Optimal barrel length-- 17 Hornady Hornet

[nvreloader]

DD

Do you have a favorite load for your 17HH,
if you care to post it, along with total overall loaded cartridge length,
I'll run it thru QL and see what are the Powder Burn spec's/length is, etc.

This may help you in making your choice.

Tia,
Don

[rick w.]

Some thought might be give to whether the rifle is one for carrying a lot or is it shot off the bench?................or somewhere between?

I know a 17 hornet a smallish case but the shorter the barrel the more noise it makes in general. Will the short barrel be a nuisance in a group shoot?

How will the completed rifle balance with a short barrel? Of course, that can be mediated some with barrel contour selection.

I tend to prefer longer barrels for a lot of reasons, most of my shooting is on a bench anymore riding bags. I am not real fond of a rifle that does not have some balance to it, too far in front and too far to the rear really bugs me with a rifle.

I am not always sure if the max performance is what we were really after.

[Double D]

Originally Posted by Chuck Miller

All that testing seems like a lot of work when the real world difference is so small. I can say that my CZ 17H Varmint with it's 24" barrel shooting Hornady factory ammo is 30FPS faster than my Martini and it's 20" barrel. That's run over a Oehler chrono averaging 5 shot groups with both barrels being 1-9". The Martini barrel is actually a new Anschutz 17HM2 Varmint takeoff so both are basically factory barrels. Most BR shooters I've talked to trim theirs and leave as much on as they can get away with to make weight. They basically want as much weight as possible and differences in accuracy or performance seems to be more opinion than hard science.

Chuck, I think you come the closest to understanding what I am getting at.

I am not talking about maximizing velocity, I am talking about maximizing accuracy.

Velocity, excessive that is, is a well know degrader of accuracy. The fastest load isn't always the most accurate.

Chuck which gun is more accurate? The Martini or the CZ? (my guess the turnbolt)

[moorepower]

I am very happy with my 22" barrel.

[Larry in VA]

Originally Posted by Double D

Chuck, I think you come the closest to understanding what I am getting at.

I am not talking about maximizing velocity, I am talking about maximizing accuracy.

Velocity, excessive that is, is a well know degrader of accuracy. The fastest load isn't always the most accurate.

Chuck which gun is more accurate? The Martini or the CZ? (my guess the turnbolt)

OK! Now that you have narrowed it down for us, the short and sweet answer is....... Shorter, Fatter= more accurate + more noisier. All other things being equal of course.

[Chuck Miller]

Douglas they run pretty close together with the edge going to the CZ. As for the smallest group both shot their best groups around .65 but the CZ averaged smaller, especially when reaching around 20 rounds, the Martini started to open up. Neither rifle shot over 1" and that was after running 40 rounds down each of them. I might add that this was the first time to the range for either, I was pleasantly surprised with both. As you would expect I wouldn't take 2 CZ's in trade for that Martini though. I'm finishing up a clone of this one only in 256 WinMag and a matte finish.

17 Hornet, Leupold 12X, Anschutz 17hm2 barrel




256 WinMag

[Ackman]

Originally Posted by Chuck Miller

All that testing seems like a lot of work when the real world difference is so small. I can say that my CZ 17H Varmint with it's 24" barrel shooting Hornady factory ammo is 30FPS faster than my Martini and it's 20" barrel. That's run over a Oehler chrono averaging 5 shot groups with both barrels being 1-9". The Martini barrel is actually a new Anschutz 17HM2 Varmint takeoff so both are basically factory barrels. Most BR shooters I've talked to trim theirs and leave as much on as they can get away with to make weight. They basically want as much weight as possible and differences in accuracy or performance seems to be more opinion than hard science.

Exactly right, the real world difference (vs. what a computer predicts) will be very small. And even two identical barrels from the same manufacturer can have a lot more than 30fps difference between them. It's hard to compare what you have. During one conversation with Lothar Walther I was told their 17 rimfire barrels have shallower lands than the centerfire version.....don't know if that's true for other European brands.

Regarding your other post.....my 17AH's aren't fussy about cleaning. About every 400-600rds, and there's never any copper fouling. Bullets have a light film of Lee Lube.

[Daryl]

My CZ .17 will drop off in accuracy if fired over 400rounds in a day - doesn't happen any more where I was shooting rats - aren't many left - damn.
The Pac-Nor .17, I've run up over 500 in a day, and was still busting rats out to 350-400yards easily, nary a miss.

An overnight soak in Wipe-Out cleaned both spotlessly. The CZ barrel picked up a bit more copper than the Pac-Nor, but not much. The Pac-Nor barely showed any blue colour on the first patch, the CZ only a tich more. Subsequent soaks showed none left. That overnight soaking is marvelous.

[Chickenthief]

DD is this what you are talking about?

http://www.the-long-family.com/optim...rel%20time.htm

[ramos]

Chuck, that Martini stock looks almost like fine Italian marble, simply stunning!