HEY THERE, MY BUDDY IS THINKING ON BUYING A KNIGHT WOLVERINE 209 LIKE MINE, BUT THE ONE HE FOUND ONLY HAS A 23 INCH BARREL, COMPARED TO MINE WITH THE 26 INCH BARREL NOW MY QUESTION IS THEIR ALOT OF ACCURACY LOST WITH ONLY THE 23 INCH BARREL OR NOT , CAUSE I THOGHT THE LONGEL THE BARREL THE MORE ACCURATE BUT I DON'T KNOW THAT MUCH ABOUT MUZZLELOADING YET, PLEASE HELP THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS. WOULD THIS LENGTH BARREL BE A GOOD CHOICE OR NOT.

Longer barrels allow more powder to burn, resulting in higher bullet velocity. Higher velocity = less drop at any given distance. Most people like the idea of as flat a trajectory as possible.

However, many short barrel guns are extremely accurate. I always hear about guys having great 100 yard groupings with short barreled guns. Their trajectories may not be as flat as other guns, but for a muzzleloader, taking reasonible shots, they are just fine.

If your shots are limited to 100-120 yards or less the two of you side by side would probably never know the difference. As etothepii said, the longer barrel will allow a little more powder to burn in your rifle compared to the one he is considering. That would make a little more pressure for the projectile. I have read that anything over 120 grains of loose powder in most rifles is wasted because it all does not get a chance to burn. I have not tested that theory. I have a Black Diamond XR with the 26" barrel. Some day I will have to load it and see how much comes out the end unburned. Besides, most rifles do not shoot good with a maximum charge anyway.

As stated before, short barrels can be very accurate. The only problem with short barrels accuracy compared to long barrels is the distance between the sights. Any misalignment you have getting the front bead centered in the rear leaf will cause your bullet to be off left or right. The longer the distance between sights, the less problem you have. Some short sight radious rifles really need a scope to "cure" the problem.

This test might not work, because some of the powder may continue to burn outside of the barrel. I don't know for sure that it works that way, but it seems that since a flash exits the barrel, and loose powder in the surrounding air would ignite as well. Just a thought...

Gobbler,

Your buddy can't go wrong with that Wolverine. I shoot a Knight USAK with the 22" barrel and it will cut sub-MOA groups all day long at 100yds with the right load.

Barrel length is "over-rated" with black powder pieces.............. something the cannon-makers of the 18th & 19th centuries discovered. Smokeless responds much better to barrel length.

I shoot a Traditions Lightning Lightweight with a 22" barrel. In all likliehood I wouldn't shoot much past 125, maybe 150 yards anyway. I am very happy with my grouping at 100+ yards. Some of my buds have longer barrels and shoot pretty much the same quality as I do. But I gotta tell ya, for a rifle in the mountains, and or alot of walking/stalking, this little baby is like a sweet little carbine rifle. It's light, it fits me like a glove and I'm confident with it. That to me is more important.