Thread: I need help! 270 barrel chop, cant make a decision

Originally Posted by No.3

My vote is 22" minimum for an -06 based cartridge. If you notice the difference between a 20 and a 22" barrel in the carry, you're either a bit like the princess in the "princess and the pea" nursery rhyme or you have ducks disease and your arse is a bit close to terra-firma.

Remember with a xx" barrel you are measuring the chamber which only houses the case, your effective barrel length on a 20" barrel is 17.5" thereabout for the powder to do it's work. You need around 20" in an -06 length case to consume all of the powder in the barrel otherwise you tend to get horrendous muzzle flash and the powder granules getting ejected are pretty nasty on suppressors both in general wear and tear and in the amount of crap that gets caught up in them which can cause corrosion if left on the gun. Similarly I wouldn't drop back any less than 20" on an -08 length case, yes they are 'handier' but you aren't getting any advantage over a 7.62x39 real world and the x39 is nicer to shoot with a shorter barrel and cheaper.

Not really. Without looking on the computer I'm picking there will be some powders that burn as much if not more in an 18" or 19" barrel than other powders in a longer barrel. So with that in mind how far do you need to shoot. An 18" or 19" with a higher bc projectile going 2900 plus will kill fine with more than enough energy over 750 yards. I have had several .270s and still own one and I couldn't tell the difference in recoil and muzzle blast between the 19" tikka and 22" tikka. There is a reason the .270 was the leading contender out of the "bush pigs" NZ Hunter done.

As for a short 08 case being similar to a 7.62x39. Not even remotely close.
2200 max with 150gr out of a full length barrel will be going pretty slow out of a 16" barrel and be severely lacking on the expansion and energy front. My 16" .308 with 168gr amax going 2520 fps expands reliably out to over 600 yards and kills well out to that range too. I used a 7.62x39 for a bit and it was a very poor killer especially with the cheap ammo. And god forbid you see a deer at 250 yards. So as far as having "no real world advantage over a x39" is a fair bit of a yarn. A 12" .308 is still better than a 24" 7.62x39.