Cut down 26" Remington 308 barrel

[callen3615]

Searching for some wisdom regarding cutting down a 26" 1-12 twist Remington varmint 308 barrel. This rifle is being repurposed for deer hunting in the south east. Max I'll need to shoot this will be 600 yards on game. I currently load hornady 165sst. I bought some of the 178 hornadys to load this year and I'm concerned that cutting the 1-12 barrel down to 18-20" won't leave enough barrel to stabilize the heavier projectiles. What's the consensus on 18-20" 1-12 twist 308 barrels? Should I just chop it to 18" and shoot lighter hunting projectiles?

thanks

 

[spife7980]

For 600 you'll be fine with 168s on deer so I would chop it and if the 178s stabilize then great, I think that they would. If not you still have the 168s plus you get the shorter barrel you're after so it's not like you cut the legs out from under you, the rifle would still serve its purpose.

 

[supercorndogs]

I don't think you will run into any troubles stabilizing 178s in a 1 in 12.

 

[callen3615]

Cool. Thanks guys

 

[bschneiderheinze]

I have the same rifle cut down to 16.5 and it shoots 175's fine.

 

[roggom]

You should be fine with 18-20, I went to 16" to shoot suppressed and the rifle became suuuuuuper finicky. I went though a ton of loads, but 178 Amax over varget did well. I could shoot pretty much any flat based bullets without an issue, but scenars, matchkings, bergers did not fair well.

 

[Deadfall]

I cut mine to 20" to run suppressed and it shoots 175 smk's pretty well with Varget.

 

[G17C]

You should be fine with 18-20...

That would be my suggestion as well.

 

[Servo93]

My 20" 1/12 AT stabilizes 178's just fine as well.

 

[Jackalope]

Just chopped a buddies factory 26" ADL varmint barrel to 18" and re crowned. Took it out to 980 yards yesterday without issue shooting 168 TMKs over 43.5 grains of varget.

 

[BurnOut]

I have a 20" 12-twist .308, and I just loaded up some 185 Juggernauts to see if they'll stabilize. Running RL-17... five rounds each at 42.0, 42.5, 43.0, and 43.5. We'll see how it goes.

 

[callen3615]

Hopefully that turns out well! Looking to cut this thing down soon in time for load development before this fall.

 

[NukeMMC]

I STRONGLY urge you that if you're having a smith work on it anyway, have your gunsmith set the barrel back before you cut the length. I had an SPS-V that had to have 3/16" setback before the chamber could be cut concentric to the bore. Also gets rid of the ridiculously long factory freebore. Once he did that, he cut my OAL to 20" and it was a hammer with 168s.
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[callen3615]

What did that set you back? If you don't mind. This is about a 3/4 minute gun right now. Main purpose is hunting. I have it in the exact same stock and stock pack as you. Doesn't really need to be a tack driver, but a 1/2 MOA gun is better than a 3/4 MOA gun as long as it isn't much more that a cut and crown.

 

[NukeMMC]

About $350, and he put the threads on. It was about $250 to chamber and $100 to cut/crown/thread the muzzle. To me, the chambering was worth the extra expense since it became a tighter headspace, shorter throat and would now accept AMAX bullets in mag length.

By the way, if you are using that B&C stock, I recommend texturing the grip surfaces with Devcon or Marine-Tex. Works GREAT! Here's a picture where you can kind-of see it better. This was after I had him put a collar on to accept the Ops Inc 3rd Model can. When he originally did the barrel, he had cut the Rapid Brake for the 11/16-24 threads and profiled the last 4.5" of the barrel for the collar. We didn't install the collar until the can came in as he wanted to ensure a good fit and concentric bores.
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[callen3615]

Nice stick, for that price I'll probably just rebarrel to something better than factory. Just chopping it to 18" should work for whitetails this year.