Can I cut my 26" barrel down without issue

[RevolverMan567]

I have 700 SPS Varmint in 204 ruger with a 26" barrel. I have also recently acquired a XR100 with 26" barrel and it has solidified itself as my long range shooter for now and I am playing with the idea of having the 26" SPS barrel cut off at about 22" and recrowned.

I have a buddy that was a gunsmith for gander mountins main shop in Kenosha for a while with a Lathe and Was wondering if I can do this without much issue if done right and what kind of velocity loss am I looking at?

Any previous experience with this type of Mod. would be greatly appreciated.

I am hpoing to make it a much more manageable walkaround type rifle.

 

[kingjoey]

Velocity loss shouldn't be much, but you're going to need to be real careful with shortening the barrel and recrowning it. Make sure your crowning bit is very sharp and take the feed slow with lots of oil. We do a lot of barrels and the smaller bores require more attention and caution than larger bores since a you're doing a lot of cutting in a little space with very little relative tool speed.

 

[RevolverMan567]

thanks

thanks Ill mentiuon that to my guy first before leting him do any work and if he seems puzzled by it I may "Shop around" any idea what a job like this would cost. Lookin toward lopping it off at about 20-22 inch area and a recrown (good one) also any ideas where to look?

 

[rangerruck]

chances are, it will be even more accurate with the mod. a good muzzle job does wonders, as for speed, we are talking a super fast round here. So I am going to hazzard a guess , and say velocity loss will be between 35 and 50 fps per inch lost, but that would be absolute max.

 

[Richard.Howe]

Here is a very interesting test conducted by Bullberry vis-a-vis the effect of barrel length on .204 Ruger performance.

http://www.bullberry.com/204Rugerdata.html

I did some very light plotting of the results and put them in the attached .PDF.

You'll see that there's not a huge impact until you start getting below 20-21" barrel length.

 

[glimmerman]

Revolverman, just to let you know, if your gunsmith buddy is trying to tell you that the Gander Mountain in kenosha is the main store he's giveing you a line of crap, and the kenosha store doesnt do any gunsmithing other than minor repairs and scope mounting. The main store and main gunsmithing store is in Wilmot WI. The head gunsmith's name is Jim Teurtain and he has been there since the begining of gander mountain and is VERY!! good at what he does. I worked under him back in the mid 1980's when they opened there second store in brookfield WI.

 

[Markbo]

Hmmmm... several issues come to mind.
You are wondering not if you can do it, but would it be detrimental to performance if you did it. Not much.

Now can you buddy do the work is a much better question. Only you can answer that AFTER he has done it. If you are confident, let him. Personally, I let my Gunsmith do any gunsmithing I am not willing to do myself. If you have confidence in his skill, by all means do it. BTW the crown finishing is done with a hand tool... not necessarily on a lathe.

Now clear it can be done, I have to ask why? Why would take a heavy varmint rifle and whack off the barrel that optimizes the velocity of this very fast round and make it walking around gun? You could by a lighter profile barrel, keep the length and have a better choice.

Have you given any thought to lightening the stock? Taking 4" off the barrel will net you what... about 6 to 8 oz weight savings? A smaller scope, some judiciously drilled holes in the stock and a fluted heavy barrel could net you 2 pounds weight savings and not mess with an already accurate set up.

 

[Richard.Howe]

Well, there's always the advantage of stiffening of the barrel when you shorten it -- I have actually seen groups shrink when lopping off a couple of inches.

 

[RevolverMan567]

why?

Im in the awkward position of having a relatively inexpensive gun that shoots the lights out but fills no need for me at the moment. I dont have enough in it to trade for the more expensive lightweight varmint rifles that would fill my need, but cant bring my self to let it go for 400-450 dollars that it may be worth in sell or trade. so i thought about making a great shooting gun into a gun that would do what i am in need of.

Does that make sence?

Id love a model 7 predator in 204 but too much money for me right now

 

[MachIVshooter]

4" will probably cost you 150 FPS or so, depending on powder type and bullet weight. Not too big a deal. As others said, the bigger issue is making sure the job is done right. A bad crown or a muzzle that's not perfectly even is going to kill your accuracy.

 

[Chipperman]

Certainly you want it done right the first time, but it's not like the barrel is ruined if the first recrowning does not turn out well.

 

[Markbo]

hmmmmmmm... what job can that gun excel at with a 4" shorter barrel that it cannot do now?

 

[RevolverMan567]

it can be carried

with more ease and less weight and balance better..just the ones that come to mind. right now it serves no role as it is cumbersome in the field and seldom gets taken there.