Gunsmithing .308 Barrel Chop

[jldv6125se]

I have been trying to find some good info on doing a barrel chop on my Steyr SSG 69. I have the 1 in 12 twist rate and have been looking into options of chopping the barrel down to the 18" or 20" range. I have read a lot about how people are getting a lot of the accuracy and ballistics as the with longer barrels. I am concerned with the effects of going from the 25.59" to a 18" or 20" barrel on the bullet stability and MOA. Changing bullet weight is an option if need be.

You thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Beef82]

Re: .308 Barrel Chop

Stability should not be effected, unless you are shooting something that occasionally due to atomespheric conditions shows signs of instability now. It generally takes very large changes in velocity to effect stability, many report success with 175s out of 20" 1:12s.
MOA (groups) should not be affected but the loads required to acheive them may be, the exceptions of course being if their is a defect in the bore right before or at the point you intend to shorten it to, or the crown gets cut poorly.
MOA (drop) at long distance will be greater, as will windage, that's what lower velocity does.

 

[JJones75]

Re: .308 Barrel Chop

I run a 16" barrel , 1-10 twist and shoot 190g to 1000 with no stability issues , his gun generly doesn't get shot at 600 though and for that I use 168's

Generaly guys that cut their barrel down see a decient improvement in accuracy but I honestly don't think it's from barrel stiffness but more so from a better crown than what comes from the factory