Interesting little velocity test.

D

Danny Creasy

Guest
We conducted our barrel length vs velocity test on March 21st at the North Alabama Shooting Association range in Sheffield, Alabama. I am still awaiting a more detailed analysis (standard deviations, etc) but here are the results that I found most relevant.

We used five CZ 452 .22 rifles with different barrel lengths and fired six rounds each of six different cartridge types. The chart below reflects the average velocity of the six rounds.

The rifles were:
CZ 452 Ultra Lux with a 28.6” barrel
CZ 452 Special with a 24.8” barrel
CZ 452 American with a 22.5” barrel
CZ 452 FS with a 20.7” barrel
CZ 452 Classic with a 16.5” barrel (Fuzzy the Limey’s old CMP Sporter rifle)

The cartridges were:
CB Longs = CB
RWS Subsonic Hollow Points = SSHP
Wolf Match Target = Standard Velocity or SV
American Eagle Solids = Lead High Velocity or LHV
CCI Mini Mag Solids = Plated High Velocity or PHV
CCI Stingers = Hyper Velocity or HypVel

-----CB SSHP SV --LHV -PHV HypVel
28.6 652 968 1037 1206 1188 1660

24.8 676 997 1062 1219 1217 1660

22.5 653 998 1069 1229 1213 1708

20.7 701 957 1062 1224 1190 1661

16.5 685 949 1057 1205 1208 1666

My conclusions:

Relative to the .22 long rifle cartridge, the barrel length does not make enough difference to fuss over. Use the barrel length that you like and don’t fret over any loss or gain of velocity.

If I had to say any length was faster, I would give it to the 22.5" length by a hair. But, there are so many variables like smoothness of bore or tightness of bore this test is at best just a conversation piece. It was fun though.
 
Came across this old post of mine and noticed that I never added the standard deviations:

-------CB--- SSHP----SV------LHV------PHV------HypVel

28.6 652/53 968/16 1037/13 1206/16 1188/24 1660/50
24.8 676/34 997/20 1062/13 1219/22 1217/40 1660/47
22.5 653/65 998/08 1069/10 1229/22 1213/24 1708/31
20.7 701/44 957/39 1062/05 1224/14 1190/11 1661/26
16.5 685/22 949/27 1057/14 1205/17 1208/22 1666/39
 
The only was to get a true picture of Velocity vs Barrel length, it to use the longest barrel, and cut it off 1 inch at a time. Problem is, after you analyze the results, it's hard to glue those pieces back together.
 
And to do it multiple times. No barrel is totally consistent in bore diameter, etc. So you need to cut off an inch at a time for multiple barrels. Maybe 6 to 12. If you had used 5 identical barrel lengths they might have all had different results. Besides differences in the barrels, even slight differences in firing pin shape and spring rate would make a difference. Also the cheap ammo used in the test would have quite a variation shot to shot. Need to eliminate as many variables as possible.
 
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