You will find many here like the shorter barrels and many here like the longer barrels.
I am sure both groups will chime in with their reasoning.

 

I like them both. You can part your hair with the long barrel on most Remington 550-1 rifles. The 1906 Winchester, the Browning SA-22, or Stevens Visible Loaders are fun to use truck or trail guns.

 

Hello and welcome to RFC, If you have not done so yet, Please tell us a little about yourself. I am Tom from Illinois. Why don't you pull up a chair and sit for a while. If you have the time stop on by The Watering Hole and chat for a bit. The first drink is always on the house. Look at the picture of the first post for The Watering Hole and you might understand better about your first free drink. This link below should take you there.

If you have read the rules you know that you have to have 30 posts to be able to buy or sell on Rimfire Central marketplace. If you are trying to get your post count up, You might check out the links below. You could also purchase your membership.

If you are looking to have a question answered, try to go to the right forum to ask you question. Please don’t ask you question here in the introduction forum area. Not as many people will see it. It might take a little looking around, but I’m sure that you will find a place to ask your question.

I understand that my post to new member is almost always the same, but I do mean what I type here. If you are lost or are not sure where to go to look for something, you can alway ask and I will do my best to help you. Almost everyone here is very open and willing to help you. It is a very good and caring group of people.

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/the-watering-hole.1247871

Or
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/word-association-thread.1260425/

PS, Please make sure that you read the rule and if you have any questions, just asked, almost all of us would be glad to help you if we can.

 

Welcome @jrnovemberrain69

I moved your thread to a more appropriate area

"....the best length is 16 to 18 inches"

what makes 16" to 18" the best? Best what? Best velocity? Best accuracy? Best balance or weight? Best for tuning?

I have rifles with a variety of lengths. They're all good shooters. I prefer the ones that are 20"-24". I have shorter and longer barrels that shoot just as well. It's probably more how they look and feel

 

That is a big IF you have there. Best is very subjective. My most recent purchase is over 27 inches.

 

I have 3 BR rifles that have barrels that are 24 5/8", 25", & 25 1/4". They're by far my best shooting rifles. I also have an old Rem 513T with a 28" barrel that shoots way better than it should. But also have a Anschutz 1416 AV with a 18" barrel that's ridiculously accurate for a factory rifle

 

Was going to say my Winchester Model 52 and Winchester 67 have 28 and 27 inch barrels respectively. Both have iron sights and a very long sight radius which adds to the accuracy. However on a scoped .22 rifle sight radius becomes irrelevant and more of a personal choice.

 

True, but.......the long barrels have great weight forward balance, and are much quieter than shorter ones. My standard 1/5 scale silhouette rifle has a shortened heavy barrel and it is still very accurate after a high round count, but I prefer a longer barrel.

 

I dont trust the science.
If im hunting, im taking the lightweight short one.
If im punching holes in paper I take the heavy long one.

 

Are going to introduce yourself ?

 

I've read one advantage of longer barrels beyond the max velocity length (somewhere around that 16-18 inches) is it lowers muzzle velocity spread. Faster bullets slow more once past point of max velocity than slower bullets. Which results in the velocity spread being lower with a longer barrel.

There are many factors to accuracy of course.

 

I say choose the barrel length for your intended use, type of gun, and ammo. You can make an argument for any barrel length from NAA mini revolver to 10” subgun to super long target rifles. Use what you like. Here’s the data from BBTI fyi (up to 18”, at the muzzle)

 

in genera; i choose my 22s by what i see that APEALS to me , im not looking for the technical im at the age that i want it to be interesting and ill add only what i find comfortable to my liking ,

 

Long barrels for long guns short barrels fir short guns, we can all have both.

 

I'm lovin' the red, white and blue !

 

Shorter rifle barrels often yield higher muzzle velocities but that in itself doesn't make them better. But it's worth noting that shorter barrels don't always give faster ammo speeds than longer barrels.

Newer shooters and those who may not know better often intuitively assume that faster .22LR bullets are more accurate than slower ones. Muzzle velocity (MV) with .22LR has no direct relationship to accuracy. In fact the best accuracy is produced with .22LR match ammo which is typically on the "slower" side of MVs, around 1060 - 1070 fps.

When shooting at fixed distances (for example at 100 yards) differences in amount of vertical drop between faster and slower rounds is meaningless. Sight/scope adjustments take care of that.

Another small consideration is that slower .22LR ammo drifts less in the wind than faster .22LR rounds. While intuitively it may be the opposite, slower ammo is better when it comes to wind drift.

The "best" barrel length is determined by its use. It shouldn't matter a whit if it's MVs are a little faster or slower than those of another barrel. Most shooters who shoot competitively with accuracy in mind typically have barrels 24" or more in length.

 

Hello all. I realized after my post that I skipped introduction and went right to the question. I am not what anyone would consider tech savvy. Thank you for moving post to here. I live in Wisconsin and have been shooting just for fun since I was a kid. Life got in the way for a few years and I fell away from it. Started shooting non seriously about 2 years ago. Mostly handguns but some rifle. Only 25 yard max indoor. Looking to purchase a bolt action 22LR and sometimes overthink things. What I meant by "best" is what I understand to be full powder burn and after that bullet drag and how much that may affect bullet spin, and therefore accuracy. HOLY COW, 27 and 28 inch barrels. I thought CZ 457 American is quite long at 24-25 inches. Anyway, thank all for the responses. I am impressed with RC already.

 

I figured you meant most efficient.

No argument with that. Rimfire powder is pretty much totally consumed in a 16-18" barrel and little is gained beyond that (from what I've read).

As others have already written I choose my barrel based on use. Tony Kidd stated that the best accuracy is gotten from his heavy 20" non-fluted, non threaded barrel so that was the first I bought, except I had mine threaded. But that was for the bench. My field barrel was his ULW 16" barrel. The difference in rifle weight (same receiver) is >12# and 6# 8oz. No way would I carry a 12# rifle in the field unless I absolutely had to.

 

I'd assume for some, say in the pre-chassis era, to better balance and add weight out front the longer barrel would help for some sports. Or, say the 22lr was built as a 1:1 trainer for a larger caliber and they wanted to overall feel to be the same. Now, a shorter barrel can be used, will get similar velocities and the like for peactical purposes and the package will be more compact.

 

very educational topic , i appreciate all the input ,

 

I went with a Fedderson 16 inch barrel on my last build. It's every bit as accurate as my 20 inch Clark Custom.

With a .222 you are getting the most out of 16 inches. Anyway that's what I've learned.

 

More pennies for your thoughts. Short barrels are good for hitting things quickly, What I call field shooting. Long barrels are good for hitting spots. Ie bench rest . But the stock configuration is important also. A small compact stock imho doesnt work well with a long heavy barrel , I have a 17 inch heavy taper gm barrel in a barracuda style stock that is marvelous off the bench . Way better than when it was in a LVT stock.
But thats for me , cause I shoot better with a barrel heavy balance off the bench. In the field I shoot better with a neutral balance.

 

More pennies for your thoughts. Short barrels are good for hitting things quickly, What I call field shooting. Long barrels are good for hitting spots. Ie bench rest . But the stock configuration is important also. A small compact stock imho doesnt work well with a long heavy barrel , I have a 17 inch heavy taper gm barrel in a barracuda style stock that is marvelous off the bench . Way better than when it was in a LVT stock.
But thats for me , cause I shoot better with a barrel heavy balance off the bench. In the field I shoot better with a neutral balance.

I agree. My SG in bench configuration was tried with a minimalist buttstock and I just didn't like it. I put the Luth-AR buttstock back on and it was "Ahhh, so much better.". But would I want the target buttstock on it when it's in field configuration? No, absolutely not.

 

CZ used to sell the CZ455 Ultra Lux in 22lr with a 28.6 inch tapered barrel. I believe CZ discontinued that model A few years ago.

 

I always wanted to try one of those!

I have everything between 16” and 25”.

Optics, triggers, ammo, and bag position seem my biggest limiting factors. They all shoot about as I expect for whatever combo I’ve got going on, and about the same as others from what I read. I do know some very methodical people who can achieve that last .2” of excellence with patience, practice, and breath control.

I think it’s interesting that Kidd offers 20” bull barrels as standard on their Supergrade. Maybe there are manufacturing/economy reasons for that, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they deemed that the sweet spot across the widest range of variables.

 

In his testing of 22 Long Rifle ammunition where he tested barrels from 16 to 24 inches he found that the muzzle velocity increased by 1.17 fps for each additional inch increase in barrel length.

My Anschutz model 1913 bench rifle has a 27 1/2 inch barrel, shoots very well.

 

I have read that some of the better ammo mfgs test their ammo using 26" barrels. A barrel close to or at that length may help in using the manufacturer's performance data. I have ordered a 25" barreled action and hope to test that theory soon.

 

I believe that may be true with centerfire cartridges but not often rimfire. 26" is too long for rimfire.

I pick the barrel length and profile by what I want the rifle to feel like. IMO any barrel can be accurate, depending on how it is made more than anything.

Just built a 10/22 for speed shooting with a 16" pencil Faxon barrel but my target guns all have 20" barrels. Just bought a Shaw 18" bull barrel I want to try and compare it to my 20" bull barrel. I own an LVT with 20" factory taper (match) barrel that shoots great.

 

There's more to barrel length than just velocity. True the maximum velocity might be reached at around 18"-20", and you will begin to slow the bullet down as your barrel gets longer. But you could add another 10" over maximum and not lose maybe 50 fps, so it's not like your long barrel is putting the brakes on at anything over 20" long.
I don't own a .22 rifle with a barrel under 24" and some of my most accurate I own have 30" barrels and will outshoot any 20" .22 rifle I've shot against. But most of those are equipped with both target scope bases, and also quality target iron sights. And with iron sights of good quality the long 30" barrel really shines over a stubby 20" barrel. I also like the balance better for offhand shooting as it just hangs better with the extra weight.

 

The longer barrels have a lot more influence over bullet stability,ES,SD over shorter barrels. I believe the harmonics are a bit different also. ……

 

That is only the ideal barrel length for velocity of a certain powder and projectile, if you're chasing accuracy as well it's an entirely different story.

 

If you look at the post directly above mine, it was commented that some loaders use 26" barrels, I took that to mean they reported velocity figures accordingly. But even centerfire ammo velocity is almost never reported with barrels longer than 24".
But I could be completely wrong.

 

But they do. Eley have used Anschutz 54 test rifles for many years. These have 26in and 27.2in barrels. Going by social media, they now have some Walther KK500s: 25.6in or 27.2in barrels. Way back in the day they had BSA, Vickers, Remington, and Winchester trst barrels: 28in-29in

RWS test with 25.6in barrels, quite possibly Walther, although Bleiker would meet that spec. RWS R 50 | RWS Ammunition

EDIT Lapua and SK both list barrel length for MV as 660mm/26in. https://sk-ammunition.com/products/rifle-match/

If you meant US companies don't use 26in barrels, that may be true. But it's not what you wrote.

 

Im old school and many of the old desirable rifles have long barrels and are extremely accurate. That is why competitive shooters want them. Those old timers knew what they were doing and were real craftsmen without any of the computerized machinery to do it. In this day and age I wouldnt doubt that some bean counter is figuring out how many extra barrels and profit they can make by telling everyone that a 20" is all you need. There is much to be said about the extra stability a slug gets in that extra distance.

 

All interesting info. I recently watched a video where they started with a 48" barrel and gradually cut it down and recrowned while testing velocity. There was not a linear decrease in velocity. And at some points it actually increased. I believe the conclusion was they did not know why. Some ideas but nothing concrete. It was , nonetheless, very interesting to see. Moving forward I will not overthink things and simply purchase whatever looks good and feels right to me. It's great to have choices.