How does barrel length affect a gun

The longer the barrel, the longer the sight radius: The distance between the rear and front sight. A long sight radius results in less sight deflection, which translates into greater accuracy and effective range.

If you are a concealed carrier or intend to be one, by far one of the most important factors when considering a firearm to carry is the barrel length. The longer the barrel, the more difficult it is for you to effectively conceal, as it means more material that must not print or be revealed when carrying.

More barrel length also means more weight. Although a heavier gun absorbs recoil more effectively, it is also less comfortable to carry, increasing the risk of sagging your gun belt or pants down. Depending on your carrying style, you may not be able to sit down comfortably. For all these reasons, most concealed carrying gun owners tend to choose subcompacts and pocket pistols. The overall dimensions of these firearms are small enough for comfortable everyday carry. Mid-sizes and compacts are the largest size category that can be concealed by most people, but depending on your height, build, and carrying preferences, even pistols of this size class may not be a feasible option for you.

Choosing the right firearm for your purposes is a balancing act of factors and compromises. Handguns with longer barrels are typically more accurate and controllable, but handguns with shorter barrels are generally more concealable.

There is no one-gun-fits-all solution, and you may need to experiment with different handguns until you find the right tool for the job.

Whether you prefer to carry a subcompact, mid-size, or full-size pistol, We The People Holsters offers a large selection of IWB and OWB holsters for all your favorite pistols and revolvers. Our holsters are made out of Kydex , a durable and affordable material that holds up to impacts, abrasion, and moisture, requiring very little maintenance.

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Before , Winchester offered Trapper carbines in and inch barrels. First, velocity. Longer barrels generate higher velocity because the propellant burns more completely. However, there are diminishing returns with extra-long barrels, depending on cartridge, caliber and propellant.

It is often said we can expect a velocity change of about 20 to 25 fps per inch of barrel loss. At this writing, the longest barrels I own for modern cartridges are 26 inches.

I could take a inch barrel, chronograph a load, and then hacksaw the barrel one inch at a time, recording velocity as I go. Uh, no. All we would learn is how much velocity was lost per inch with that cartridge, that load, in that barrel. Case design matters. Short, fat cartridges are more efficient than long, slender cases, and they tend to produce more velocity in shorter barrels.

The short, fat 6. The short magnums are more efficient than the belted magnums they emulate. Caliber relative to case also matters. Over-bore capacity means you are burning too much powder down a too-small hole.

It is, and always was, over-bore capacity. So are the 7mm Shooting Times Westerner and 7mm Rem. Ultra Mag. This is not the kiss of death, but it means you need longer barrels to burn all the powder.

Similarly, the Weatherby AccuMark pictured in the lead photograph that I used on a caribou hunt was chambered in q6. This very fast 6. Propellants vary widely in burning rates. In a perfect world, the propellant burns and the gases expand, accelerating the bullet until the end of the barrel is reached.

At this point all propellant is burned, and the bullet exits at its maximum velocity. But how often does this really happen? Now comes the wild card. Because of interior roughness or smoothness and variances in internal dimensions, seemingly identical barrels of like caliber and chamber vary considerably in the velocity they produce. Aside from efficiency of case design, it should be obvious that a short cartridge needs less barrel than a long cartridge.

Barrels for shorter cartridges thus have a bit more rifling and less chamber, right? Most factory ballistics are based on inch barrels. Most non-magnum cartridges do fine with inch barrels. Most magnum cartridges do well with inch barrels.

This gives the bullet gyroscopic stability. Remember, a gun without rifling is a musket - without spin, the bullet trajectory is unstable, like a 'knuckle ball'. Barrel length: A longer barrel extends the time time interval where chamber pressure acts on the bullet's mass. Therefore, a longer barrel increases the exit velocity of the bullet and the effective range of the bullet. Friction limits the allowable barrel length. Bullet mass: Increased bullet mass increases the bullets inertia resistance to external forces.

Therefore, the bullets trajectory is less effected by external forces such as cross-winds or contact with obstacles like brush, etc. Note that these factors are interrelated.

Rifling is a function of barrel length Twist per Length. So a longer barrel rifle imparts more spin to the bullet than a short barrel handgun. But exit velocity also depends on bullet mass and barrel length. The bullets exit velocity and stability its effective accuracy depends on rifling, barrel length, and bullet mass. Common calibers and their respective rates of twist are listed here. Standard shotguns do not have rifling.

Their accuracy is more relative because they shoot multiple projectiles. Longer barrels create a more focused scatter shot than shorter barrels. The focus of the scatter is commonly modified with chokes. Sight radius: For a gun without an optical scope, a longer sight base increases accuracy. Misalignment errors by the shooter are reduced from trigonometry between the front and rear sights.

However, long distance accuracy demands minute angle corrections only possible with optical scopes - the length of sight base is irrelevant. Heat strain: Gun barrels often get very hot from high energy rounds and high rates of fire. Ultimately, there are advantages to each type. Hand guns excel at close ranges where maneuverability and rate of fire is critical. Shotguns dont require absolute accuracy to hit the target an advantage when shooting at moving targets like birds but have a very limited range.

Rifles offer the best accuracy and range but reduced manueverability and often reduced rates of fire depending on the action: Bolt vs Semi-Auto vs Full-Auto. Barrel length provides extra velocity, which as name's said improves accuracy basically directly. There will be less drop and less wind drift. More powder could also be used, but there are limits, due to the maximum chamber pressure, maximum burn rate, and the speed of sound inside the combustion gas.