I was looking at a Black Diamond with the 26 inch barrel today. What would the 26 inch gun do that I can't do with the my 22 inch TC Black Diamond. I asked the clerk and he didn't know, said all he does is sell them.

thanks for your help...rick

The longer barrel will burn powder more effectively is all. You will get about 200 fps more speed out of some projectile. Shooting open sights, the longer barrel would give you a longer sight plane. If your going to scope the rifle and shoot under 100 yards there really is no advantage in my opinion. Although I did get the Black Diamond XR with the 26" barrel and it is an excellent shooter.

Shoot flatter for an extra 20 yards or so using 120-150 grains. No noticeable benefit really with 100 grains.

My Knight Disc is a Pre97 which has the short 22"bbl.It shoots well. With the shorter barrel you loose some velocity. Not enough to concern me.I like the shorter barrel especially walking through a thicket.I agree you do have a little better sight plane as Cayugad pointed out.Since I use it for hunting it serves it purpose well.If I wanted it for punching holes in paper,yes I would go with the longer barrel.In Ga during Primitive Weapons season we can't use a scope,so I've never mounted a scope on it.I'm sure with a scope the 22"bbl will do just about anything the longer 26" will do.

Ruger Redhawk

I would suggest handling them both and see if one feels better to you than the other. I like shorter rifles and have two Black Diamonds, both with the shorter barrels. Good luck with your choice.

You might want to consider what powder you are going to shoot. I think some of the synthetics burn differently and the longer barrel might be required with the slower burning ones to get maximum velocity per charge. I think Black Mag3 might be one of the ones that the longer barrel would complement as it send bullets out faster than ffg 777 in my rifle with less initial sharp recoil and my suspicion is that the burn rate is slower. My rifle is an Omega which has a pretty long barrel (one of the reasons I picked it over some others).