Shortened 700BDL barrel

Snowflaker

I have 2 Remington 700 BDL's. A 30-06 & a 7mm-08. Both have had the barrels shortened 2". Will there be a problem with accuracy? A friend suggested I reload my own ammo using a fast burning powder. Or, trying to find out what manufacturers use fast burning powders in production. Also, these 2 rifles have been Magnaported.
Thanks for your advice.

NN

Welcome aboard

Zee

Should not effect accuracy unless your smith did a hack job.

Jayhawker

Zee wrote: »

Should not effect accuracy unless your smith did a hack job.

This...unless your crown is screwed up...you should be golden...

Jermanator

Snowflaker wrote: »

Also, these 2 rifles have been Magnaported.

Were they ported by someone, or was the work actually done by Magnaport? I trust Magnaport's work doing the porting. Others? Not so much. It is either hit or miss.

JerryBobCo

I have a different answer for you than you've already been given. That is, it depends.

When Browning introduced its BAR, some customers complained of poor accuracy and sent the rifle back to Browning to get the problem resolved. What Browning discovered is that by cutting 2 inches off of the barrel the accuracy was greatly improved. It had to do with barrel harmonics. Eventually, this led to the development and introduction of the BOSS (Ballistic Optimizing Sighting System), which allows one to adjust the weight at the end of the barrel, which affects barrel harmonics, to optimize accuracy. It was also offered on some Winchester Model 70 rifles. I have one on my m70 7 mag and can attest that it does work.

So, the only way I know to answer your question is to advise you to shoot it and see what sort of accuracy you get. If anyone tells you differently, they're guessing. Each barrel is a rule all of its own. If your accuracy with factory ammo is insufficient, and you reload, you can probably find some combination of powder, bullet, COAL, etc. that will yield optimal results. You may also want to buy QuickLoad software, as it can be very helpful in developing an accurate load. You can even ask in here for assistance as there are several who have quickoad and are more than happy to help.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

[edit]

After some thought, I realize I misstated something. The BOSS doesn't actually "adjust the weight at the end of the barrel". Rather, it redistributes the weight.

jbohio

Other than what everybody else said, that's a big "NO" on the fast burning powder idea. A 30-06 case full of fast burning powder with a bullet on top is a grenade. You could certainly create an accurate handload, tailored to your rifles. As long as the barrels were cut and crowned properly.

Pictures would be good.

snake284

As i've already said, this is not my cup of tea personally, but if you don't mind your loads being 40-60 FPS slower, and it is accurate, you won't know the difference. It will probably shoot better, AND I know it will handle better. As said on here, a faster powder will probably yield a bit better results because it's always better to burn as much powder as you can inside the barrel. The more powder that burns inside the barrel, the higher velocity you can achieve. Slow burning powders with short barrels are inefficient as much of the powder burns on exit of the muzzle. and that gives the bullet zero push and makes for a loud rifle with more muzzle blast.

Ernie Bishop

Zee wrote: »

Should not effect accuracy unless your smith did a hack job.

Ditto