Accuracy vs barrel length

[Tioal]

I have need for a snub nose 44Spl. I was some concerned about accuracy.Does any one recall a magazine article where they took a Blackhawk 10 inch barrel and cut it by 1 inch and tested accuracy? I would like to reread it but can not find it. Tests that use 2 or more guns of differnt lengths do not prove much as there are many other facters gun to gun. Cutting the same barrel from 10 inch to 1 inch would seem a better test. I went to my back issues of Shooting Times and Guns & Ammo and so forth but can not find this article. I remember reading it but at that time 4 inch barrels was as short as I had.Thank to any one with a better memory then this old man. Tioal

[kevmc]

I don't recall any articles.....but FWIW, I've got a 2.5" SW 686 (.357) that's as accurate as my longer barreled guns.

[David2011]

Hi Tioal,

Welcome to CastBoolits! The real problem with shortened barrels is not that the barrel is particularly less accurate. The sight radius just gets too short for good accuracy when fired hand-held. Recoil and muzzle blast increase pretty badly, too. Short barreled revolvers tend to still shoot well from a Ransom rest but are harder to aim and control on the fly.

David

[Mk42gunner]

I recall an article in I think Guns & Ammo in probably the late seventies were they started with an 8 3/8" Model 29 and took velocity readings, but I don't think they rigged up a front sight for each length.

There have been others, not as common as the .270 vs .30-06, or .45ACP vs 9mm, but once or twice a decade. I think in one they used a Contender so they could take a barrel from the low twenties inch range to as short as they could.

I guess they sell magazines, but those kind of articles always struck me as the "Hey look how much money we can waste" type.

Robert

[40-82]

The first day I tried my 3" model 29 from the bench I also tried a 2nd model hand ejector target model with a 6.5 " barrel for comparison. I used a 44 special load in both. When my groups were slightly tighter with the short barrel I was stunned. How could this be, I asked myself. Sure, the modern sights on the 3" 29 were slightly sharper, but it was a clear day, and I shot a well defined black against white target in a situation that usually does fine for even the crudest fixed sights. After I worked with the older gun a little longer, I shot a few groups just as good as anything I could do with the short barrel, but I felt I worked harder for them.

After the session I think I figured it out. When I put the 3" model 29 on a postal scale it outweighed the old 2nd model ejector. In an ideal situation you want an 7.5" or so barrel once the gun is in your hands, but for most of the things you're going to try to do with a belt gun, you're not as handicapped with the short barrel as you might guess. For me weight means as much as barrel length, and particularly when I'm riding in a vehicle or sitting in a chair, I can more easily carry a short heavy sixgun than a longer lighter one.