what calibres are good for short barrels

[Bigchaza]

are there any calibres on a short action bolt face that seem to perform better than others. Im building a little plinker/hunter for short range probably 400-500 max range and alot less for most of the hunting ill be doing with it. The rest of the rifle is a Remington 700 5-r that's barrel is almost worn, its bedded in a manners t5a other than that its a stock one. Im planning on going with a 16 inch barrel of a medium profile. So far my thoughts are 308 as they seem to handle short barrels quiet well, but perhaps there is a smarter choice than this for a short barrel.
Im mainly looking for short range stopping power out to 300m as i dont hunt past that distance and rarley shoot that far whilst hunting. It will mainly be a pig/goat/kangaroo gun
I also reload

 

[texote]

I'm wondering the same thing

 

[ranger1183]

A general rule of thumb is the less the bottle neck, and the shorter the brass overall, the better the cartridge does in short barrels. Example is a .45 ACP vs .223 WSSM. The .45 shoots fine out of a three or four inch barrel, the WSSM cartridges shoot best out of long, 24 inch barrels.

.45 ACP:

.223 WSSM:

 

[Captain Kirk]

308 would be a good choice for a 16" barreled rifle, also plenty of quality factory ammo available. 338 Federal will give you more bullet mass and work well out of a shorter barrel. 270-308 and 7mm-08 are a little more obscure loadings based off of the 308 case, but would also work. I'd opt for 308 or 338 Federal.

 

[Tjsr19]

300 blackout

 

[Defusion]

The biggest one (caliber, not cartridge).
I agree on .308
a good second choice with less terminal performance would be 7,62x39
300blk maybe if you're going really short

 

[Rogue111]

.308 has my vote, especially if its for a short/medium distance plinker

 

[mcfred]

510 Whisper
50 Alaskan
510WSM
50 Thumper
375 Whipser
.44 Mag carbine

Anything with large bore and small case capacity...

 

[Defusion]

Yes, but with 16" (not THAT short) and a 300y kill-range, you do want some decent case capacity and bullet velocity (so not too big a caliber).

 

[mcfred]

OP says nothing about price, component availability, recoil or trajectory

If the guy's going for pigs might as well line them up and go bowling with a 950gr cast slug.

 

[Bigchaza]

OP says nothing about price, component availability, recoil or trajectory

If the guy's going for pigs might as well line them up and go bowling with a 950gr cast slug.

Im in Australia so component availability is fine for pretty much anything short action, as for recoil i only have a short action donor so most choices i can make will be fine

 

[pawprint2]

Short- Pig( bolt action) gun, 338Federal is hard to beat! Never shot a kangaroo, but I doubt they are harder to kill than Pigs. BTW, a 338 Fed can shoot some very nice groups.

 

[SporterII]

Look at your loading manuals. In the rear there are 'pistol' load data and barrel lengths usually about 15". May answer questions.

 

[VKC]

7mm-08 gets my vote. Better ballistics than a 308 and not overbore to the point where you will lose a lot in a shorter barrel.

 

[Gorax]

300 blackout, its so much fun on roo's, pigs and goats its not funny. I used a T3 light for mine, 16" barrel, factory plastic stock, currently has a vortex razor red dot on it. I do plan on changing this for a 1-4 trijicon accupoint with green triangle reticle.

the 300 is also cheaper to reload in Oz.

 

[MarinePMI]

.358 Winchester. Kind of hard to argue with a .308 case, necked up to shoot cheap .357 bullets at decent velocities...

Just a thought...

 

[Phil1]

.308 then 7-08

 

[Bigchaza]

.358 Winchester. Kind of hard to argue with a .308 case, necked up to shoot cheap .357 bullets at decent velocities...

Just a thought...

you sir are a genious
I reckon that this may just be the way to go
1) the bullet choice for these are made to detonate at low velocities
2) cheaps as chips to realod once im set up
3) it will give me all the range i need, i think 338 win would be slightly better but it almost costs 3* as much to load
4)that will really hurt whatever it hits
5) i could cast some massive lead hp's for subsonic shooting
6)16 inch would be plenty of barrel for it

if i where aiming for past 300 it would be ballisticly retarded but im finding those ranges are just not happening for me 98% of the time plus i have a 260 rem on the way and after that i have a 375 cheytac coming so i don't need another long range gun

 

[MosesTheTank]

I really like the 308, but if you want something a bit more novel then +1 for the 338 Federal. It'll out pace the 308 (180 AccuBond at 2830ish fps vs 2600ish fps for the 308 with the same bullet). Although, it does seem a bit heavy for goats and roos. Not sure how large pigs get where you are. The pigs where I hunt them in the FL panhandle will often exceed 250lbs. I have been considering a shorty alternative to 308 for myself so I'm enjoying the input on this thread.

 

[Bigchaza]

I get the rare pig out to 250lbs, but its not a common occurrence and they are the biggest thing i shoot ( i dont have a big enough appetite for an entire elk . ) and i have dropped them fine with 130 gr hollow points.

im kinda leaning away from 308 because ive been there and done that since i was about 5 or 6 yr old and i have burnt out two of them in my life time, im feeling the winds of change lol. As for the 300 blackout it sounds cool but i think that i could achieve more power by going with a different cal.

for me i think its between the 338 fed or the 358 win

338fed pros
1)this thing really hits hard
2) Its about as ballistic superior as a carbine gets
3) i can find the pills for it but i think they will cost about 55-65 american dollars for 100


con
1) would cost a tad more than what i do for 308 atm and alot more than 358 win
2) 200-225 grn of lead is a bit of a waste for 95% of the animals im after
3) i dont think it would go aswell subsonic

358 win
pros
1) if i load it with a decent pistol round that wont fall apart, of about 140 gr i think ill get about 2600-2800 fps, this will smash everything im after as im mainly going after medium size game.
2) that would be soooooooooo cheap to load for
3) I could make some awesome subsonic cartridges for this round
4) wider bore means i get about the same efficiency as a 22inch barrelled 308 win
5) its such a versatile round with the right loads i could kill anything from small light skinned game, to medium game, to the crack head with my tv ( ), to large thick skinned game.

cons
1) these bullets would be ballisticly spastic in comparison to what im used to
2) not as much raw fire-power as the 338 fed, but this is easily fixed

 

[MarinePMI]

you sir are a genious

My wife would argue that point, but I appreciate the compliment regardless.

If you do go the .358 route, be sure to post some pictures of the rifle and some dead stuff.

I'm getting ready to rebarrel a old buddy's FN Mauser in this caliber with an old Douglas blank he had hidden in the rafters of his reloading room/basement (hence why it came immediately to mind, as he had the same requirements as yourself).

Best regards,

 

[40xs]

Consider all the success that has been derived from the various 14" and 16" Contenders and Encores in most of their calibers on big game. Most popular calibers in those would be in the medium to large calibers; say from .30 up to mid .40's. Trajectory is the biggest deciding or limiting issue over actual terminal energy at the ranges you mention. I believe .308 would serve your purpose well.

 

[lwrkeysfisher]

The are some guys in Australia doing great things with the 6.8.

http://68forums.com/forums/showthread.php?34296-When-ghosts-colide-graphic-pics

 

[texote]

any 6mm rifles?

 

[Carlo0096]

350 Rem Mag, perfect for an 18in bbl. I'm having one built now.

 

[groundhogbuster]

I'm a 6.8 guy as well. I have 6BR's PPc, 6mm Rem, .243, 260, 308 (5R almost stock) but when I head out for pigs, whitetail, and even Varmints, if it's gonna be 2-400yds, the 68 has been awesome. I run the 68 in gas guns only, and have several, but from a DD 6lb 6.8, to an 18" Wilson Combat, this cartridge has shown what it can do to me. Whitetail 6pt 426yds, DRT, Doe 411yds (DRT) 285lb hog @ 105yds, (Dead in 10yds). That 120SST, on Whitetail, and 140 on Hogs, and 85gr on Ghogs and Vermin. And when I Pig hunt, I like having 9- 29 more to back it up if it gets crazy.

 

[long range newbie]

you could run a 16in 6br

 

[sandwarrior]

7mm TCU for a handgun or a short load in in an AR

 

[mwroseberry]

7-08, 6.5 grendel, 300 blk, 6.8spc