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My 2 cents would be that it's simply the sweet spot the manufacturer found. I recall stories about the Brits in WWII trying to shorten the Lee-Enfield to make a "jungle carbine" but they made it too short. The reports the got back were that the recoil and jump of the rifle was so drastically increased as to make the rifle almost unusable.
So, presuming this story is accurate, fractional barrel lengths may be just where it became most practical or comfortable. I dunno, food for thought...
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