No, it's from the front sight being farther away. You should only be looking at the front sight when shooting. It doesn't matter if the rear sight is out of focus.

The longer barrel is also easier to hold steady when shooting offhand.

The numbers did not surprise me. IMO both barrel lengths probably efficiently handled the powder charge, extracting as much velocity out of the powder as near possible. One thing I noticed with the longer barrels is I can tend to increase the powder charge and still get an effective shot pattern.

I am glad to see that the numbers are higher then I thought they would be.

yes, it does matter if the rear sight is clear. How would i know if my front sight is above the V rather than level? Thats like saying, it doesnt matter if the scope is a little fuzzy on one side or not.

If you had my eyesight you'd understand that the rear sight being fuzzy doesn't matter much. Just concentrate on the front sight. The target and rear sight will be fuzzy, but that doesn't keep me from shooting good. You can't keep the rear sight, front sight and target in focus at the same time no matter how good your eyesight is. Your brain will center on the rear sight without looking at it. Just like your brain puts the front sight in the middle of a peep sight. Do you look at the peep when you shoot one? No, you look at the front sight.

Ask any sniper and he'll tell you to just look at the front sight.

If'n I had your eyesight, I wouldnt be shooting!

I'll take both of my sights crisp and clean.

I would too, but a fuzzy rear sight never was much of a handicap. A fuzzy front sight and i'm screwed.

No matter though. I'm retired from shooting and hunting. I'm a full-time fly fisherman now. Very fitting for an old fart.

Yeah Muley we heard that before. It's in your blood. You can't shake it.
Anyway, if your eyes are that bad how the heck do you tie those itsy bitsy flies on your tippet?
But to be honest there's nothing like a big old rainbow or brown coming to the surface and sucking up your bug! Especially one you tied yourself.

I'm not quitting because of my vision. Tying flies is easy. I use a magnifier that makes the fly look as big as a football.

This time will stick. I'm done. If you knew why you'd agree.

OK well God bless you. We sure ain't getting any younger.
I used to tie some gorgeous flies all the way down to Griffiths Gnats on 22 & 24 hooks.
Then I moved to FL and the eyes of the hooks were bigger than the flies I tied.
But I was using 9 and 12 wt rods instead of a 5 wt.

In my case I like the old stuff just like I did with guns. I use bamboo rods, silk lines, and fish mostly dry flies on rivers and creeks. It's always been my passion and i've done it as long as i've shot a gun. I always knew that someday i'd be down to just fly fishing. The day has come.