Picked up a Ruger Hawkeye Compact for the grandkid.

I’m finding plenty of recipes that are geared towards full length barrels. Is there a rule of thumb concerning such short barrels, 16” in this case. RL-15 shows 2800 to RL-19 showing 2900 for instance.

I’m guessing the slower powder would not work as well in such a short barrel, but I don’t know that.

You can expect about 30-50 FPS loss of velocity per inch of barrel length. You would need to chronograph the exact load if you want more precise numbers. But I doubt any deer-sized animal will know the difference between a 2800 FPS load and a 2600 FPS load, especially since the difference between the two velocities gets less the longer the range. I actually load my 30-06 down to about 2600 FPS with a 165 gr Nosler Ballistic tip for mild, comfortable shooting, and the last five deer didn’t know they were hit with a slower bullet. We often give too much credit to the last few FPS of velocity. Just sight in for the load, and go fill the freezer!

If efficiency is your primary concern (as it is mine) then always try out a heavy for caliber bullet to see if it shoots well.

The powder charge has to be smaller to keep the pressure safe, so there is less to burn. I have had great luck with this most of the time. Even better if a faster burning powder works well too.

As an aside, expect that your POI may move upward a tad since the bullet has a longer dwell time inside the barrel and recoil affects it that much more.

I’d start with a powder in the Varget range & a 139/140 grain bullet. My next look would be a 120 grain bullet.

I got great results with RL-19 and 140gr. nosler partitions through my rem. model 7 18.5 in barrel 2950fps.Tried Hornady 139gr. superformance with great results also.

Thanks for the response guys.

With a younger kid not a bad idea to load in the midrange with H-4895, 120 grain bullets.

One doesn’t have to go down to the ‘60’s rule’ lower limit, just reasonable midrange. The 50 yard target or deer will never know the difference.