Short thin barrels for long range?

[94Winchester]

I was reading a firearms magazine article which said that a short thin barrel is as accurate as a longer thicker barrel and does not give up much velocity. Can anyone confirm this?

[Kevin Thomas]

Can be . . . but there's some more information needed. In some situations I'd be inclined to say yes, but that's in a specific comparison to a BAD example, i.e. a long heavy barrel. Assuming barrels of equal internal quality, barrel stiffness and harmonics become major factors. A short, light barrel, may have better stiffness qualities than a much longer heavy barrel, but as I said, there's a lot more questions that need to be asked and answered before I'd accept this as a "true" statement.

As far as the velocity question, that's a matter of expansion ratio, and barrel length is only one factor in determining this dimension. Fact is, a much shorter barrel may make very little velocity difference, or it may make a great deal of difference, depending on that expansion ratio. I'd call BS on that one, and ask for the resrt of the details.

Gotta be careful with blanket statments like this. Or listening to gunwriters.

[94Winchester]

Here is the link to the article.

Scout Style Rifles

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by Kevin Thomas

Can be . . . but there's some more information needed. In some situations I'd be inclined to say yes, but that's in a specific comparison to a BAD example, i.e. a long heavy barrel. Assuming barrels of equal internal quality, barrel stiffness and harmonics become major factors. A short, light barrel, may have better stiffness qualities than a much longer heavy barrel, but as I said, there's a lot more questions that need to be asked and answered before I'd accept this as a "true" statement.

As far as the velocity question, that's a matter of expansion ratio, and barrel length is only one factor in determining this dimension. Fact is, a much shorter barrel may make very little velocity difference, or it may make a great deal of difference, depending on that expansion ratio. I'd call BS on that one, and ask for the resrt of the details.

Gotta be careful with blanket statments like this. Or listening to gunwriters.

+1

Well said !!!

J E CUSTOM

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Thin barrels are not as accurate for long range because of excessive barrel whip and vibrations. Also a lightweight rifle is very difficult to shoot at long range. As far as a short barrel and velocity that depends on the cartridge and how short vs how long. Some loose a little velocity per inch and some quite a bit. Some do well in short barrels utilizing faster powders and some don't.

[rscott5028]

The referenced article makes some bold claims and I agree with earlier posts that these are unqualified and are for the most part inaccurate.

However, statements by the author such as, "I'd have no hesitation taking a 300-yard shot with any of these little guns."

And, "When a Blacktail buck suddenly appeared right in my face at only 20 yards in a rare small opening the gun was up and on my shoulder before I even had time to think about it, and he was on the ground in about five seconds total elapsed time."

...somewhat puts his frame of mind into perspective and a short barrelled rifle may be more than adequate, perhaps even ideal, for those tasks.

About the only thing he substantiates per the chart on page 3 is that you can have a pretty accurate short barrelled rifle. The guy probably knows better than to show up with a scout rifle at an F-Class match.

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I think he is talking 300 yards as long range and a short, light barrel is fine for that. Serious long range though it is not good.