7mm-08 Barrel Length

Brian in Montana

Brian in Montana

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Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
2,449
Location
Ramsay, MT
For my next rifle I'm considering a 7mm-08, either a Remington 700 SPS or a Weatherby Vanguard Series 2. Both these rifles have a 24" barrel. My initial thought was that's a good thing, a longer barrel will give plenty of time for the powder to burn and gasses to expand, excellorating the bullet and getting the most out of the cartridge. But I'll admit I'm not as familiar with short actions as I am w/ long actions and I had the thought that with the necked-down .308, less powder than in the -06 family, maybe a 24" barrel isn't optimal.

Obviously I have only a layman's knowledge of such things, but I wonder if I'm over-thinking this aspect of what I'm just hoping will be a good open-range, hunting rifle for deer-sized game. Any thoughts?
 
That 24" barrel will be both easy handling and have a very optimal burn time for the 7mm-08.
Short cartridges that fire fast , relitively light bullet weights won't really benefit enough from a barrel that is much longer.
They won't suffer much from barrels down to 18" either.
You will be hard pressed to find a production rifle offered in that caliber with more than a 24 incher on it anyway.
A couple more inches will add some velocity, but not very practical for the little difference of a 50 - 80 fps gain at most, depending on twist rate.
 
I'd pay more attention to the twist than the length, especially if you have a particular bullet in mind you want to shoot.
 
I have harvested more deer than I can count with a 15 in .308. I didn't get one complaint from any of them that I didn't use a longer barrel.
 
JLS said:
I'd pay more attention to the twist than the length, especially if you have a particular bullet in mind you want to shoot.
Click to expand...
This!! Only other consideration I give to barrel length is muzzle blast. Shorter = louder. IMO, the speed difference due to a few inches of barrel length is much ado about nuttin'.

PS- All of the powder is burnt within the first few inches the bullet travels down the barrel.
 
JLS said:
I'd pay more attention to the twist than the length, especially if you have a particular bullet in mind you want to shoot.
Click to expand...

Well, I haven't really thought this through extensively. Seems about the heaviest you can go in 7-08 is 140grns. I generally tend to prefer the heavier end when hunting. I believe the Remington 700 has a twist of 1 - 9.25 while the Vanguard is 1 - 9.5. Again, I'm don't know much about this sort of thing beyond the basics, but I wouldn't think a quarter inch would make that much difference in bullet stabalization.
 
Brian in Montana said:
Well, I haven't really thought this through extensively. Seems about the heaviest you can go in 7-08 is 140grns. I generally tend to prefer the heavier end when hunting. I believe the Remington 700 has a twist of 1 - 9.25 while the Vanguard is 1 - 9.5. Again, I'm don't know much about this sort of thing beyond the basics, but I wouldn't think a quarter inch would make that much difference in bullet stabalization.
Click to expand...

Regular production rifles are twisted fine for anything you will want to shoot in the 7-08. mtmuley
 
For the most part, I think things like barrel length and twist if your not buying a custom rifle, you get what you can get! With me I generally like on rifles with a long action a min 22" barrel to a max 24" barrel. for cartridges on a standard length action, 308, I like max 22" and min 20". It's just me, doesn't mean squat!
 
I have a Montana Rifle Company X2 in 7mm08. It comes standard with a 24. When I ordered it had them cut it back to 22 and recrown at the factory. I didnt think much would be lost in that caliber with the loss of 2 inches and maybe a bit of handiness added with the shorter barrel.
 
For general big game hunting you probably won't know the difference. In its infancy benchrest shooters learned that the 7mm-08 knocked over steel more reliably with a 24" barrel than it did with an 18" barrel. Today, with modern hunting bullets, I bet it knocks over game as well with a shorter barrel as it does with a longer one.
 
My spouse's 7mm-08 has a 20" barrel. 1:9.5 twist. Handloaded Nosler 150g LRs are dead nuts.
 
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