Thread: Do you really need a long barrel? Chop it or not?

A few of us got together the other day when doing a reloading day in the man cave and started talking about barrel length.
This it intended for normal hunting not really for longer range beyond +300m.
With the new powders, dail up scopes and reticles out now, do you need a long or standard length barrels?
I think in most cases everyone wants accuracy over velocity, and for the reloader chopping the barrel a few inches velocity can be gained back a bit in using a different power or load. Even for the new hunters how many are going to start shooting 300m-400m or more, for the newbee hunter 200m is a long way to zero a rifle.

So I my situation and the way I hunt now is my average shooting distance is 20m-60m so I use a 12" barrel but can still shoot out to 300m if need be with the help of a rangefinder and Ballistics app using a 300 Blackout.

And on my long range rig average shots are around 200m-400m and reach out to 800m on deer if the conditions allow with a 21" barrel 270win. When funds allow will rebarrel it to a 16" but different caliber and still do the same velocity and energy. From what I know now if I just got into hunting I would choose a 308 or 7mm-08 suppressed 15"-16" barrel.

Got a few mates average hunters shoot between 2 and 5 deer a year with standard factory 308win and 7mm-08 22" and 24" barrels with suppressors adding extra length and weight. There average shooting distance is 60m-160m with a long shot being 200m-300m. I said to them right at the start when they first got the guns chop em down you don't need a long barrel to shoot 300m the deer won't notice the difference in velocity. Now they say there 22", 24" and even 20" barrels are too long and clumbersome to carry in thicker bush, also they say it harder to shoot off handand and wished they chopped them down to 16" or 18". And the boy said if they want to shoot farther they would get a magnum with a standard barrel.

It's The guys at the Shops are saying to them that you need a long barrel for max bullet speed to kill deer, longer is better because they use 14" AR15s with 30 shoot magazines at night with thermal scopes? Yeah right?

I can understand if shoot on the top and longer ranges beyond 300m you need the extra barrel length and velocity but for the average hunter do you need it? What say you?