Will shortening a 24" 308 barrel by 2" change the harmonics and affect accuracy?

I've made up my mind to do the alteration, as I believe there's good chances I stand to see little change.

It will not be until I drop my rifle off to my AR gunsmith at the gun show in mid-may before I can report back to you with the results soon after.

In the meantime, it gives me the much necessary time to search and order parts which are hard to obtain due to the Obama panic.
 
I've tested theories on several of my own guns. Not an expert but here's what I've found Harmonics only matter when shooting factory ammunition.
Barrel length affects velocity and its very noticeable at longer ranges. Shorter barrel lower velocity. The effect is less with smaller cartridges and faster powders. I've hacksawed many barrels to length then used hand files to rough shape the crown and chamfer it and polish with a dremel tool.
Hand loading allows you to tune a load to a barrels harmonics. Yes my .308 load at 24" was nice but the gun balances better at 22". The way a gun balances in the bags or in your hands really makes a difference in how well you can shoot the rifle. My .308 load had to add .3 tenths of a grain of powder to get back to its former point of impact and actually groups somewhat better.

A shorter barrel is stiffer based on physics and metalurgical properties.

A shorter barrel has less sight radius, thus for a slight bit of movement less shot deflection.

A shorter barrel is sometimes more handy.

A Shorter barrel has less muzzle and recoil energy.

A shorter barrel is louder to the shooter.

I have 17.25"to26" Barrels the 26" I keep that length because of velocity for longer ranges. It is more difficult to shoot smaller groups with at 100yds than my 17.25" an 24" in the same caliber.
 
Yes really open sight F-class prone shooters add Bloop Tubes to increase sight radius.

http://www.snipercountry.com/Compendium/Comp_B.htm



Front Sight Extender, "Bloop Tube," adds 6" to the sight radius, Lipski, the best!
--For .812" and .920" diameter Barrels
Front Sight Base Not Included!

http://www.fulton-armory.com/M6Tools.htm


http://www.benchrestspecialties.com/barrel_tuners.htm




Benchrest barrels of yestryear used to be 16" lenght 1.25" Diameter.

Now they are 21.75" to 23" or thereabouts.

A pendulum on a string 16" vs 23" Length Which has a larger diameter circle?

What has the larger range of movement a 6ft teeter totter or a 20 ft teter totter?

Movement caused by breathing, a fly landing on you, slight torque of the gun in the bags or on a by pod, parralax, trigger pull, gust of wind, my point som many factor cause movement and for 1/1000th inch deflection at the rifle at 100yds thats a 1" variance from your point of aim on the target. A shorter
barrel magnifies shooter movement less. The flex of a barrel might affect a rail gun but not so much standard rifles. EG some of the F Class and long range guns with 6.5-284 have shot in the .2"s at 100yds with 28" -30"
Barrels. Rail guns are milder recoiling calibers and much heavier more like artillary than a field rifle. Shorter barrels and milder recoiling calibers are more Quote inherently accurate because they deflect a shot less.
 
So a shorter barrel is better but a longer sight radius is also better or what would be/is the purpose of the bloop tube?
 
Just a guess but with larger site radius allows one to place a shot more precisely within the sight picture(open sights). Would also be quieter to the shooter gas escaping muzzle & bloop tube farther from ears.
 
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