Is a longer revolver barrel better?

Longer barrel pistols are more accurate because they are heavier. So, you can expect less recoil and more accuracy. The longer sight radius will also give a long barrel pistol the edge over shorter barrel pistols regarding accuracy. So, if you are looking for the most accurate pistol, consider a long barrel.

How does barrel length affect velocity?

Longer barrels generate higher velocity because the propellant burns more completely. However, there are diminishing returns with extra-long barrels, depending on cartridge, caliber and propellant. It is often said we can expect a velocity change of about 20 to 25 fps per inch of barrel loss.

What does a longer barrel on a revolver do?

Longer barrels do tend to offer more accuracy but longer barrels are harder to hide in a concealed application. Another advantage of a longer barrel is target visibility and sight alignment. All things being equal, a revolver will generally be shorter than a semiauto pistol because of the way the guns function.

Is a shorter barrel more accurate?

5 Answers. The short answer: Yes, a longer gun barrel improves accuracy. Theoretical accuracy of handguns and rifles is driven by rifling, barrel length, and bullet mass.

What are the advantages of a longer barrel?

Barrel length: A longer barrel extends the time time interval where chamber pressure acts on the bullet’s mass. Therefore, a longer barrel increases the exit velocity of the bullet and the effective range of the bullet. Friction limits the allowable barrel length.

What is the best size barrel for concealed carry?

Typically concealed carry guns are best when they are a compact size or smaller. Compact firearms are usually about a 4” barrel. Most concealed carry holders will recommend a sub-compact, those are also the most popular firearms to carry every day.

What’s the average barrel length of a revolver?

So for our ballistic gel tests, we wanted to test each load with both of the two most common barrel lengths for defensive revolvers, which are 2-inch and 4-inch. But deciding which guns to use for the tests was a little tricky because, for example, not all so-called 2-inch snub nose revolvers are actually 2 inches.

What’s the difference between velocity and barrel length?

With .38 Special, and especially with .357 magnum, conventional wisdom says that barrel length has a huge bearing on the effectiveness of the bullet. The longer the barrel, the greater the velocity, and for self-defense rounds, higher velocities often translate to better penetration and expansion.

Why does a Taurus revolver have a shorter barrel?

Maybe they have a different rifling twist rate, or a wider cylinder gap or maybe the chambers aren’t as tight. The 6-inch Taurus revolver has a ported barrel, which might account for it’s fairly unimpressive velocities.

Is it legal to own a 4 inch revolver?

It is technically longer than 4 inches — 4.2 makes it legal to own in Canada — but it’s one of the most popular 4-inch revolvers on the market, and the velocities we measured with it didn’t show any unusual outliers. We ultimately decided to use the Kimber K6s (left) and the Ruger GP100 (right) as the test guns for our ballistic gelatin tests.