How long should I make my barrel?

[Daryl]

Curt- my .32 has a 48" twist and loves 35gr. 3F - If I shoot 30gr., the 50 yard groups open 50%, even though a mere 20gr. will put 5 of them into a .45 cal. hole at 25 yards.  It needs 35gr. to get a descent group at 50 yards or beyond.

[Skychief]

Skychief,
Sorry about the delay. I clicked wrong whn I replied. I have been gone for a week.
My .32 had a 1-66" Douglas barrel. It liked 30gr. Goex 3f , a .010 patch and a .319 ball.  My current .32 has a Colerain 1-48" twist 44" long barrel. ue to the faster twist it is more particular about the powder charge. I shoot 20gr. 3f Goex , .010 patch and a .311 ball. It is accurate but not a accurate as that old slow twist Douglas was.
Curt

Thanks a lot for getting back with me Birdhunter.   I just breeched the Douglas today as a matter of fact!

Hope she shoots tight like yours.

Thanks again, Skychief.

PS....how long was your Douglas?

[Birdhunter]

Skychief,
I had mine cut back to 40" & recrowned. I wish that I had her back, however as good as she shot it was my 1st attempt at a longrifle & she as kind of an ugly duckling.
Curt

[KennyC]

Got to love a long gun use aLL 42 inches of it.

[frogwalking]

This whole discussion reminds me of a discussion I overheard at Lowes last year.  A guy told the clerk he wanted a 2 by 4.  The clerk asked "how long do you want it?"  The reply, "I want it a long time: I plan to build a house."

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Until recently, my longest rifle barrel was 44" and I really liked that length.  then I finished my Verner rifle in .50 cal with a Getz 48" barrel.  Wow!!  That extra long sight radius defies you to move the sights off the bull.  It is so easy to hold on target, and hold perfectly still through the shot, I can't say enough about it.  It won me the trail aggregate at our recent annual rendezvous, and that with a simple trigger and much customized flint lock.

Don't cut it!

[Kermit]

I'm for long barrels as well. I was considering getting cheeky and saying that a barrel should definitely reach all the way from the breech clear out to the muzzle. But I thought better of it......

In my case, that's at the lengthy end of the range among my flinters. My shortest is 42" (.54), then 44" (.25 and 20 ga), 46" (.50 smoothrifle), and a 48" (.50 rifled).  I just got a Rice A-wt .40 that's 46" and not in a stock yet.

I used to shoot pretty short barrels (all under 34"), but find them hard to hold and funny looking now that I've acquired a taste for length. It took a while to get over that modern cartridge rifle esthetic, but that passed about 30 years ago.

Bottom line: you can always shorten, but it's tough to put it back once hacked off.

[Dan]

Long does not necessarily equate to weight.  Have a 42" barreled (not swamped) .45 flinter that weighs just a few ounces over 7 pounds. Joy to carry and shoot, and it shoots well. Long is good.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

"How long should I make my Barrel?"  You can see that there's as many lengths as there are people posting here.  So, it's up to you.  If I can offer any advice...choose something and go for it.  How can it be wrong?

A few posts ago, I was extolling the virtues of a 48" barrel.  My best rifle for long range (so far) is my Jaeger .60 cal. with a Getz 31" barrel.  And it is definitely the best hunting rifle I have.  Today, I intend to sight in my S. Hawken copy .62 cal at 200 meters.  I might have a new "best" long range rifle today.  Its barrel is 36" tapering from 1 1/8" - 1".  This rifle weighs nearly 11 pounds, but is not muzzle heavy.

So many projects....so little time...

[Daryl]

My best long range rifle has a 31" barrel, 1 1/8" straight octagon and only a bit muzzle heavy as it has a 13 gauge hole in it.