Rainier Ultra Match 18" vs 20" .308

Other than losing velocity going with the 18" (not much depending on load) what are advanteges to one over the other. The rifle will be used out to <600 primarily. Your thoughts? .308 caliber

What caliber?

.308 Win

Thanks! I don't have an AR-10. Sorry, can't help you.

Using your .308 at <600 yards, you lose nothing. A lot of 16" rifles shoot well to 800.

Gas system length (midlength vs. rifle) and about 5 oz. of barrel weight.

I went with the 24", couldn't be happier but it is one heavy sob.

What will you be doing with it? Hunting, comp, bench shooting?

My main use will be steel shooting 100-800 yards, and the occasional shot out to 1000 for fun. I will varmint and deer hunt with this rifle occasionally as well. Im wanting this to be more of a "bench" style weapon. Im not concerned with over all weight and i dont plan on shooting it outside of prone or sitting position. Im not building it to run around shooting it from the sholder rig. Guess my concern is the accuracy differenece (if any) between the two lengths and if the 18" holds its own past 600 yds out to 1000 like the 20" surely will.

Based on that, I would go with the 20. Either way, you will be happy with the performance of the barrel.

under 600 yards get a 16 inch which is good to 700 yards

at 800 yards you have to get a 20 inch barrel but it will go transonic at 800.

1000 yards, good luck you'll need it.

I love my 18", get a little more velocity out of it compared to the 16" and a little bit easier to transition between targets. If I was gonna build 2 I would have a 16" and a Noveske 21", saving up right now to build a second upper, a 21" Noveske barrel in a Mega Monolithic.....

18" you get about 30 to 60 fps more MV depending on load. However, 16" is more enherently accurate as its stiffer. not by much, but its measureable. FYI, the original recommendations for the M110 were for a 16" barrel IIRC, and the military is currently talking about going to a 16" version to supplement and supercede the 20" model. However, for your purposes, where you arn't going to be humping it over hill and dale, I say go big or go home. If you ARE going to be doing a bit of walking with it, 18 is good enough...and 16, assuming the correct load, can hit the target out to 1000...the quesiton is, CAN YOU?

I have a 20" Ranier ultra-match barrel on my AR-10 and am quite pleased with it. The only reason anyone goes shorter is because they can; there's just not much logic behind it. How many factory bolt-action .308's have you ever seen with less than a 20" barrel? In .308 a 20" barrel IS a carbine.

I have an 18" Ultramatch on my Mega Monolithic and it shoots better than I can. Got a chance last year to stretch it out to 800 Meters and made a few hits. This was my first time at long range and it took me a bit to make the hits. The 18" can do it, but with the 308, the caliber leaves a little to be desired IMO. A 300 win mag would be ideal but it's not currently available in a gas operated package at a decent price.

barrel length doesn't really affect accuracy; it affects velocity, and then not really all that much for 2 inches difference.
Go try out just picking up and handling some different length rifles and see what you think. I would bet that a 16" will work just fine.
Are you building or buying complete?

Im building. Thanks for all the info. Looks like another thread has started on this subject so i guess im not alone. Im definitly not going with a 16" .....im leaning 90% towards 18"
All i have left to buy is the barrel/gas block and tube/ rail.

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