Does size matter?

mark II · Post by **mark II** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:29 am

I bet this one will get a lot of hits. So my question is I have a 41 with a 7" barrel that has a red dot on top of it. The red dot sits over my hand. With my gun set up like this it is a bit nose heavy. Which is good for recoil but the dot still leaves the black on recoil. I'm wondering because of the longer barrel if I have more whip which would cause a wider spread or becase of the longer barrel in calms down the whip, stabilizes it better. I prefer a gun to just sit in my hand without being nose heavy. I can remove some wieght, cut the lenght down or think about the 5 1/2" barrel, which I shouldn't spend the money for or shot it as is.
Want to get some ideas on the whip or swing of the longer barrel and if even matters.
Thanks,
Mark II

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:16 pm

In this situation (pistol target shooting), the main advantage to a longer barrel is an increased sight radius, making it easier to detect alignment error with iron sights. The disadvantage of a longer barrel for most people is that the pistols tend to be nose heavy, and don't balance quite as well as their shorter counterparts. However, If one dot on their long barreled pistol, you can tweak the balance by moving the dot.

If you're using a dot on the pistol in question, then the length of the sight radius is irrelevant. I am not really sure what you mean by "whip", I'll assume muzzle flip. To me, the recoil on .22 target pistols is so insignificant that I don't see more barrel past 5.5" as an advantage in that respect. Of course, like most things in life, it boils down to a matter of preference. I prefer the 5.5" .22s because of balancing issues.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:36 pm

George said it all best.

R,
Bullseye

mark II · Post by **mark II** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:04 pm

Hey guys,
I guess what I was asking about is if I have a shot that's off from where I'm trying to hit is it off even more because of the longer barrel? But thinking about it from the chamber thought the barrel to the target is one line so it wouldn't matter how long or short the barrel is, aside from balance. By whip I was try to say pushing a shot of target more because of a longer barrel. Hope this makes sense.
Thanks,
Mark II

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:41 pm

mark II wrote:Hey guys,
By whip I was try to say pushing a shot of target more because of a longer barrel. Hope this makes sense.
Thanks,
Mark II

For pistol shooting, mathematically it shouldn't matter (in other situations, there are tons of other variables to consider). Not considering ammo and the actual firearm's precision, the only things that matter for shot placement are your wobble zone and the angle that your pistol makes with respect to the target. This women on youtube does a great job explaining what I mean about the angle if you have 4 minutes to watch it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pvArzoK ... ature=plcp

However, some fantastic shooters report just what you say, Stork for example. I was trying to find the post that he mentions it, but I couldn't. Stork is a very good pistol shooter and he essentially said that with his longer barreled pistols, his "off" shots were off by much more. There could be more to it than the way I am looking at it.

Post by **Bullseye** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:21 am

If your hand is wobbling in a manner that causes the sights to waver in an angular direction then the shots could be wider with the longer barrel over the shorter one. If the sights are staying aligned and the whole pistol is wavering the difference is not any greater.

The profile of the long barrel M41 and the shorter (Bull) barreled M41 are such that the weight of the barrel is nearly equal. The bull barrels have more material on them to make them heavier, that extra metal makes the barrel very close to the same weight as the long barrel (without weights if you have them). The long barrels are slimmer all the way down to the crown. Smith did make a 5 inch field barrel which has the exact same slimness as the long barrel but the length is cut down. One of my personal M41's has this barrel configuration and it is significantly lighter in overall weight.

By the time you feel the recoil the bullet has already departed the rifling. Any whip you feel doesn't affect the bullet's flight. However you could be anticipating the whip and compensating mentally prior to the bullet's departure. It just takes some more "getting used to the feel" with the longer barreled pistols.

R,
Bullseye

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:53 pm

Bullseye wrote:If your hand is wobbling in a manner that causes the sights to waver in an angular direction then the shots could be wider with the longer barrel over the shorter one.

R,
Bullseye

Previously, I was looking at it from a strictly happy physics mathematical standpoint, where the bullet follows a straight (for our purposes) path to the target, so in this situation the length of barrel would be irrelevant.

So, is this an issue of the human mechanics, and not an issue of the pistol itself? I.e. is it correct to say that if one has a .1 degree angular wobble in x direction, a longer barrel could tend to amplify that .1 degree wobble, from a bio-mechanical stand point, to .2 degrees?

If this is the situation, it makes sense because a longer barrel has a longer moment arm to work against the shooter.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 6:46 am

I see folks most begin to tremble with fatigue much faster with the extra forward weight of the longer barrel. This trembling almost always manifests itself as movement in the wrist which results in angular movements imparted on the barrel.

R,
Bullseye

Hardball · Post by **Hardball** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:37 am

Hold your arm and head higher. This will lower the gun to the hand with a bit more wrist bend down. The wrist should be firmer too.