Cut and recrowned barrel - how long?

I think if you were to cut and re-crown it, 16'' would be the best route. Yes you would lose a bit of velocity, but the barrel will not "whip" as much and I believe it would be marginally more accurate.

Having said all that, I went with the 18.5'' barrel because it looked better to me and more traditional

I would not go right to the 16 inch limit, I would go to 16 1/4 or 16 1/2 and have a little fudge room. If you ever had to re crown again and were right at 16 inches it could take under the legal length.

Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good mini.

I don't see why it would be ruining it if done by a good gunsmith (gundoc), many people have reported improved accuracy with a shorter barrel and a good target crown.

If that is your goal then go for it. If it's because of odious laws passed by our state, but I would hold off til the last minute or consider just not complying.

I have been kicking the same idea around Brec. The way I read this unconstitutional law is you can have a Flash Hider on there now but you have to fill out a form and register it with the State Police. in fact you can have all Evil Items on there if it registered! I am thinking 16.1" with thread protector until the Brake/Hider I want is back in stock. I have read on here I believe that they shoot a little more accurate with some weight on the front and they look cool! Gun Reforms 2013 Initiatives - Frequently Asked Questions | Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

breckenridge said:

I don't see why it would be ruining it if done by a good gunsmith (gundoc), many people have reported improved accuracy with a shorter barrel and a good target crown.

Click to expand...

Plus it would be a little more handier. I say shorter the better with that type of rifle...

Yes But..

breckenridge said:

I've been kicking around the idea of having the standard 18.5" barrel on my 581 Ranch cut and recrowned. Flash hiders and even muzzle brakes are now a no-no in NY, so I was thinking about just shortening the barrel and going with a target crown. If going this route, is it best to go down to 16"? Does anyone split the difference and go to 17" to compromise on velocity and accuracy change? Not enough to be worth it?

Click to expand...

I would say yes it's worth it. I cut my 190 series stainless right behind the stock sights rear roll pin recess and that was 16.25" I crowned by hand using a Midway 11.5 deg ( as I recall) crowning tool. Then I finished it off with a Choate Machine Tool flash suppressor. So all of that added up to a mini that gives me MOA performance. I say but because I added the flash suppressor which I think helps just that little bit more.
Good Luck!

Any time you cut and or add weight to a barrel you change its harmonics. My 185 skinny barrel mini became more accurate when I added a M14 style flash hider front sight combo to it. Got rid of that big ass-ed fireball coming out of the end of the barrel too.