What determines the lenght of the rifle barrel?.Is it the rate of burn of the powder?

just wondering out loud as you dont see long barreled rifles anymore

Hunt for the sport, share the outdoors and most of all be safe and enjoy it......know your
back stop when shooting!!
http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/nicholal

There are a number of factors. Burn rate and the amount of the powder do matter. In general a 300 Winchester Mag would need a longer barrel than a .308 to reach it's peak performance.

Up to a point longer barrels increase your velocity, but shorter barrels are generally stiffer and have a higher accuracy potential. That's why you see 26" barrels on some varmint guns but the same caliber in a benchrest rifle might have a 20" barrel.

Also the very long barrels are a holdover from blackpowder days when you needed the long barrel to insure that most of your powder burnt in your barrel. There's a modern trend oa short barrels to save weight and make the rifle more compact.

Edited by - diyj98 on 01/28/2003 11:25:57

diyj98 is right it helps with some velocity but nothing great..i think 10 or 20 fps per inch out to a certain point..whatever the number it wasnt worth it and after so long it doesnt do anything more..some say the longer ones are more accurate and balance better and such but i dont think it has much to do with legnth...id take a short barrel over a long one anyday..i hate my long barrel on my mauser....not sure on the legnth im thinkin 26 but i dont know...but its long cumbersome and heavy...i hunt thickets from the ground...you have deer trotting by and saplings everywhere..it makes it hard sometimes...but i still manage to make the shots..now if i was sitting on a hillside waiting for deer to pop out of the timber i wouldnt mind...the longer barrels do feel balanced more nicely to me though..swings like my shotgun! lol..its all on your personaly prefrence really..the few inches dont have much of an advantage if any anymore...

Alot of older rifles have longer barrels for the simple reason that people used iron sights back then and a longer sight radius made for more accurate shooting. Longer barrels do give a better balance as well, but for a hunting rifle, a shorter barrel would be more advantageous since the rifle is supposed to be light, easy to carry through brush, and isn't going to balance well anyway.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms... who's bringing the chips?