Barrel length vs accuracy

[Nathan]

IME, barrel length makes a huge difference in accuracy with open sights. Does it matter when using an optic like a red dot? With a red dot, is a 4” as accurate as a 10”?

[Bill DeShivs]

Barrel length has almost nothing to do with inherent accuracy.
Longer barrels just have a better sight radius.

[Lurch37]

What Bill said.

A shorter sight radius is just harder to shoot with iron sights. With a red dot however, I would think barrel length would be somewhat irrelevant. But that's not all together true if your hunting or target shooting and are looking for a certain velocity. Then of course you'll be back to wanting a certain barrel length to achieve a desired velocity.

[Bob Wright]

Regardless of sights, longer barrels have a couple of advanages when using magnum performance ammuniton. First is that the extra length adds more weight out front, and helps dampen recoil. Second is that it moves the muzzle blast slightly farther away from your face. Minor points, but they help the shooter get a better "feel" for his handgun, and makes him (or her) a better shot. That's accuracy of the shoooter.

Bob Wright

[Nathan]

Yea, pushing that blast out a bit would be good!

[Drm50]

When I first got into CF revolvers/ magnums when I was a kid I had to have the longest barrel available in model I was buying. I ended up with a complete set of S&W and Ruger
SAs. Then I got a m29, 6” on a trade and found I could shoot it as well as 83/8”. One step further tried some 4-45/8” guns. That was point I decided 5-6” was my sweet spot.
I have tested the short barrels including snubs of rest. They are as accurate as the long barrels but I can’t shoot them well. I also don’t like the full lug barrel that make gun muzzle heavy.

[rclark]

Barrel length has almost nothing to do with inherent accuracy.

Agree.

Also for me I find the 5 1/2" - 6 1/2" barrel my sweet spot as well. If I was a handgun 'hunter' a longer barrel would be preferred to help in the sight radius accuracy and velocity. But for general purpose... 5 1/2" SAs suit me just fine.

[5whiskey]

In fact, I shoot my 4" SW post war (pre model 10) better than I do my 6" Ruger Security Six. Even shooting the same .38sp ammo. The Rugers trigger leaves a bit to be desired, but ive grown accustomed to it. The SW wins though. And they're both iron sights. I chalk it up to the trigger.

[rc]

It's not moving the blast away from the shooter with a longer barrel but allowing the powder more time to burn and that reduces the amount of blast coming out the end of the barrel. So does using a faster powder in magnum pistols. Longer sight radius and more weight out front to reduce recoil are as stated by others 2 more benefits with the drawback of being a bit heavier to carry and more prone to catch on a seat and twist on your belt getting into and out of a car.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Yea, pushing that blast out a bit would be good!

Especially if using Power Pistol.

[10-96]

Hopefully somebody else read the article since I can't remember now where I saw it, but I do recall reading that someone pulled off an experiment and decided that a bullet only needed an inch of rifled barrel to stabilize a bullet. Seems it was a 10" target at 10yds. Along with most of the other details, I can't remember if they were using a .38 hardball or a .22 LR.
It would be interesting to spend some time with a Ransom Rest and a couple of snub nosed revolvers.

[Nathan]

Especially if using Power Pistol.

I find powders like Longshot and AA#5 to be better choices in a hot rod, but not abusive revolver load.

[74A95]

Originally Posted by 10-96

It would be interesting to spend some time with a Ransom Rest and a couple of snub nosed revolvers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYTOtCAj4zI

[Paul105]

Short barreled revolvers will shoot it's just harder with iron sights because of the limited sight radius.

2.75" S&W Model 69 at 50 yds. Verified on another day.
.

.
FWIW,

Paul

[Nathan]

@Paul that sir is some damn fine shooting!

[Ruger45LC]

I haven't found that more barrel means more accuracy, small revolvers can be accurate and long barreled ones don't necessarily have to be.

[44 AMP]

It's not moving the blast away from the shooter with a longer barrel but allowing the powder more time to burn and that reduces the amount of blast coming out the end of the barrel. So does using a faster powder in magnum pistols.

A longer barrel does move the blast further from the shooters face. It ALSO gives the powder more time to burn, but more burnt powder does not decrease the muzzle blast, it actually produces more gas, but being farther from one's face makes it seem less.

I don't use "faster" powders in magnum loads. The fastest powder I use in those loads is Unique or sometimes Blue Dot. Mostly its 2400, or Win 296 or sometimes AA No 9. I want the slower powders to get the most possible and practical from magnums.

I also want my magnums to be heavy handguns, and don't care about how they might catch on a car seat, as I don't wear them in cars or usually on a belt.

The length of a barrel doesn't usually have as much of an effect on the mechanical accuracy as the quality of the barrel and the load.

Where it does matter is in the "shooter accuracy" with iron sights, mostly but also to a degree with optics, by moving the muzzle farther out, and changing the balance of the gun, along with the additional weight and its recoil reducing properties.

Also keep in mind that the differences resulting from different barrel lengths are only comparable in guns of the same type. With revolvers, there is, to me, a difference in balance and feel between SA and DA types, so comparisons between barrel lengths should be held in each class respectively, and this gets even more important if you include other action types in the discussion.

For example, I have a 6" barrel pistol in 9mm Luger. Accuracy of that gun (groups size) is better than any other 9mm I've ever seen, or shot. I put this down to a good barrel, but mostly to the fact that when that gun fires, nothing moves when the cartridge goes off, or after, until I open the action.

Its a T/C Contender. Shot to shot repeatability in that gun is very precise, more so than any semi auto or revolver with parts moving or multiple chambers. Not saying there isn't a 9mm pistol more accurate than that single shot, but I haven't met one, yet.

[natman]

Originally Posted by Nathan

IME, barrel length makes a huge difference in accuracy with open sights.

Yes, it does, almost entirely due to a longer sight radius.

Originally Posted by Nathan

Does it matter when using an optic like a red dot?

No.

Originally Posted by Nathan

With a red dot, is a 4” as accurate as a 10”?

A 4" red dot can be placed more precisely than a 10", so it should be more accurate. The advantage of a 10" is it's faster to acquire.

[44 AMP]

With a red dot, is a 4” as accurate as a 10”?

A 4" barrel and a 10" barrel with the same red dot will be as accurate as the shooter is. Weight and balance can make a difference shooting offhand. Rested, not so much.

[Mike38]

It would be interesting to spend some time with a Ransom Rest and a couple of snub nosed revolvers.

I would very much like to see a Ransom Rest test done between identical ammo and identical revolvers, only difference is one with a 2 inch barrel, the other a 6 inch barrel. All at 50 yards. My money would go on the 6 inch barrel.

[MarkCO]

Barrel length has almost nothing to do with inherent accuracy.

Absolutely false. Given the same profile, the shorter the barrel, the more accurate it is inherently. Powder burn rate, secondary recoil impulse and the reverse jet have an effect, but those can all be mitigated.

The shooters ability to use the firearm is affected by length in various ways, and lack of velocity can impact the stability out at distance thereby affecting functional accuracy.

Sight radius is of course a thing, and if one is relying on the barrel length to get a front sight further away from the shooter's eye, yes, that can affect functional accuracy. But with an optical sight, that is not an issue.

[Mike38]

Given the same profile, the shorter the barrel, the more accurate it is inherently.

I trust you have documented proof of this statement. Witness signed affidavits? Video on You Tube that we can watch?

You Ransome Rest tested a snub nose against a similar revolver with a 6 inch barrel at 50 yards and the snub nose shot smaller groups than the 6 inch?

[Jim Watson]

Absolutely false. Given the same profile, the shorter the barrel, the more accurate it is inherently.

In the revolver regime, maybe so; although Elmer Keith disliked barrels shorter than 4" because he said the muzzle blast of a heavy load would distort the base of a swaged factory bullet from the FBI favorite 3.5" Magnum.

But Dean Grennell wrote of having a row of Chiefs Specials each tagged with the load and range its fixed sights were correct for so he could demonstrate that a short barrel was not inaccurate. And Henry Stebbins wrote of the guy who owned only a Detective Special but knew it so well as to shoot NRA Expert.

And when it comes to rifles, the experimenters at the Texas Warehouse concluded that the optimum barrel length for their benchrest rifles was 21.75".

[rclark]

The only real test is to take a long barrel shoot it with a ransom rest, cut the barrel, recrown, and shoot again, and so forth. All guns shoot differently so using two will not really prove anything that I can see.

[MarkCO]

In the revolver regime, maybe so; although Elmer Keith disliked barrels shorter than 4" because he said the muzzle blast of a heavy load would distort the base of a swaged factory bullet from the FBI favorite 3.5" Magnum.

Don't disagree. That is accounted for in this statement...

Powder burn rate, secondary recoil impulse and the reverse jet have an effect, but those can all be mitigated.

Witness signed affidavits?

Endorsed as a ballistics expert in court and so I've signed plenty. Maker of what is considered to be one of the top (according to Recoil Magazine and other publications) AR15 barrels on the market with literally 55 gallon barrels of rounds downrange in testing.
Believe whatever makes you feel better, but facts are facts even if you want to throw shade.