Guys,

Any idea how much (if any) performance gain is available via 24inch barrel vs 20 inch barrel in a 44? I've been shooting full house 265 gr Beartooth bullets. If theres much of a speed gain, I'll pick the longer barrel next time.

Anyone have any guidance on this?

Shane

Guys,

Any idea how much (if any) performance gain is available via 24inch barrel vs 20 inch barrel in a 44? I've been shooting full house 265 gr Beartooth bullets. If theres much of a speed gain, I'll pick the longer barrel next time.

Anyone have any guidance on this?

Shane

Just a rule of thumb...a "guesstimate". Figure your increase from 20" to 24" to be 20%. Vel. gain would be between 1/4th the precentage of change (for a smaller sized case at about 40K pressure) to as much as 1/2 the percentage of change (for a larger case at about 55K).

So I'd guess you'd be cloest to the 5% change.

I did a bit of work a few years ago with barrel length and found that with reduction of barrel length in calibers over .30 the rule of thumb drops off and by .44 cal it seems to be about halved.

My guess is closer to 2.5% with common older style powders for 4" of barrel. That's about 40fps for a 44Mag and 60fps for a .444. BUT as I said that was what I found with IMR, Mulwex and Alliant powders of 10 years ago.

Snow.

Not much would be my answer. I looked at my reloading software for my 336-44, my 265-grain home cast boolit and a load of H110 producing 40.0K CUP. The difference going from my rifle with it's 20" barrel to a 24" barrel would be 23 FPS at 90F, 15 FPS at 70F, and 4 FPS at 50F.

Thats not much differential at all. I'm glad I asked. I wouldnt think it'd be anywhere near the differential you see as barrels get significantly shorter.

THanks for the guidance guys.

shane