Remington 700 300WM help

[charger23]

I'm sure Ill get hammered with this post but I need some advice. I bought a rem 700 300WM bull barrel for shooting beyond 1000, and decided to have the barrel cut down thinking I could have a long distance shooter and truck gun. Thing is, I had it cut down to 20", and if you take away 2" of casing, it's really more like an 18" barrel. In hindsight, I don't think this was a good idea. My questions are, how badly did I castrate my rifle? Read- did I just make a 300WM a 308?

I have not shot the rifle since I cut it down. I have SW Ammo's 300WM in 190, 208, and 220gr. Do I even try to shoot this stuff and see if it will shoot? Or is it a waste considering how badly I reduced my FPS.

I've been shooting it with a 30cal can, magnum rated, and I have a 338p-1 from thunderbeast about to clear. If I left it as is, if I can get it to shoot the way I want, is 20" too short for the 338 can? Should be fine right? Lots of questions. Looking for constructive criticism or advice, not captain hindsight.

Or do I just buy a krieger or equivalent and shoot other rifles in the meantime. Thanks in advance gents.

 

[nn8734]

It's not as bad as you think. Folks regularly shoot .338 lapua mags wit 20" barrels. Your suppressor should also be able to handle it if its rated for those pressures. Tac ops wrote an article awhile back in barrel length and didn't find any serious loss in muzzle velocity in their test .300 win mag until they reduced the barrel length to below 22" and, even then, the loss wasn't overly alarming. I would shoot some of your rounds using a chronograph to determine the true impact of your barrel reduction.

Either way your rifle would far exceed any .308 in terms of effective range and performance at distance. Depending upon your muzzle velocities and bc of your rounds, you should still be supersonic at 1300 yards, perhaps more.

 

[charger23]

Any other thoughts? Opinions?

 

[SUIScide]

I'd make sure and call thunder beast to verify that (if) the can will withstand the pressure, I have a 22 caliber can that's rated for 22-250 bit only if the barrel is over 20" (or there abouts, meaning no short barrel with over bore cartridges). I bet the muzzle blast will be epic! I've said before that I wish my 24" 300 WM was 28"

 

[SUIScide]

A shorter barrel should be stiffer, and (possibly) more accurate too

 

[swampbuck]

Who cut this? Did your smith not have a talk with you about the order? Part of a good smiths job is to do what the customer wants but sometimes to also talk you off the ledge.

 

[charger23]

My smith did warn me that I'd be losing some significant FPS, but I wish he'd been more assertive about my possibly poor judgement. Either way, my fault not his. If this ends up forcing me to buy a custom barrel, I will go 24 and forget about mobility. I haven't even had a chance to shoot it yet, who knows, may shoot great but be limited to 1300-1400+/-. Guess I shoot shut up and shoot before guessing what may or may not happen. Either way, thanks for the replies.

 

[SmimL7]

I've experimented with different barrel lengths all Krieger 1/10 twist and 25" is money. I personally would not go less than 24" mostly due to the blast. If maneuverability is your goal, I would look at lighter contours not shorter barrels.

 

[HOGTOOTH5R]

Hmm...Interesting, I was thinking about doing the same thing with my Remy 5R .300 WM with the 26". I've got it in a Folder Chassis so I'm thinking a 20" Barrel would make it pretty compact.

Tag for further study of this thread.

 

[FMJBT]

Only way to tell for sure is to take it out and shoot it. FWIW, I also just had a 300 Win Mag cut down to 20". My plan is to load it up with the heavier 225 BTHP's from Hornady. The heavier bullet should allow for a more complete burn within the barrel. I'm hoping for around 2700 FPS using these loaded up with H1000. At that velocity they should stay supersonic out to around 1400 yards. I should have mine out to the range within the next few weeks, we'll see how it goes.