While most centerfire rifle cartridges benefit in velocity by longer barrels (usually ~50fps per additional inch), this is not necessarily the case with rimfire firearms.
A number of years back I read an article in the American Rifleman magazine, where the author had taken a .22LR rifle with a "20 something inch" barrel and chronographed various ammunition types through it.
He then proceded to shorten the barrel, 1 inch at a time, and chronograph the ammo over again.
What he came up with was that for his barrel, it reached its HIGHEST VELOCITY at a length of 18".
In other words, the powder was expended and bullet acceleration was peaked at 18" and beyond that, barrel friction started slowing the bullets back down.
So I was wondering if anyone here had done enough research on the subject to determine what length is "best" for a .17 HMR?
I have a friend who keeps telling me how great his .17 HMR rifles are.
Thinking about it, one of the thriftiest ways to go would be to simply get a .17 HMR barrel for my T-C Contender. I can order the barrel in any length between 16-1/4" to 26" long!
Since it would have a scope mounted, the ideal length would be where the peak velocity for this cartridge is reached.
Anybody out there have any ideas on this?
A number of years back I read an article in the American Rifleman magazine, where the author had taken a .22LR rifle with a "20 something inch" barrel and chronographed various ammunition types through it.
He then proceded to shorten the barrel, 1 inch at a time, and chronograph the ammo over again.
What he came up with was that for his barrel, it reached its HIGHEST VELOCITY at a length of 18".
In other words, the powder was expended and bullet acceleration was peaked at 18" and beyond that, barrel friction started slowing the bullets back down.
So I was wondering if anyone here had done enough research on the subject to determine what length is "best" for a .17 HMR?
I have a friend who keeps telling me how great his .17 HMR rifles are.
Thinking about it, one of the thriftiest ways to go would be to simply get a .17 HMR barrel for my T-C Contender. I can order the barrel in any length between 16-1/4" to 26" long!
Since it would have a scope mounted, the ideal length would be where the peak velocity for this cartridge is reached.
Anybody out there have any ideas on this?
