"Accuracy vs barrel length of revolvers" Topic

Now most cap and ball revolvers had round 7" barrles with shorter(pocket) models with shorter barrles.

Then you got cartridge guns and the lenghts started to vary more, most models came with diffrent lenghts ect.

The SAA came in 4.5 5.5 and 7.5" as standard then you had custom stuff with longer barrles.

But how much more accuracy did you get, I'm sure if you compear a 4.5" SAA with a 12" SAA there would be notisble effects, but would there be any bewteen a 5.5 and 7.5.

Or would you instead see better killing power? as you get a slightly faster bullet? We do know barrle lenghts have some effects but would the effect be big enogh or would the human factor allways be bigger?

A weapon is only as good as the person wielding it.

Barrel length determines projectile velocity which has major effects on accuracy as well as damage, assuming shooters of comparable skill.

What Only Warlock said.
A longer barrel meant greater accuracy at longer ranges, but remember we're talking handguns, so beyond 30 yards you're gonna hold fire until they get closer. My Schofields are 5 1/2 inch barrels, my 1875 Remingtons are 7 1/2 inch. But since I shoot at 25 yards on an indoor range it doesn't make much difference.
Count Natokina.

Also, the longer barrels on some firearms allowed for a better balance. My 1860 Army would be much more difficult to control with a shorter barrel.

At pistol ranges, I think the only significant advantage would be a slightly longer sight picture, which should make the weapon more accurate.

Pistol balance, and the skill of the person firing it, are important as well.

Not sure there is much difference in velocity generated, assuming equal amounts of powder for a 6" vs. 7.5" barrel, but I don't really know about that. Yes, that is a 25% increase in length, but I presume not a similar increase in the velocity of the bullet realized, due to that.

Hi

I own these things and any differences don't seem to show up.

I was at a collector show yesterday and was having this conversation, in that collectors usually don't actually shoot them.

The most accurate pistol I own is not my Smith 41 target pistol, or my match .45 or my Remington or Hi standard, but my Pocket Police in .36 which, of course has a very short barrel.

Rocky

>At pistol ranges, I think the only significant advantage would be a slightly longer sight picture, which should make the weapon more accurate.<

Actually the pistol doesn't become more accurate with a longer sight picture, but rather the firer, theoretically, is able to fire with better accuracy. This is very true with rifles vs. pistols, but whether an inch or two on a pistol makes a difference is debatable. Almost all "cowboy action" competitors in the top tiers use a 4 5/8" barrel Single Action which is the shortest barrel allowed. If the longer 7 1/2" Cavalry model was somehow better you can bet that would be the length they'd use.

Most police shootout happen in less that ten feet and even six feet is not unusual. Most shots fired miss. The shooting and the target are often moving and that makes them very hard to hit.

Greater barrel length, great velocity, longer sight radius are all going to improve accuracy. In real gun battles, the shooters often don't even aim, they just point and shoot, one of the many reasons they miss so frequently.

Those who remain calm and actually fire the weapon once they aim at the target are very likely to hit the target and win the battle.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
sgtsays.blogspot.com

I seem to recall reading of Wyatt Earp that he wasn't a particularly fast shot, but that he remained calm and aimed to ensure he hit what he was aiming at.

Abouth barrle lenght and ability to quick draw, I have a feeling that is more a modern thing then a real one from the period.

I've down drawn both 5.5" SAA and 7.5" SAA and I can't tell the diffrence in the time it takes to draw, and as some said it's more important to aim then to just draw quick.

I doubt in the old west a man with a 4.5 had much on a man with 7.5 when it comes to the draw

Today when you count .10 seconds ect. it might have an effect. But as I said, doubt it had in the real west.

Hi

One of the contemporary accounts of Earp describes him in a fight as standing calmly with non gun hand on hip and the other raised to eye level calmly aiming as if at target practice.

For ME a lot of it is feel. For ME, the balance of the SAA at 7 or 4 3/4 is "wrong" but the 5 1/2 comes immediately to hand and eye. At a collector show last weekend I was having this conversation. Most collectors aren't shooters. But my observation was that for ME, a Garand comes to shoulder and presents a perfect sight picture. And, oddly, my Trapdoor Carbine has the same characteristic. it just comes to shoulder. Where my rolling block, full length trapdoor and the sharpes do not.

"Horses for courses" is part of the issue that doesn't get addressed much.

Rocky

""Horses for courses" is part of the issue that doesn't get addressed much."

Yep. I know what you mean. For some reason Mossberg shotguns fit me better than any other manufacturer.

Another factor that hasn't been mentioned here is the cartridge used. Different powder and bullet weight combinations will give different group sizes and will print high or low on the target out of the same pistol. I've seen group sizes vary as much as 3 inches with different loads at 75 feet.

Hi

The group problem is more a factor when smokless comes in than in the black powder era.

R