Posted: 3/20/2006 6:19:18 PM EDT
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OK, here is the deal. I have been longing to get a heavy brl in .223 for a whie but needed some justification. Today the oppurtunity arose with the invite to a 4 day p-dog hunt. For those of you that have had or have a hb varmint type upper what do you recomend? 18", 20", 22", 24" fluted, non fluted, etc. How about just an upper that I can swap out on my current lower? Thanks |
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18 or 20 should do you just fine. Fluting is OK, it does aid in cooling the barrel faster, BUT in varmit shooting I doubt you will do lots fo rapid fire. Yes, a upper you can swap with one lower is fine. Lots of folks do that. Check out Jasons site, give him a call..JTAC supply, he is a industry partner here. Also located in Panola. Good guy, does great work. I know, he has stole enough of my money from me...  |
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I have heard that there is no difference in accuracy between a 20" and a 24" barrel, I personally don't know if that is correct or not, but you do lose some velocity with the shorter barrel, but remember that 24" bull barrel rifle is heavy! Here's mine, J&T upper on a Stag Arms lower receiver, 5.56mm with a 24" stainless bull barrel with a 1-8 twist, JP Rifles single stage trigger. 
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I did that number with a varmint upper to switch out on my regular AR. I ended up buying a another lower to put together another rifle. I had a Colt 24" bull barrel with a 10x SS Tasco scope. It was fun to shoot, accurate but it grew old in a hurry.  Just my opinion, ARs are fun and great rifles, but is hard to beat a bolt action 223 for furry varmints. |
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I don't really think barrel length/contour has any affect on accuracy in a cold barrel, I've got 16" barrels that are just as accurate as my 26" barrels, now length and contour do have great effect on velocity and heat disapation, which will affect bullet drop as distances increase and accuracy as barrel heats, a heavy barrel will take longer to heat, but it will also take longer to cool, but if your strictly varmint shooting, you won't be firing that many rounds in a row for the barrel to get hot enough to greatly effect accuracy, if you do get it hot, leave the bolt open and switch to your spare rifle, a heavy barrel also adds weight to the rifle which helps you hold it more steady, a 20" in 223 should work just fine out to 300 yards, I don't think any but the 40 to 52gr. varmit bullets can be driven fast enough with the 223 to reliably blow apart much past 300 yards anyway, they will expand a little, but you won't see the explosive expansion like they do at shorter ranges, which might allow a gut shot animal to crawl into a hole and die, instead of blowing the hell outta him and killing him instantly, last time we went PD hunting, I used a hornet loaded w/45gr Bee bullet out to 125yards, a 223 w/50gr vmax out to 250 yards and a 22-250 w/ 50gr vmax for 250 yards plus. |
Ok if were going to get all technical.....
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I don't know about killing, but I'd say you're mean enough to use it shoot the balls of off cats, dogs, and any squirrels that come into your yard! I did see my son pop a large Canadian in the head with a 17 cal pellet gun, killing it at 25 yds. I'm not cutting the accuracy of those little rifles! 
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Thanks guys, I am really at a toss up here. I would love to have the varmint style brl and upper, but the money I am looking at I can get a Savage or a CZ dedicated varmint rifle and keep the "wifes" M-4 in its current configuration. Too many choices. I guess the old adage of "its not how long it is, but how you use it" can hold true here or the other old adage " the longer the better"? Which is it 
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I just built an 18" walking varminter for a local friend that turned out nice. An 18" SPR weight barrel with a plain jane DPMS handguard, bottom mounted rail for sling and bipod and 6.5-20 Leupold VXIII. Even with the large optic it's light enough to carry and will be plenty accurate for stationary long range shooting too. Nothing wrong with a heavy 20 or 24 but the key word is heavy....if you want to shoot farther than the 18 will go you probably need a 22-250 or 243 :) One thing the weight is good for is stability of the gun though, if you are doing alot of PD shooting it will be less fatiguing and you'll be able to watch bullet impact with a heavy gun. J |
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If you are stationary and not moving much, a long heavy barrel is an asset. But if you are humping it for a distance for just one or two shots, it's not worth the weight. A short stout tube gives very good accuracy if everything is right, like trigger pull, optics, etc. Chances of getting into a 20+ shots at one sitting are pretty slim unless you get into one hell of a prairie dog town. I haven't seen or done that in almost 20 years. I like Savage rifles for the accuracy and price. My son has a Savage 16 in 223 with Accutrigger that is damn deadly on varmints. With a little coaching, he was hitting the rams at 500 meters with 55 gr soft points. 6 shots, the first a spotter, then 5 hits in a row. A buddy on the Shawnee PD (Wingman knows him!  ) has an Olympic upper with a SUM 16" barrel that he swears is deadly accurate.What got me off heavy barrels was humping a 300 Win Mag Savage Tactical in Colorado up and down hills. I could have hit and killed an elk at 500 yds no problem, but never got a shot. Depending on the bullets you are going to use, the twist is much more important than the barrel length in the 18 to 24 inch barrel lengths. A dedicated 24 in barrel and good optics on an AR makes for a great bench rifle, but to me isn't much good for field use. But I sure do love my bolts for hunting anything with fur on it! 
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their was / i would imagine still is good pd shooting/ it aint hunting .......in the panhandle you just got to find it 
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I killed a lot that day........ but most of it was done with the 223 tactical........... i took a few shots with the encore..... but the triger on that thing sucks i couldn't hit with it past 175  wind dope is the key trying to shoot out at any distance.... elevation is easy wind was a killer that day best i could was about a 2 foot area around them
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