.22 Mag Frontier: 20" or 24"?

[Ace]

I want to get a lever Frontier .22 Mag Octagon, but I'm not sure if 20" or 24" is the better choice.

I like BOTH a lot, but I am wondering if the extra 4" of barrel has much effect on the fps and the accuracy?

1) As far as I know, the 24" barrel gets more fps only if you are using hotter rounds. Otherwise, the trend seems to be that 20" gets the most out of the .22 mag cartridge.

2) Does the extra 4" of the longer barrel add any accuracy?

Please advise.

Thanks!

[rugrat]

Sorry but I have no experience with either and can not answer your question. Welcome to the forum anyway and please post an introduction post in the introduction section of the forum!

[Sir Henry]

Welcome to the forum Ace. If you plan on scoping it I would recommend the shorter barrel. The 24” barrel will give you a longer sight radius and can made a big difference if you want to stay with iron sights.

[CT_Shooter]

I want to get a lever Frontier .22 Mag Octagon, but I'm not sure if 20" or 24" is the better choice.

Welcome to the forum from CT. You may get some advice from other forum members regarding the affect of barrel lengths on 22 mag accuracy. In the meantime, take a look at this report by Bill Marr at the website Rifleshooter.com.

Longer barrels don’t seem to offer much of a velocity benefit. While you may benefit from a longer sight picture and the rifle may have a better balance, I wouldn’t consider the longer barrel length an absolute necessity for the 22 Magnum. In the case of both the 30 and 40 gr loads, the 16.5″ muzzle velocity was slightly higher than the velocity recorded at 22″. For most applications, I’d guess a 16″ barrel would be sufficient.

https://rifleshooter.com/2018/03/22-mag ... -velocity/

[BigAl52]

For me whether target shooting or plinking I would do the 20 inch barrel. It was just be easier to handle. Welcome to the forum glad you joined us.

[Ace]

Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking scope, so 20" makes sense. I love the looks of both, but I prefer the idea of carrying around, lifting, aiming, etc. the 20".

(I'll post that intro, BTW).

[brm4450]

I have both but unfortunately 24” is .22 S/L/LR and 20” is in .17 HMR. But I can tell this they are both extremely fun to shoot.

[Ruger1300]

Are you going to use a suppressor? I have a small game carbine and wanted to get it threaded. The amount of work to thread and move the front sight ended that idea. I believe the 24 inch is threaded