Varminterror
Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2016
- Messages
- 14,968
I said my piece above regarding velocity, however, to answer the question in the title, regarding barrel length for hunting, without the specific context of optimal velocity...
18-20" rifles tend to offer the best compromise of performance, balance, and compact handling for me. A 16" carbine or shorter SBR will be faster handling and more compact, but they sacrifice stability on target from field positions. 22"+ rifles start to become heavy, long, and ungainly in the field. For hunting applications, the 18-20" ballpark are the sweet spot. Some might argue the prevalence of 18" barrels in 3 gun matches as favor for the 18", over the 18-20" recommendation I offer, but to that I point out the lack of speed and manipulation requirements for hunting which are dominant in run-and-gun matches. My hunting rifles are a couple pounds heavier than my race rifle, but lighter than my precision match rifle. Horses for courses - and for hunting, 18-20" is where I land.
18-20" rifles tend to offer the best compromise of performance, balance, and compact handling for me. A 16" carbine or shorter SBR will be faster handling and more compact, but they sacrifice stability on target from field positions. 22"+ rifles start to become heavy, long, and ungainly in the field. For hunting applications, the 18-20" ballpark are the sweet spot. Some might argue the prevalence of 18" barrels in 3 gun matches as favor for the 18", over the 18-20" recommendation I offer, but to that I point out the lack of speed and manipulation requirements for hunting which are dominant in run-and-gun matches. My hunting rifles are a couple pounds heavier than my race rifle, but lighter than my precision match rifle. Horses for courses - and for hunting, 18-20" is where I land.