Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

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eaglewing
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Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by eaglewing »

I have 2 6.8 ARs and one is a 10.5 on a registered SBR lower.
Looking to build a 300 blk upper

Q #1: what is the best barrel length for bullet exit with lowest drop in 50-75yrd range?
I'll be shooting super bcuz I always wear head gear anyway, I have sound enhancement muffs.

Q#2: I have a reduced coil (yellow) in my lowers bcuz I shoot lightweight BCG with my 6.8s to reduce recoil. Is this a problem with 300 blk?
Can also get a lightweight BCG for 300?

I'll be taking this into heavy thick brush area of Mid MO area, and the longest shot I'll ever get is probably 75yrds from about 3 tree stands.
I came here to get the best advice so Thanks in advance.
ReadyAimDuck
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by ReadyAimDuck »

16". At 75 yards max, you are probably overthinking this. Any barrel 9" and up is going to give you enough initial velocity with supers for a 75 yard max shot. I don't see any benefit of going shorter than a 16" for tree stand hunting at that range. I'd rather have extra velocity and less blast. But again I don't think it really matters much at that distance.

Can you use a lightweight BCG? For supers, most rifles are going to be optimal with a standard BCG and anywhere from a carbine to an H2 buffer depending on the gas system length and gas port. A lightweight buffer is going to give you overgassed issues, may cycle too fast, and may be much harder on your rifle.
eaglewing
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by eaglewing »

ReadyAimDuck wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:20 am Can you use a lightweight BCG? For supers, most rifles are going to be optimal with a standard BCG and anywhere from a carbine to an H2 buffer depending on the gas system length and gas port. A lightweight buffer is going to give you overgassed issues, may cycle too fast, and may be much harder on your rifle.
Unless I use an adjustable GB which I have on my 2 builds now... works wonders for dialing down 'over gassed", I also have my standard springs with me always and can be swapped ez

I was under the impression that a 16" barrel was much less velocity than shorter... (I don't know why, I must have read something wrong)

Q#3: This uses a regular 556 bolt, correct??? No special 300blk bolt??

THNX for the reply,
BJK
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by BJK »

Correct, nothing special rquired for a bolt.
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dellet
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by dellet »

18-20” barrel will give you the highest practical velocities and flattest trajectories. 110 grain V-max at 2600 fps, 150 gold dots at about 2250 or so. But you need to match the bullet to the impact velocity if you want the most reliable exit. The harder an expanding bullet hits, the faster it stops. It’s two completely different qualities or questions.

Ditch all the lightweight garbage if you are hunting. You want reliability. Weak springs, light buffers and light carriers will not have enough inertia to chamber a round in bad conditions. Why introduce problems waiting to happen?

Use a full auto carrier, standard carbine buffer, and tune it to keep the buffer from bottoming out in the tube.
300 Blackout, not just for sub-sonics.
BlogSarge
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by BlogSarge »

At your range, almost anything will do. My hunting SBRs use 9 to 12 inch barrels because I use a suppressor on the end and that ends up being a manageable length in the deer stand.
ReadyAimDuck
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by ReadyAimDuck »

eaglewing wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:11 pm
Unless I use an adjustable GB which I have on my 2 builds now... works wonders for dialing down 'over gassed", I also have my standard springs with me always and can be swapped ez

I was under the impression that a 16" barrel was much less velocity than shorter... (I don't know why, I must have read something wrong)

Q#3: This uses a regular 556 bolt, correct??? No special 300blk bolt??

THNX for the reply,

Same bolt and BCG, yes. I don’t think an adjustable GB is necessarily a bad idea on a hunting rig. I like tweaking stuff like that on range toys, but personally prefer full auto carriers with standard gas systems, standard springs and buffers, etc. for serious use rifles. I just don’t think you really gain much by doing all that and introduce too many variables that affect reliability.

The longer the barrel the greater the velocity up until a certain extent where you end up with diminishing returns. That’s true of any caliber. Like dellet said, the 300 aac starts to reach that point around 18-20”. I personally wish barrels of those lengths were more common in this chambering but they are not. In my experience with the 300 aac, you generally gain 20-30 fps per inch of barrel for supersonic loads. So a 16” barrel should give you 140-210 fps over a 9” barrel, for example.
GeronPG
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Re: Best barrel length for Deer Hunt under 75yrds?

Post by GeronPG »

I'd recommend the 16" also. You get good velocity with supers, and a little less muzzle blast than with a shorter barrel. And with a collapsible stock, it's still compact and handy in a deer stand. To me, the 300 BLK is my 1st choice for deer inside 100 yds in the woods.
I also agree with what other posters said - use a standard BCG and a standard Carbine buffer. The system seems to run really well with 110-130 gr. supersonic bullets and the carbine gas system. With the 16", you don't have to hot-rod the loads to get optimum velocity. Mine functions 100%, dumps empties about 4 o'clock; recoil and muzzle blast are very minimal.
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