Spike Camp

Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel

Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #15 on: March 17, 2017, 02:28:25 AM »
First off every barrel is certainly different as I found out, I have two Mark V SS 300 Wby's and my brother has one, all 3 rifles are identical, with Wby 180gr TSX ammo adv vel is 3240,
Leif's gun shoots 3280 fps
My 1st rifle shoots 3200 fps
My 2nd rifle shoots 3100 fps,
And that was out of the same box of ammo, velocity was tested with my labradar
I have two 240 Wby's 1 Vanguard S2 and a Mark V ULW, both rifles have 24" barrels, shooting 85gr TSX advertised vel 3500 fps 
Vg s2 avg vel 3367
M5 ULW avg vel 3408

cartridges will have an optimum barrel length for velocity, a recent study on the 6.5 CM where they started out with a 26" barrel and cut back 1" at a time and found velocity increased until 23" then started to fall off after that.
The Weatherby 6.5 RPM...............what the 264 Win Mag wishes it was !

257 Shooter

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Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2017, 05:19:38 PM »
The short answer is, you gave up very little in practical performance.

The only way to get a real comparison is to shoot a rifle with a 26" barrel, take two inches off the barrel and shoot it again with the same loads. Even that is not perfect science. I have 300 Weatherby rifles with 24, 26, and 30" barrels. With good hand loads, the rifle with the 24" barrel can achieve 3200 fps muzzle velocity with a 180 grain bullet. That's mighty fine big game medicine.

Enjoy and happy hunting.

danno50

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Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2017, 07:11:14 AM »
I just bought a series 2 vanguard in 300 wby mag. And I am just curious about how much velocity I gave up buying a 300 wby with a 24 inch barrel instead of ponying up the cash for a mark v with a 26 inch. Anybody have any real life actual data?
A lot of actual data has been given, and its all lethal. I'd say since the difference between the least expensive S2, and the least expensive Mark V is approx. $1000+, the difference in ponying up the money is way more significant and way more drastic than the velocity loss between the Vanguard and the Mark V. Whether or not your one of the "must have" a 26" barrel guy's for the velocity, or not, its a preference, and 25 to 100 fps loss of velocity in a 300 Wby, won't make a difference in its killing effect. Achieving the most speed and staying Moa accurate is usually the goal, and Weatherby already gives you that kind of ammo.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2018, 09:39:36 PM by danno50 »
DosEquisShooter

Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2017, 09:41:27 AM »
The Weatherby website states that for their guns with an initial velocity of 3001-3500 the change in velocity is approximately 30 ft/second/inch of barrel length.   So even Weatherby says only about 60 ft/sec.   Not enough to worry about. 

danno50

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Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2017, 08:44:32 PM »
Fels, If I were a liberal I'd say," I hate it when people clutter things up with facts. LOL
DosEquisShooter

Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2017, 07:44:32 AM »
Some good points made by y'all here. I'm in agreement that most of the time, the difference is not enough to be concerned about. It's far more important to know how that particular rifle hits the point of aim. 25fps, 50fps or whatever minor deviation won't make any difference between the animal dropping or running, as long as you hit it where you should. Using 3000fps as a reference, even a 100fps difference is only a 3.33% variation. I would like to add that unless you have a custom barrel with a highly polished bore, velocity should increase very slightly with a given load as the barrel gets used and gets "burnished" as I like to call it. Comparing a brand new "average" barrel to one with say 200-300 rounds through it (two barrels from the same model for argument's sake) is not entirely apples to apples on a velocity comparison for this reason.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2017, 11:01:16 AM by texweatherby »
Come and take it.

danno50

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Re: Velocity of 26 vs 24 inch barrel
« Reply #21 on: March 25, 2017, 06:26:59 AM »
The Weatherby website states that for their guns with an initial velocity of 3001-3500 the change in velocity is approximately 30 ft/second/inch of barrel length.   So even Weatherby says only about 60 ft/sec.   Not enough to worry about. 
The 60ft/sec. and the slight velocity increase from a seasoned barrel would still not make much of a difference, and the probative value of speed between the two rifles would still be outweighed by the money difference in the two rifles. It becomes a matter of preference/or choice and either one of the rifles is a great choice.
DosEquisShooter