My suppressor finally showed up and I am trying to rework what I have vs buying a new gun.

I am thinking of having my Tikka T3 cut down to 16-18 inches and running suppressed.

Yes I could buy a new gun but getting the barrel cut threaded and crowned from a local guy who already did good work for me is going to be cheaper.

How crazy will a 16 inch .30-06 be for a 0-200 deer/black bear gun?

Not crazy at all.

Can you get away with 18-20?

Potentially but I have a 20" CZ600 .30-06 and this is more can I and light woods sitting in a blind type of gun.

I have a 16" suppressed 6.5CM. Ballistics are really lacking with a MV less than 2600fps. You would have a 30.06 with 30-30 limitations.

Any idea of what velocity would be?

Get a 18” or 20” .308.

Not crazy at all, for 0-200 and well beyond, the real world difference will be negligible, especially if you load. Realistically you'll still be somewhat overpowered for deer.

This is my 18.5" .30-06, worked just fine on this cow at 320yds, and much further on steel. 2.5" less barrel would maybe give ~70 fps difference, meaningless for deer under 200 yds, but the handling of short barrel rifles is much better than longer barrels once you add a can.



For another data point, this antelope dropped very convincingly to the 16" .308 in the photo at 260yds. From my experiences loading for different barrel lengths of both, the .30-06 keeps a solid lead over the .308 at all equivalent barrel lengths. The 168gr used to take this antelope started off at just under 2,600 fps, I'd bet you'd be about 150fps faster out of a .30-06 hand load.


Here's a 17" .280ai I had at one point that also did plenty well with the shorter barrel.



More recently here is a 300 WSM that I had cut to 18", good for around 3,000 fps with 165gr and 2,700 fps with 200gr. It's wearing a 19" 7mm PRC tube now, but I kind of wish I'd gone a bit shorter on that.






Way off, he would have a .30-06 with medium-long barrel .308 limitations, which is to say basically no limitations for 200yd deer.

It's not crazy. The worst problem with the short barrels is the blast and you have a can to take care of that. People have weird ideas about short barrels and frequently paint them as worthless even though they have no real world experience.



You think there's going to be a big difference between 16 and 18?

Very good, helpful post. Don’t see as many of these as I used to.

GTScotty, Thank you for the very detailed post. I feel like I read that somewhere in my research too.


Some have said buy a new gun but that’s a new canoe impala/wildebeest next year so using what I have is the plan.  

Guess I’m calling my gunsmith later.

You might well have seen some of the pictures before, this topic comes up somewhat often and I try to chime in with a dose of reality based on my experience. A lot of folks over-estimate the velocity loss from short barrels, as well as the real world impact of the velocity loss that does occur. Personally I think .30-06 is an excellent short barrel chambering if you're using a can to control the blast.

Please post up a pic once you get the Tikka cut and threaded.   On the topic of threading, you may or may not have enough barrel thickness at 16" for a good shoulder with a 5/8x24 thread (~0.725 is usually about the recommended minimum).  If it's a problem, threading to 9/16x24 is an option, then you can either buy a DT adapter for that pattern or adapt up at the barrel with one of these:
https://precisionarmament.com/m4-muzzle-thread-adapter/

Interesting
I have an active thread about shortening a 6.5cm Ruger American

If I were rich I would do some in depth tests on barrel lengths with real world loads just so I could drop charts and info in these threads

I had 2 of my Tikkas threaded 5/8-24 at 20", if you use the Q/Sig taper and a 90 degree shoulder adapter it works well on really thin barrels.

I measured the barrel at the 17inch or so length and it is .670 inches.  Is that cutting it to close?

For a 5/8x24 thread with a 90 degree shoulder I wouldn't do it, but you could still do the 9/16x24 thread + adapter like I posted (that's how my 18" 300 WSM Tikka barrel was done). Also having the smith cut a 5/8x24 thread with a Sig taper + a taper to 90° shoulder adapter like the poster above recommended sounds like a good option too.

Link?

You will be giving up about 250-300fps from
The velocity listed on factory ammo

Unless actual 24" velocity in his rifle is was already about 100 fps under the box, I think he'll be closer to 200 fps loss to chop to 16", than 300fps, maybe a little less.

Loss per inch wise, .30-06 should in the same general area as 6.5 CM and .308, here's some oldie but goodie testing where barrels are progressively chopped that gives an idea of what to expect when going from 24" to 16".

https://rifleshooter.com/2016/02/6-5-creedmoor-effect-of-barrel-length-on-velocity-cutting-up-a-creedmoor/

https://rifleshooter.com/2014/12/308-winchester-7-62x51mm-nato-barrel-length-versus-velocity-28-to-16-5/

Click me

@ericotterstratton

Attached File


Nope, if Scott(Kentucky Ballistics suppressed a 416 Rigby and sounds damn good. I think you'll be okay with your 30-06.