What bolt action rifles are available in a 16" barrel? Looking for something light, compact, and accurate. Does Savage make such a gun?

Ruger Compact. Fine little guns. I had one in .308 with a 2-7 Vortex Viper. Perfect little walking rifle. Bit too harsh from the bench though...

Yep Ruger Compact is a great little gun! I have a 308 in stainless/laminate and use to have a walnut/blue in 260. Both great guns!! I think the acutal barrel length is 16.5" but thats close enough.

Many 16 inch barrels are acutally 16.25 or 16.5 giving a little extra making suer it is legal. The Rugers mentioned and I think CZ makes a 527 in 7.62X39 or 223 in that legnth barrel. I have a Custom 44Mag with a 16.24 inch McGowen barrel. Very handy guns but be prepared for more muzzel blast with the shorter barrels

Even if you don't find one with a 16" barrel cutting down and recrowning a barrel is a simple task for a gunsmith. I can recommend a guy that's in Anna if you need to go that route.

Interesting article on the Ruger Compact:

http://www.realguns.com/archives/180.htm

David

16" rifles have one thing in common reguardless of caliber. They will deafen a brass monkey without hearing protection.

Remington model 7. My buddy has a little collection of them and his truck gun has a 16" (.260). I will say though, that lil bugger is hard as heck to keep steady.

Did he have the barrel cut?? Shortest Model Sevens they ever made had 18.5" barrels.

My son had a Ruger compact in 243. Anyone next to you when you fired the rifle swore it was the loudest thing they ever heard, but it wasn't that bad for the shooter.

David

Didn't know that. Probably, or he bought it that way. Sure is easy to swing out a truck window.

Probably, or he bought it that way. Sure is easy to swing out a truck window. [/quote]

Lol cue the GW...

I have a 98 Mauser deer rifle setup in 6.5x55 that has an 18" barrel on it. It had been rebarreled b/f I bought it, really pretty little rifle. It has some accuracy issues that I need to get worked out, not sure if it is the cheapy ammo, the fact that the barrel is bedded the length of the forearm, or if the barrel is trashed. Looking down the bore, it doesn't look that bad so who knows. I was wondering, what does cutting a barrel to 18" or so do to the ballistics and accuracy of a round?

Lol cue the GW... [/quote]

haha, na, no poaching. just for cruisin the ranch roads during the day.

The standard answer is that you lose 25-50fps per inch of barrel cut from standard length of 22-24". The reality of the situation is "it depends". Two primary factors effect the velocity loss out of short barrels:

1) The expansion ratio - Expansion ratio is the case volume plus bore volume, divided by case volume. The smaller the number the more critical barrel length is. A 358 win and a 243win both are based on a 308 cartridge and have similar case capacities. The 358win will be affected far less by chopping the barrel length than chopping the barrel on a 243win. I have seen chrony results from a 358win w/ a 16.5" barrel that was only about 50fps slower than published data for a 24" barrel. Conversely my sons 243 Ruger compact (16.5" barrel) would only shoot about 2450fps w/ 100grn loads, a loss of 50+fps per inch of barrel loss. The 6.5x55 has a relatively small expansion ratio - all other factors being equal (chamber dimensions etc.) chopping the barrel on a 6.5x55 will probably have a significant effect on velocities. Gunblasts review of the Ruger Compact in 260 may provide some insight to expected velocities in a chopped 6.5x55 - http://www.gunblast.com/RugerM77-Trijicon.htm

2) The other factor is handloading - modern powders are capable of making up for a lot. Even with a smaller expansion ratio like the 6.5x55, time spent on the reloading bench will probably find a load that the rifle will shoot well and will still perform at an acceptable level.

David

Im not sure what the barrel length is on it but Howa makes a ranch hand rifle that is compact and shoots well mainly in 243 and 308 i think....i use to carry around a 243 Youth model remington 700 and i loved it....easy to get out a window when you needed to get on somethin fast haha on the ranch road of corse

Winchester made a limited run, 225 rifles, of carbon stocked mountain rifles. 18" stainless barrels, pencil thin, blued receivers that tipped the scales at 6 1/4lbs. I have one in '06, but they made them in 270 and 308 as well. They were commissioned by Ellette(?) brothers distributors for a Utah gun dealer.

Savage makes a "scout" carbine with a 20" barrel:
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/10FCM+SCOUT

I've been shooting a Ruger Compact in .260 the past 7 deer seasons (switched from a Rem. .280). I can tell you for sure that this is one very sweet combination. The compact size and shortness of barrel make it very "quick" out the window of a blind - no "bump, oh crap.." when jamming it against the roof of the blind as I did so many times with my other guns. And, it's very handy getting in and out of vehicles. The balistics of the .260 make it very well suited to average size whitetails like I hunt in Central Texas. I've taken four bucks with this gun and they all dropped in their tracks. Numerous pigs have reacted appropriately as well.

I never even considered that. What would that do to the accuracy? My model 10 shoots right at 1 moa

if you don't mind the 18" barrels, remy 788, I have one in .308, nice truck gun.

Good choice, have one in 7mm-08 that gets duty as a truck gun on ocasion, not as much as it did at one time but they do work great and that one has accounted for a lot of critters out the truck window