H2oVento 64 Posted November 8, 2021 Just wondering what you perfer a shor barrel, long or someplace inbetween. Spent the weekend shooting a wide verity. from a 2" SW wheel gun, to a 6.5" barrell. I personaly like between 4-5"'s Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YankeeSC 1,204 Posted November 8, 2021 Barrel length is largely dependent on your intended use. Longer barrel: easier to aim, harder to conceal, less felt recoil Shorter barrel: harder to aim, easier to conceal, more felt recoil 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CMJeepster 2,780 Posted November 8, 2021 19 minutes ago, H2oVento said: I personaly like between 4-5"'s That's what she said. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Persona non grata 113 Posted November 8, 2021 49 minutes ago, YankeeSC said: Barrel length is largely dependent on your intended use. Longer barrel: easier to aim, harder to conceal, less felt recoil Shorter barrel: harder to aim, easier to conceal, more felt recoil Yup. I love my 5” P320 X5 Legion, but there’s almost no way I could conceal it. I love carrying my 3.1” P365, but shoot a competition with it? I have other guns I’d opt for first. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10X 3,306 Posted November 8, 2021 1 hour ago, H2oVento said: Just wondering what you perfer a shor barrel, long or someplace inbetween. Spent the weekend shooting a wide verity. from a 2" SW wheel gun, to a 6.5" barrell. I personaly like between 4-5"'s It really depends on the intended use. If you shoot a lot in a session, 2" guns quickly become less fun, and it's a lot harder to shoot them well. But if you are somewhere you can carry concealed, you aren't going to want too long of a barrel. Hunters like longer barrels because you can generally coax more velocity out of the round. Target shooters like longer barrels, to a point, because the extra sight radius makes it possible to aim more precisely if shooting open sights...but weight is more of a consideration in a long match. Outside of those use cases, balance and aesthetics, which are more personal preference, come into play. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raz-0 1,259 Posted November 8, 2021 longer barrels get you more velocity. They also add weight which dampens recoil. They tend to have a larger sight radius, which means more feedback about aiming. Some people may find this to feel generally easier to shoot, but some don't and get annoyed by the greater amount of visible shake. Other things factor into that too like blade width and notch width and such. Most ammo and loads are developed for a 4"=6" barrel. Most everything I own as far as pistols go is 4.25"-5". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lawnmower2021 426 Posted November 8, 2021 I don't often think about this aside from revolvers and shotguns... I also like the 4-5" range in general. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MartyZ 697 Posted November 8, 2021 Depends on my mood. Bored Excited 1 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CAL. .30 M1 2,101 Posted November 8, 2021 Nothing Really over 5" - for all the reasons stated above.. But it depends on the use case, ammo being used again as stated by others above. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
H2oVento 64 Posted November 8, 2021 4 hours ago, H2oVento said: Just wondering what you perfer a shor barrel, long or someplace inbetween. Spent the weekend shooting a wide verity. from a 2" SW wheel gun, to a 6.5" barrell. I personaly like between 4-5"'s I just wanted to know everyones thoughts Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShootersShooter 120 Posted November 9, 2021 With the exception of my LCPII my 9mm handguns are 3.1" Shield Plus and Bersa .380 up to 5" Springfield Range Officer. I Have a 4" .45 that I wish I had bought the 5". My .22 is 4". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Krdshrk 3,878 Posted November 9, 2021 My smaller CCW guns are around 3" for barrels. I'm not engaging anything with them past 7 or 10 yards max. That being said, my Glock 48 (Slimline concealed carry type gun) has a slightly longer barrel than my Glock 19. It's a 4mm diff so really not much but still interesting to see. I've got 4" and 6" revolvers, and the 6" definitely recoils less. I'm becoming more partial to 4.5-5" barreled pistols. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Stu 1,927 Posted November 9, 2021 My Glock 26 groups just as well at 25 yards as my full sized Glocks. It is a bit more difficult to run it at that distance, but the gun is definitely up to the task. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites