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30-07-2020, 13:07 #1
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
- Posts
- 13
Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
Let's say I do everything 100% and it's all about the rifle.....
I have looked online and it seems 16" - 18" seems like an optimal barrel length.
Local suppliers only have 21"
Wait or buy?
They obviously want the sale so won't tell me when they will get in a 17"
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30-07-2020, 14:01 #2
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
- Posts
- 7,262
Re: Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
A 22lr burns ip all its powder at +-14" but all gone by 16" So anything after that is not really doing anything.
I had a CZ455 about 2 years back and it was super accurate and had short barrel.
Sold it as I bought a Sako 86 and it was gorgeous. And told dealer wanted a Sako Quad. Due to 85 quality. To be honest the quad does not come close to a 85. Nor to a CZ. Actually comes standard with Plastic trigger guard and plastic bolt handle. I replaced both with aftermarket steel.
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18-09-2020, 17:24 #3
- Join Date
- May 2017
- Location
- Alabama USA
- Posts
- 32
Re: Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
I have competing in Smallbore Prone competition for a decade at least, and been having great fun shooting relics, such as this one, and it has a 26 inch barrel.
100 yard prone targets.
100 yard prone target.
Given a good barrel, a good chambering job, and good bedding, given these and assuming all things are equal, barrel length does not determine accuracy. A barrel that is 16" long will shoot as well as a barrel 26 inches long. The greatest difference in rimfire accuracy is ammunition. Rimfire ammunition varies, the cheap stuff has no consistency, the good stuff, much better consistency. They all have boo boo's, but the boo boos' are smaller, and happen less often, with good match ammunition.
this is an example of a boo boo, a 6 OC drop out
this was the last match a bud of mine, shot TAC-22 in rimfire F Class. When he had a sighter shot drop 22 inches at 100 yards, he no longer had confidence in the ammunition.
He switched to black box Eley and was much happier
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18-09-2020, 18:47 #4
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
- Location
- Dallas, Texas
- Posts
- 674
Re: Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
Slam fire, that’s some fine shooting. Hope your part of Bama didn’t get hit too hard by the storm.
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18-09-2020, 22:26 #5
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
- Location
- Western Cape
- Posts
- 3,403
Re: Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
I hope you get lots and lots of good service out of the BSA Slamfire. Over here we mostly have the Mkii and the 12 / 15 but there are a handful of MKiii around and I feel very lucky to have recently picked one up as I've only seen 2 owners posting about them of which one was the seller.
You like the old scopes too :) and again I am very jealous because we don't have them here and exports from the US are prohibited due to ITAR. I managed to get a Targetspot 20 with a rifle I bought but other than that I've only seen one Unertl advertised and no Redfields.
The same story goes for my W52. Such is the sad state of affairs in SA.
I agree with the length of the barrel because I am more convinced that crowning a barrel- a few times until it shoots better- will give good results. It is only a theory though because I will never be able to choose the same barrel at different lengths and have all of them crowned many times over to prove it but seeing as we can not change the powder charge and people believe in nodes that is what I'm going with.
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19-09-2020, 00:59 #6
- Join Date
- May 2017
- Location
- Alabama USA
- Posts
- 32
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19-09-2020, 01:18 #7
- Join Date
- May 2017
- Location
- Alabama USA
- Posts
- 32
Re: Best .22 LR Barrel length for Accuracy in competitions
I really like my BSA rifles, purchased this MKII last year, and I had taken the time to make the trigger pull 14 inches. The original pull was 13.5 inches, the wood spacer is made from wood salvaged from a pallet. Probably came from Asia.
I made a handstop, but this year, was able to find an original.
That screw in hand stop has not been made for a half century, if not longer.
It shoots as good as the ammunition, but expect dropped shots with the cheaper match ammunition
it shoots good ammunition well
I think the BSA rifles are excellent rifles even if technologically obsolete. Given an adjustable cheek piece, butt pad, grip, and lighter trigger. I don't see why the action would not be competitive today, but BSA walked away from the market. Don't sell your BSA MKII short, it is an accurate rifle.
Larry Moore wrote an article for the American Rifleman where he shortened a number of 22 lr match barrels, like a tenth of an inch, just enough to rechamber. He claimed improved accuracy on some. I think with rimfires, throat erosion is greater than muzzle erosion, though, there ought to be erosion on both ends.
I have asked around for barrel lives, a number of shooters claim the accuracy life of a rim fire barrel to be around 60,000 rounds. Old ammunition was hard on barrels, I have a MKIII which the original owner (mid 80's) claimed he had only 600 rounds of Eley through it. And the barrel has a ring in front of the chamber, something he called "Eley Rings". Apparently old rim fire ammunition had a lot of glass in the primer (frictionator) and that eroded the throat.
The really good shooters I know cut their barrels to around 16 inches and add a bloop tube to extend the sight radius. This way they get the maximum velocity and sight radius. But, if they don't clean the inside of their bloop tubes after each match, their accuracy deteriorates.
Best of luck with your MKII!
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