I remember reading a narrative in a Thompson Center Flintlock Hawken I bought back in the early 1970's.
They claimed they ran tests on velocity of a muzzle-loading projectile and barrel length.
If I remember correctly, they claimed 28 " was the optimum length. They said anything beyond that an the increased friction from the barrel length reduced any benefit gained by propulsive power to the point where it was really counterproductive.
If this is so, the longer barrels of originals may have been stylistic, more effective with the poorer grade of powder available, important for increasing sight radius and or served to muffle the sound better in a hostile environment.
Any comments?
