bucksnortinted

I was looking at the optima pro which has a 29 in.barrel which I was told will shoot accurate to 200YDS.with the correct powder and bullet,will the regular optima which has a 26in.barrel shoot 200YDS. accurate as well as the pro,any opinions will be very helpfull........Ted

frontier gander

It will but the longer barrel allows the powder to burn cleaner and get the most use out of it.

CamoCop

the longer the projectile is in the barrel/rifling, the more accurate it's going to be. there is pro's and con's though. the longer barrels generally mean heavier rifles and more hastle when hunting tight area's.

frontier gander

Two of my rifles have 32" long barrels and i love it. I also love heavier rifles, It makes better for long distance shooting and handles better in wind.

Ever held a 6 1/2lb rifle in wind before? Good luck shooting that sucker off hand!

Dixon

Both are capable of shooting accurately up to 200 yards w/ the right bullet/powder combination. I prefer longer barrels as well.

catmech_99

I'm shooting an Optima Pro 50 cal. with the 29" fluted Bergara barrel. I am getting 1 1/2" 10 round groups at 100 yards. The fluted barrel is not as heavy as You would think. I'm shooting the 250 grain Shockwave Sabot & using 85 grains of loose Pyrodex. I swab the bore with a borebutter patch before My first shot & between every shot.
I'm planning on shooting some at 200 yards & will post My results.
Andy

skeeter 7MM

Longest inline barrel i have is 26" and i have no problems shooting 200 yards. Though I have also been shooting ML's for many years, if you are new to Ml's then don't set to high of goals before shooting one. The projectiles we have to choose from have low BC's and are highly suspect to wind drift and drop. Even with 1000's of shots logged behind a ML 200 yard shots are not my norm in the field b/c as we all know perfect conditions to take these shots don't always exist.

Iwould suggest FFFG loose powder for 26" + barrels. Cheaper and easier to fine tune vs pellet forms.

bronko22000

I had the 29" Optima pro and it shot well with 245 gr Powerbelts over 100 gr of Pyrodex (2 pellets). Talking with reps from CVA they told me that, although the rifle will handle 150 gr,100 gr is all that is needed. Being a traditional ML fan I prefer the old sidelocks either flint or percussion and bought this rifle on a whim. I had it for only a year, shot a deer with it and traded it in. It was a good rilfe but not my cup of tea.

Dixie Rebel

I respectfully disagree.

The barrel length does not influence anything other than velocity, and even that varies from barrel to barrel.