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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Depends on the target pistol.  Mine takes just plain old K-Mart/WallyWorld 
el' cheapo 22 longs.  Of course, mine is OLD!  It isn't one of those fancy, 
smancy one that folks go and buy and pay the big bucks for at the fancy 
country club like gun clubs.

And, it is far more accurate than the average handgun.  I can take the head 
off a thistle (my favorite target <g>) at 150' and I can split the stem.  Do 
both depending on my mood at the time.  And, if course, if I run out of 
thistle heads to aim at. <g>

The barrel is about 6", not one of those things that looks like you're 
carrying around a  mini-rifle.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com>


> But it's not so.
>
> For example (and there's plenty of blather about this):
>
> "It is also largely a myth that longer barrels are intrinsically more
> accurate. In fact, bullets are stabilized after a very short amount of 
> barrel travel,
> and short-barreled handguns can be remarkably accurate."
> http://www.handgunsmag.com/rugers_guntalk/rugers_guntalk/
>
> Acutually, that's putting it mildly.  Many of those outlandish target 
> pistols
> have long barrels because it gives you more space between the front and 
> rear
> sight.  But the ammo for those pistols is custom made to fit the barrel 
> length.
>
> After the round has conformed to the rifles and has a stable spin, the 
> rest
> of the barrel is a place where something can go wrong.  The bullet can 
> distort,
> the powder can burn irregularly, the longer barrel is more prone to 
> desposits
> toward the muzzle which affect accuracy.  The longer barrel will 
> (generally)
> mean greater velocity.  But this can be good or bad.  The added velocity 
> will
> exaggerate any irregularities in the bullet's motion.
>
> Have you ever shot a black powder handgun?  Try loading the shot with a 
> half
> a grain more or less powder in each direction.  You will hit a load that 
> is
> amazingly accurate, and the others will go wild astray.  Do the same with 
> an
> otherwise identical gun but with a different length barrel, and the same 
> charge
> of powder will not give the same results.
>
> All in all, for accuracy's sake and using off the shelf ammo, a shorter
> barrel will often be the more accurate.  This difference is greater for 
> the larger
> calibres.