Originally Posted by
podunk kennels
So in theory if you had a long barrel that was also stiff then you would get more spin and less barrel whip? Is there an even medium?
Always.
The rag you hear about longer barrels having higher velocities is true only to a point. There is a length at which those returns start diminishing. I don't pretend to know exactly what it is for every caliber, but I would level a fair bet that in the case of your short action centerfires its somewhere around 22"... standards 24" and magnums 26".... that would be why they come in those lengths.
Course there are exceptions to that. You can load a round to burn faster or slower to match your barrel length.
The spin doesn't really have but so much to do with barrel length because its just a ratio. Most modern muzzleloaders have a 1:28" twist, and several of them have barrels shorter than 28". It all depends on what grain bullet you are going to be shooting. Old school muzzleloaders often had 1:48" or even slower twists... a shorter projectile requires far less spin to stabilize. Back in the day of round balls or conical/mini-balls.... you didn't need much at all... they were solid lead... heavy and short. Welcome to the world of copper solid sabots... takes more copper (volume wise) to get to 300gr than it does lead. Can't go but so far out in diameter... so you gotta go longer. And now we have smokepoles with 1:28" twists.
On the opposite side of things... a heavier, smaller caliber bullet (such as an 80gr .223 bullet) will need a very quick twist, like 1:7" or 1:8" to keep from tumbling its way down range. Just like cartridges have their optimum barrel length, bullets at a given weight will have their optimum twist ratio. For a military/tactical .308 which shoots 168gr bullets (I think)... its something like 1:9.7". Y'all correct me if I'm wrong.
Here is my take on the whole 'why' tacitcal rifles have shorter barrels and target and varmint guns have longer ones:
Tactical situations are often in tight quarters, or around vehicals, where a longer barrel would be cumbersome and unweildy.
If any of you shoot archery, you'll likely know that (if not why) a longer stabilizer on your bow will help you hold more steady than a shorter one. Suffice to say that longer is more stabile (the guy at the circus on the high wire doesn't carry a pool cue in his hands after all.... he carrys a 30 foot pole). In archery, a longer stabilizer with weight on the very end minimizes the leverage effect that an archer has on the bow... simply put, it is more diffcult to move the thing at full draw. This means that if you have a little bit of movement about the time of the shot... the effect is minimized.
I believe that the same is true for rifles. Longer, heavier. It isn't really that one barrel length is more accurate than another (within reason of course) it probably has more to do with a longer barrel being more stable... which helps YOU shoot better. Hence the whole thought process behind longer barrels being more accurate... because most folks are more accurate with them. Your high dollar bench rest rifles and all that jazz....
My experience.... stiffer barrels shoot better.... bull barrels...and in my experience... shorter ones. I'm a hunter. Period. Shooting targets is a means to an end.