. The first number is the value of this cartridge, and the last number is the value of the most powerful round in our bullet database. The picture at the top of the page is an actual screen shot I took off my iPhone video recording. Notice the rounds have similar external ballistics with the different barrel lengths out to 500 yards, past 500 the differences become significant. I just touched off a 308 Winchester in a 6 long bolt action pistol, the final round of my 308 barrel length testing, and couldnt be happier. Take this into consideration when comparing calibers using our The action had a 223 bolt face, so I opened it and installed a Sako extractor. Ballistic Trajectory Calculator Ballistic Coefficient Calculator Or are they different? With modern materials and powders, it would be great to see whether a 300 Win Mag on a short barrel could be made to group out to 1000 yards. was measured from the end of the barrel back to the breech face. In The truth about barrel length, muzzle velocity and accuracy the author uses four different barrel lengths, 13.5, 16, 18 and 26.5, and eight different cartridges. The 300 Blackout's sleeker bullet has a higher ballistic coefficient than the 5.5645, but with less speed its trajectory invariably arcs more sharply. Due to ammunition constraints, data for the Winchester 147 grain FMJ and Federal 168 grain Gold Medal was gathered until 8 and Winchester 180 grain Power-Point 9. This calculator will produce a ballistic trajectory chart that shows the bullet drop, bullet energy, windage, and velocity. Until then, stay safe. I would have guessed 150-200 feet/second velocity loss between 24 and 16.5 barrel lengths. There are plenty of good sources of information on this topic. For another measure of bullet power, some people prefer to use Muzzle Energy. The experimental cartridge fluctuated in case size before settling in at 51 millimeters long. American Eagle (Federal) Full Metal Jacket Boat-Tail, 150gr. Comparing the data from the 30 shot strings (28 2824 and 16.5 2555) to the 5 shot strings (28 2823 and 16.5 2561) I found a loss of 269 ft/sec (23.4 ft/sec per inch) as the barrel was cut. tweet/email or post a comment on the blog - one of us will double-check the original For more information on headspace, check out Oleg Volks excellent write-up at Cheaper Than Dirt. That is actually not correct. All in all a great round that any good medium to large size game hunter can rely on. I looked down at my right hand as it trembled, it was cut open in half a dozen places from a combination of recoil, sharp edges and dry skin. 308 Winchester/ 7.62x51mm NATO Short barrel length and velocity- A six inch 308 bolt gun? Never miss a post! And more importantly, will one blow up a gun in your face when used in the other? This means throwing .308 rounds into the magazine of a 20-year-old M14 could set taxpayers back the cost of a new rifle and your medical bill at Walter Reed. All in all, this was a very thorough test by the folks at RifleShooter.com. this insane project much more practical. When a round is fired, the hot, expanding gasses inside the case force it to expand, causing the case to smash up against the walls of the chamber which in turn prevent the case from turning into a mini fragmentation grenade due to the extreme chemistry inside. contrast, the chamber pressure of 5.56 NATO is only roughly 75% of that, at about 60,000 PSI, while 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win have only slightly higher chamber pressures at 62,000 PSI. Powder burn rates can also make a difference. You would gain more by using a higher BC bullet like a Scenar, and/or running a little higher chamber pressure. brass or casing) is the shell of a firearms cartridge that houses the propellant. Ive found this makes cutting the barrel and mounting the MagnetoSpeed easier. For firearms and ammunition, these differences are measured in PSI, fractions of an inch, and millimeters. The following is a ballistics chart in table format that details the bullet trajectory of a 30-30 Winchester 150 grain HP X30301 and a balistic coefficient of .218. 7.62 NATO chambers are designed to handle slightly lower pressure rounds with thicker case walls and a longer headspace. A firearm with too much headspace will give cartridges some play within the chamber, while too little headspace will prevent the bolt from closing properly. The 7.6251 NATO chamber is imperceptibly longer than the .308 Winchester, extending between 0.006 and 0.010 inches beyond the .308 SAAMI specs. Brian Smyth over what ammo or caliber or gun is "best." Your choice. The barrel length for a 308 can be anywhere from 16 to 24 inches, while the barrel length for a AK-47 in caliber is typically 16 inches. This resulted in a velocity loss of 94 feet/second. How to Sight in a Scope - Step by Step Guide. ALL Bulletin content is copyrighted, 2023 AccurateShooter.com. Test Barrel Lost 22.7 FPS Per Inch (.308 Win Chambering) Rifleshooter.com also offers ballistics graphs showing trajectories with different barrel lengths. I think if you tinkered enough you could do 1,000, however I dont think it is practical. I think he may be misquoting his source. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); This includes detailed charts with inch-by-inch velocity numbers, multiple line charts, and complete data sets for each type of ammo. Released by Winchester in 1952 (and adopted by NATO in 1954 as the 7.62x51mm NATO), the 308 Winchester has gained universal acceptance amongst shooters of all types. The heavier weight and newer designed 175gr Sierra . Looking for the perfect accessories to accompany your new .308 or 7.6251 rifle? The test protocol was repeated for the next length. Velocity was about 10 FPS below that of my 30 Border. The PowerRank is an estimation of the cartridge power. In fact the .308 Winchester 165gr bullet is traveling faster at 1000 yards than the .223 or 7.62x39mm at just 500 yds. Although they share .30 caliber bullets, the 300 Blackout and 308 Win are dissimilar otherwise. The 6.5 Grendel's common 123 grain bullet offers a muzzle velocity of 2,580 fps, muzzle energy of 1,818 ft lbs, and ballistic coefficient of 0.506. photo link: http://rifleshooter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/custom-16.5-rem-700-308.jpg. That works out to an average loss of 22.7 fps per inch. Here is a list of all 23 different data sets we have tested. (function() { That said, we wouldnt make a habit of it. I also took the time to groove the barrel in one inch increments from 16.5 to 28 as a cutting guide. site designed and maintained by Coeurbois Graphic Design. _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.accurateshooter.com']); This was the best one. As a Wildcatter it gets more so! For instance, if I compared the data from row 1, or one shot from the 28 barrel and one shot from the 16.5 barrel, I would have calculated a total change in velocity of 254 ft/sec, and an average of 22.1 ft/sec per inch. The Federal 168 grain Gold Medalload lost 512 feet/second as the barrel length decreased from 15 to 8. You may not reproduce original text or photos without advanced permission in writing. which was specifically designed for long-range target shooting. Did it really hurt to shoot a short 308 pistol? However, testing indicates it may not be as much as initially thought. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. The .308 Winchester as a hunting round is great for deer, mule deer, elk, black bear, and nuisance animals like wild hogs. Anyone who uses our data owes him It is outside the scope of this post. The short answers to these questions are yes and maybe. Drop (Inch) / 0-3.6: Our next 308 Win ballistic chart shows 130 grain Varmint & Predator rounds. At each cut length, velocity was measured with a Magnetospeed chronograph. When the U.S. Army began developing the 7.62x51mm round, Winchester saw the writing on the wall and figured to cash in on what it hoped was the next official cartridge of the American infantryman, because when it comes to weapons technology, the military sells. Thanks for the kinds words about the 308 and 300 Win barrel length posts. The IMI 150 grain FMJ 7.62x51mm NATOload lost 735 feet/second as the barrel length decreased from 15 to 6. The barrel was cut off using a cold saw. Since I would be gathering data on 52 different barrel length and ammunition combinations and would not be crowning the barrel after each cut; I decided to eliminate gathering data on group sizes. In 2009 an additional three calibers were tested and in 2010 and . Do a search for .308 and you will find similar results, albeit with fewer references to 7.62. Click on each to just browse the charts, click on a given ammunition type listed in the header of each chart for a graph of how that particular ammunition performed, or you can download the raw data for your own use. This allows it to keep a supersonic muzzle velocity at 1,000 yards. So, what gives? The initial testing was done in 2008 and tested the velocity of 13 common handgun cartridges as it related to firearm barrel length. Fear not. While we have went to great lengths to make sure that it's as accurate as possible this rendering should not be used to generate specs for casings. The answer may surprise you. While you can get close estimates to anticipated velocities by examining anecdotal accounts from different shooters and looking over load manuals, the data gathered in an actual experiment provides a baseline that can help inform your decision making process. AVG change ft/sec per inch represents the average loss of velocity per inch based on the running averages. Test Barrel Lost 22.7 FPS Per Inch (.308 Win Chambering) The bullet does not drop below the speed within . Published Mar 29, 2021 12:55 PM EDT. This could have some potentially expensive consequences. When you switch this out with a .308 Winchester round, the increased pressure, thinner walls, and extra space around the cartridge have the potential to cause the case to expand past its point of maximum elasticity. 0. When you confine that chemical reaction into a space half the size of a pen cap with only one weak point, the base of the bullet, that intense pressure has the ability to propel a chunk of lead roughly the size of your pinky nail up to a mile with deadly effect. The .327 Fed. In 1957, NATO also adopted the new American cartridge, earning it the alternate designation 7.62 NATO. That same year, U.S. troops got their hands on the newly-adopted M14, the first American battle rifle chambered in 7.62x51mm. Initially we intended to test both 9mm and .45ACP cartridges for this sequence. It's fine to 600-800 yards and is fine at that range out of an 18" barrel. Furthermore, the The cartridges bullet is seated inside the top rim of the case (called the neck), and the primer is seated in a recess at the bottom of the case. Velocity loss per inch of barrel was .6 ft/sec away (22.8 ft/sec)from the value calculated with 5 shot strings. If you liked this postsubscribe to this blog (top right corner of page). Average velocity and standard deviation was logged for each round. My ears were ringing for a long time after the test, I shot it wearing double ear protection and without overhead covered. Lots of fun and frustration especially if you forget to write it all down! It says that at around the halfway point of 500 yards the bullet will have slowed by 900fps and while that may sound bad it really isn't in terms of a percentage of initial velocity compared to say the .223 Remington (would be 1481fps from initial 3214fps) or the 7.62x39mm (would be 1066fps from initial 2349fps). Readers have continually asked for data from shorter barrels, so here it is! I think the value of this data is worth the time, effort and expense. December 27, 2014 The NATO 51 round first entered service in the 1950s but lacks the R of the rimmed Russian round. I used my iPhone to record a couple shots being fired in slow motion. The brand new, factory AI AICS magazine also flew apart as few times. I bought a quart. The maximum point blank range, allows a shooter to sight in his weapon at a given distance to hit a target of a given size when holding center mass. SeeMagnetoSpeed V3 versus Oehler 35P: Chronograph comparison and review. I selected Federal 190 grain Gold Medal ammunition for this test. With barrels, one wonders Can a little more length provide a meaningful velocity gain? To answer that question, Rifleshooter.com performed an interesting test, cutting a .308 Win barrel from 28 all the way down to 16.5. My calculations assume a 1.75 sight over bore height. NTX 83176 2050 1450 1070 145 72 39 -1 5 0 -156 Welcome Welcome to Ballistics By The Inch, or 'BBTI' as people have taken to calling it. Your data showed the 7.6239 mm Russian slowed down from 23 to 24 in barrel length. So what works best? To show how the data set changes with an increase in sample size, I made a table (below) with the data from both 30 shot strings. For example in this chart I lowered the velocity to . calibers/cartridges + The rifle is fine. At each barrel length, the rifle was fired from a front rest with rear bags, with five rounds of each type of ammunition. These things are known to be pretty tough, so that should be an indication of how much recoil was generated. Selecting the best barrel length for the .300 BLK can be a double-edged sword. Wind Components are (Miles per Hour): DownRange: 0.0 Cross Range: 10.0 Vertical: 0.0. All content Copyright 1998-2018 Rifleshooter.com, FTC disclosure: some links on this site are monetized, Sig Sauer MCX Virtus PCP Air Rifle Review- Initial Impressions, Project Guns- Gunsmithing articles and posts, 223 Remington/5.56 NATO, velocity versus barrel length: A man, his chop box and his friends rifle. Click The shot column represents the shot number in the respective string. Would be more interesting to see maybe 35 barrel down to 28 Have always heard that barrels quit increasing in velocity after 34. Powder burn rates can also make a difference. 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To an average loss of 94 feet/second will hit dead center at 50 200. 7.6251 rifle ; s fine to 600-800 yards and is fine at that range out of an 18 quot! & amp ; Predator rounds experiments into one post initially we intended to test both 9mm and.45ACP for... The picture at the top of the cartridge power a search for.308 and you find! Based on the data published in the other took off my iPhone to record a couple being... Medium to large size game hunter can rely on American Eagle ( Federal ) Full Metal Jacket,! Because of the rimmed Russian round of it ballistics graphs showing trajectories with different barrel lengths out to yards! That should be an indication of how much recoil was generated 5 shot.... Below the speed within the newly-adopted M14, the first American battle rifle chambered in 7.62x51mm Scope of post!
