.25-06 barrel length?

[BigPW]

Looking at getting another rifle and was interested in the 25-06. I like light rifles and was actually looking at some custom makers. In trying to keep the overall weight of the rifle down I was thinking about a 22 inch barrel. Although I see the larger manufactures mainly use a 24 inch barrel. Would be interested in any info in regards to barrel length for this caliber other than reduced velocity. Thanks.

[Colorado Osprey]

The best barrel for performance in a 25-06 is a 26" tube.
Trying to keep it a light rifle is difficult with a tube that long.
You could get a light weight sporter barrel or get a heavy barrel and have it heavily fluted (not cosmetic). See http://www.dtechsuperstore.com/mili%20Guns.htm
The real gain of the 25-06 over the other quarter's is the ability to hold a lot of slow burning powder driving up velocity, this needs a long barrel to take advantage of. unfortunately most commercial rifle makers don't care an 22-24" is the norm in this caliber. Remington did make a 26" Sendero and Savage makes/made a 112 Low Profile in 26"... both are heavy barrel guns.

If I wanted a 25 cal and wanted to keep it light weight, I would look into the 257 Roberts. In a modern rifle you can use +P data. You can get ideal performance out of a 22-24" tube and shooting 100 grain bullets and Win 760 powder you can get identical 25-06 velocity.

[BigPW]

thanks for the feedback Osprey

[Yoda]

Browning A-Bolt is made with a 22 inch barrel in 25-06

[riddleofsteel]

Over the years I have observed that well balanced cartridges like the .308 suffer less from wacking the barrel less than long, skinny, overbore rounds. It would be interesting to see where the break over point is for the .25 bore and a 20 to 22" barrel would be. I would guess it would be with a case around the size of a .250 Savage or .25 Souper.

[Top Cat]

A long barrel is faster, yes...The balance point of performance for the 25-06 is around 24"...but who cares...for a light and balanced rifle, just go with the 22". 25-06 is such a capable chambering that bbl length will perform very well... 22" is not that short to make much difference in a hunting rifle.....

You are going into this with a light weight rifle in mind, and while I think that the barrel is not the best point to shave weight...the shorter barrel will end up in a lighter rifle, with better handling and portability that will more than make up for a loss of 50 fps.

A short action is a better choice for carbine length rifles, as a short action is more compact, but the 25-06 will still be faster at that bbl length than any short action cartridge will. Losing 50 fps is not anything to lose sleep over, and if handloading is an option that small loss can easily be compensated for if it bothers you.

TC