Long Range .22LR

[Lex]

Got this barrel from a Calgunner. It is a 28" SS Green Mountain bull barrel with Zimmerman XL receiver, Volquartsen Trigger, Versa-Pod bipod, Magpul PRS stock and AIM 4-16x 50mm scope. Havent shot it yet but this Saturday will be the first time. This rifle will shoot only CCI Velocitor.

[wtkaiser]

a 28" barrel? Good lord, man! My marlin is "only" the standard 22", and it's pretty much coasting by that time. By that I mean the powder charge is more or less spent and the bullet is not accelerating much. A 28" barrel may be slower than a shorter barrel from simple friction. Maybe the Velocitors will be able to use that much barrel, I don't know. Anywho, let us know how you/it do/does.

[surfNshoot]

I can't honestly say I have shot .22lr out of a 28" barrel before so I don't know what to expect exactly. Why do you say it will only shoot the CCI velocitors? I don't see any reason it wouldn't shoot lubricated match ammo just fine. Post some 50 and 100 yard groups from the shoot. Its going to rain on sat. I switched to shooting on sunday this weekend because of this. Good luck.

[Izzy43]

My CZ UltraLux has a 28.5" barrel and shoots lights out. I had a friend at the range test the velocity thru his chronograph as compared to a 20" barrel in my Savage. Shot 5 shots of the same ammo out of each gun and the difference was, on average, 25fps slower out of the CZ. So that's not much.

What a longer barrel will (or may) do is stabalize the bullet more. I find that the CZ is not nearly as ammo sensitive as the Savage. The Savage does not do will with high velocity ammo but the CZ shoots its pretty good.

I also wonder why the OP's rifle will only shoot Velocitors or is that just the ammo of choice?

[call-in]

Sounds like the OP is making a statement that he is only going to use Velocitors out of this barrel.

[Cheap Shot]

I thought it was just my Savage that didn't like velocitors. Mine spits them all over the target where the Remington Golden Bullets are making small groups.

[Lex]

I m using it because I have read great feedbacks on them.

[Baja_Traveler]

Curious what you consider long range.

Nice looking rifle - you should bring it to the 5th Sunday .22lr long range silhouette matches held at the Pala range.

[Demoni]

Just out of curiosity what is the chamber of that barrel cut for?

If it is an Bentz chambered barrel you will not want to shoot Velocitor. The dimensions of the ultra high velocity 22lr ammo can cause FTE issues with tight chambers.


Also those bullets drop to sub sonic after 100 yards. If you are shooting past that you might want to start out subsonic to avoid transonic bullet stabilization issues.

[Tanner68]

Also those bullets drop to sub sonic after 100 yards. If you are shooting past that you might want to start out subsonic to avoid transonic bullet stabilization issues.

.... learn something new every day.... is there widespread agreement on that?

[Gatotsu77]

I've hit steel with my Savage Mark II BTVS out to 300 yards at ASR. (granted, I had to walk it out there, scope ran out of adjustment, as it is on the factory bases) I was using CCI Stingers at the time, and I rather like them for longer-range targets, mostly just for the decreased drop they experience due to their velocity. I've got a fair stockpile of stingers presently, and they have proven to be pretty accurate at around 110 yards. (taking 8/10 20 gauge shotgun hulls at that distance.. the two misses were my fault)

[Chaos47]

.... learn something new every day.... is there widespread agreement on that?

I have heard it before when talking about long distance 22lr shooting

[Izzy43]

.... learn something new every day.... is there widespread agreement on that?

Yes. However its really only a big issue if you are shooting competition and want to shoot lots of bullets thru one hole. For plinking, hunting and casual target shooting the high velocity ammo is fine. As an example, ammo with a muzzle velocity of 1250fps (high velocity) will go subsonic at around 45 yds dependent on environmentals such as temp and altitude. Nearly all target grade ammo is 1080fps or lower at the muzzle so it never goes supersonic.

[Boltz]

My CZ UltraLux has a 28.5" barrel and shoots lights out. I had a friend at the range test the velocity thru his chronograph as compared to a 20" barrel in my Savage. Shot 5 shots of the same ammo out of each gun and the difference was, on average, 25fps slower out of the CZ. So that's not much.

What a longer barrel will (or may) do is stabalize the bullet more. I find that the CZ is not nearly as ammo sensitive as the Savage. The Savage does not do will with high velocity ammo but the CZ shoots its pretty good.

I also wonder why the OP's rifle will only shoot Velocitors or is that just the ammo of choice?

I've always heard that 18" was the ideal barrel length for a 22LR. While the 28.5" may stabilize the bullet more, isn't that negated by the fact that you have to be even more steady with your rifle since the bullet stays in contact with it for a longer time?

[Izzy43]

I've always heard that 18" was the ideal barrel length for a 22LR. While the 28.5" may stabilize the bullet more, isn't that negated by the fact that you have to be even more steady with your rifle since the bullet stays in contact with it for a longer time?

The real advantage to a long barrel is when used with iron sights. It increases the sight radius and therefore reduces error and increases accuracy. The sight radius on my CZ is a whopping 34.5" with aperture sights. It shoots nearly as good with these sights as it does with a scope. If a scope is mounted then an 18" barrel can be as accurate as a longer barrel. Proof of this is that CZ also makes a similiar rifle with a 24" barrel and when scoped is as accurate as the longer barrel rifle.

As to your question about being more steady with a longer barrel, using a bullet that travels at 1050fps, standard target ammo speed, the bullet will be in a 28.5" barrel for .0006 seconds longer than an 18" barrel. That's not a very long time but it is longer, in fact the bullet after being fired would exit an 18" barrel after .0014 seconds and exit the 28.5" barrel after .0022 seconds. With hyper velocity ammo the time will be even shorter due to increased velocity of the bullet.

I guess if one flinches at exactly the wrong time it would affect accuracy but .0022 seconds is a very, very short time. Most errors in shooting occur during the trigger pull, not after.

Your point is well taken as there is no ballistic advantage to a longer barrel and at some point extended barrel length will degrade accuracy. I think sight radius is the only benefit to a longer barrel on a firearm.