What is minimium barrel length for a 22 rifle?

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I am pondering making a survival rifle/minimalist small game rifle, somewhere along the idea of a pocket fishing kit. Now, I could spend 2 pages explaining the ins and outs of Canadian Firearms laws, and my mentality for not wanting to spend serious bucks on a rifle I can barely ever carry or use, so im not going to go there. Basically I have a single shot bolt action 22, a cheap scope, a cheap scope mount, putting A, B and C together is pretty much straight forward. Now this rifle is around 48" long, legally I can cut it down to 26", I was contemplating taking around 2-3" off the stock which would leave 13" of barrel. I like 26" length, when strapped to the side of my pack it is the same length of the pack, easy carry. Is 13" going to be enough barrel for stable flight in a 22lr? I would probably plink with generic wal-mart bricks of ammo and carry CCI stingers for hunting, should I leave more barrel? Can I get respectable 100 yard groupings off 13"? If you have similar setups please post up what you use or what you have gotten out of it. I know pistol with 8-10" barrels have been used on gophers at close to this range, although the rifling is set up for that length of barrel. Any input is appreciated.
 
Don't know about Canada, but in the US cutting a rifle barrel to 13" transforms a rifle into
a handgun, and is a federal offense........
 
I said i didn't want to get into the details of Canadian firearms laws, but here we go. Semi-automatic fire-arms have to have a 18.5" barrel or longer to be considered an unrestricted rifle. Pump guns, single shot, lever, and anything else that is not semi automatic is only held to the requirement that it be a minimum of 26" overall. Thank you.
 
Is 13" going to be enough barrel for stable flight in a 22lr?

Yes. And with a scope you don't need to worry about sight radius. You do need to put a good crown on the barrel for accuracy. You will lower the speed/energy of your bullet.
 
cool distinction.
13" barrel should work fine -- after all the 5" barrel on my .22 pistol works fine with bulk Federal 37 grain HP ammo
at shorter barrel lengths, groupings are more dependent on skill than barrel length if it's a quality barrel.
that said, I rarely shoot at anything past 50 yards with a .22 -- at 100 yards there are a LOT of other factors coming into play, like crosswinds.
 
I know pistol with 8-10" barrels have been used on gophers at close to this range, although the rifling is set up for that length of barrel. Any input is appreciated.

My understanding is that the rifling (twist) is set up to stabilize bullets within a certain weight (length) range, So, if you were intending on shooting heavy subsonic rounds then a different twist might be warranted. Use whatever the rifle shoots accurately now. It should shoot the same bullets accurately after modification. (i.e. my understanding...bullet size determines the twist not whether the barrel is long or short.)
 
16.5" is considered about the optimum barrel length for the 22LR, as they burn up all of their powder in that space. Anything longer, and the bullet actually starts slowing down because of barrel friction. You might be running 100-150 fps less than the absolute optimum at 13 inches, but it'll be no worse than many of the 18" 22 rifles out there. The biggest factor in how well this will work will be a proper crown on the muzzle, as Bo T said, and I'll go even one better than 1066vik on his point with his pistol---I have a Smith Airweight 22 snub in 22lr with a 1.875" barrel, and I can pick on a tennis ball out to thirty or forty yards with it, and farther than that when I was younger and my eyes worked better. :)

Good luck on your project.
 
Here in the USA 16" is the minimum legal barrel length for a rifle. I realise that in Canada the laws are different but considering most manufacturers make guns to comply with US laws you'll probably see rimfire rifles with min 16" barrels.

And 16" is ideal for the 22lr so it works out well.

I suggest the CZ 452 Scout.
 
Thank you for all the input from the guys who actually read my whole post. t1mpani, 16.5" is the kind of measurement I was hoping someone would quote me, I can look at both measurements now and decide if the extra length will effect packability, it gives me something to consider. Thanks guys.
 
I think 13" is just about ideal for velocity. I'd love to see pix when it's finished....
 
I know you said bolt action, and I think this is a really cool idea you have. I know they make them for Ruger 10 22s, and I'm not sure it's possible with a bolt action rifle, but if you could figure out some sort of bull pup configuration you may not have to cut down and recrown a barrel. Just a thought.

When you get it finished would you mind posting a pic? This sounds like a really cool project.
 
Ammo maker make ammo to preform best in the average barrel lenth of currently available fire arms in that caliber. I have read ( can't find it now ) that for a 22 l.r. is 12.5 inches
 
With the shorter 13-16" barrel and using standard velocity cartridges like CCI you'll have a very quiet rifle. No sonic down range crack and out of a bolt it won't be much louder than a pellet rifle! Keep us posted on your project.
 
With all the laws just changing (long gun registry and all that) you might want to check with your provincial firearms officer (RCMP) to make sure if you have to notify them about the the modification or not. I doubt you would, but ya never know. other than that, you should be good to go man. Other than that, you should be plenty fine for accuracy out of 13 inches of barrel. that'll be a nice little pea shooter!
 
optimal barrel length varies by ammo due to the bullet weight and powder used. Lighter bullets leave more room under the heel for powder, but lose velocity faster. AFAIK, almost all common .22 barrels, of all lengths, use approximately 1:16 twist.

-Daizee
 
daizee said:
optimal barrel length varies by ammo due to the bullet weight and powder used
Click to expand...

That would be logical. IIRC, most of the "famous" velocity/barrel length tests of bygone days (by Hatcher, Hoffman, etc) were done using comparable standard velocity loadings of the day, part of why the results favored barrels in that (roughly speaking) 16" to 18" range. How yesterday's propellants would compare with what is in the ammunition on the shelves today might prove interesting, although my guess is that differences might be tough to discern out in the field. Perhaps that would not hold true with hypervelocity rounds like Stingers, but I've personally never seen data on them.

Hatcher himself wrote somewhere that with the .22, little was gained in any barrel over 10", but I can't recall whether he made clear what loadings he was talking about, nor whether he was specifically talking about a sealed-breech single-shot pistol or a revolver. In any event, a 13" barrel would ballistically give up very little compared to a 16" barrel, and if a scope is used, the sight radius bugbear is gone. About the only thing a barrel that short would do differently might be in the area of increased perceived noise.

I prefer the shorter bull barrels for my rimfire shooting, the handiness outweighing any of the negatives. If I lived where I could possess a 13" .22LR rifle, I'd be for giving it a try myself.
 
Also, depending on age, if I understand correctly, .22 short and long were black powder loads. not sure when the switch to smokeless was made. plus there have been many improvements in powers, so who knows what powder those guys were testing with.
 
The optimal barrel length for a 22 is generally 16". The longer the barrel, the quieter the gun. The short barrel is going to be louder. After 16" a 22 shell has burnt all its powder and his now slowing the bullet down due to friction. A shorter barrel is not going to burn all of the powder, so it will also lose velocity. For the most accurate 22, use slower ammunition. The high velocity stuff is not as accurate. The key is to keep the stuff sub-sonic.
 
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Mooseyard said:
For the most accurate 22, use slower ammunition. The high velocity stuff is not as accurate. The key is to keep the stuff sub-sonic.
Click to expand...

This actually depends on the range over which you shoot.
The area of instability is the transonic region as the bullet transitions from super- to sub-sonic. It's the collapse of the cavitation around the bullet that causes problems as the shockwave overtakes the bullet again.
If I shoot CCI Velocitors (40gr) at a chronographed 1400+fps out of my 20.5" barrel (they were slower when the barrel was 24"), I'm supersonic to the limit of my open sights on typical .22-sized targets. Those rounds mic'd 0.5" c-t-c at 50yd with a cheap scope, and the jitter was clearly me.

If you're shooting a pistol, the only round you'll get supersonic in a ~4.5" barrel is a Stinger, and they lose speed fast due to their light weight. Even the Velocitors only pick up 10% over the competition in a pistol. So you NEED 6" or more (haven't tested myself) to get even transonic with most loads. That being said, why blast a lot of kafoof around the exiting bullet that you don't need. Subsonic target ammo in pistols is lurvley, and if you're only bullseye shooting for score under 50yd, the same ammo will be great in your long gun.

SOME ammo is optimized for short barrels by using faster-burning powder. Not sure which ones. I believe Hornady has done this in their .22wmr line for defensive use, but that's a different animal.

-Daizee
 
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