I am building a new bolt action 308 and I would like some advice on barrel selection. I will be using one of the Howa 1500 barreled actions in 308 from Brownells with a KRG Bravo chassis.
I would love to get into precision rifle shooting but there are no ranges over 100 yards in my local area, so I will mostly use it target shooting at 100 yards or deer hunting in West Virginia. For deer hunting my max yardage would be 300-400 yards. I would also like to take a long range shooting course so I would like the rifle to be capable to 1000 yards, but not necessarily optimized for that. I think of it more as a hybrid precision/hunting rifle, similar to a Bergara HMR.
The 3 options I'm considering for the barreled action are a 20" heavy barrel (6lb), a 22" standard barrel (5lb), and a 24" heavy barrel (6.65lb). All three are threaded. Given my use case, which makes the most sense?
My thoughts are either the 22" standard or the 20" hbar. Two years ago I hunted with my 18" scoped AR10 (11lbs without ammo). It was definitely heavier than my standard hunting rifle but wasn't really a big deal, as I'm mostly walking logging roads and setting up in blinds. I can see the weight being more of a factor if I was hiking long distance in the mountains out west. The total weight with barreled action, stock and scope for the 22" would be 9.5lb, 20" is 10.5 lb, and 24" would be 11.15lb.
For my use does the extra 1 lb for the hbar 20" make sense?
I would love to get into precision rifle shooting but there are no ranges over 100 yards in my local area, so I will mostly use it target shooting at 100 yards or deer hunting in West Virginia. For deer hunting my max yardage would be 300-400 yards. I would also like to take a long range shooting course so I would like the rifle to be capable to 1000 yards, but not necessarily optimized for that. I think of it more as a hybrid precision/hunting rifle, similar to a Bergara HMR.
The 3 options I'm considering for the barreled action are a 20" heavy barrel (6lb), a 22" standard barrel (5lb), and a 24" heavy barrel (6.65lb). All three are threaded. Given my use case, which makes the most sense?
My thoughts are either the 22" standard or the 20" hbar. Two years ago I hunted with my 18" scoped AR10 (11lbs without ammo). It was definitely heavier than my standard hunting rifle but wasn't really a big deal, as I'm mostly walking logging roads and setting up in blinds. I can see the weight being more of a factor if I was hiking long distance in the mountains out west. The total weight with barreled action, stock and scope for the 22" would be 9.5lb, 20" is 10.5 lb, and 24" would be 11.15lb.
For my use does the extra 1 lb for the hbar 20" make sense?
