Are longer barrels more accurate?

[rkr]

I think the whole action, and barrels specifically, do things after the release and could destabilise the flight if it happens before the pellet is out of the barrel.
I've longer (for sub 12) barrels, and short (down to 256mm) and they do seem to have different characters.
My ultra CLX suddenly got strangely accurate, it was accurate anyway, but it suddenly seemed to be one-holing of its own accord.
I discovered the barrel grub screws had come lose, it was literally wobbly, so was less effected by the stuff happening after the release.

The short barrel on my Pathfinder seems fussy about pellets and possibly more prone to wind.

So to sum up what I've observed, short (12") can be fantastically accurate, as can long barrels, but a lot depends on the whole gun.
Super short (10.1") I'm not so sure about, I think there is a lower limit, for robust behaviour, and it is about 12", from my guns.

I have super accurate 8" barrel so if there's a limit it has to be under that. 8" is not very air efficient though, 140 bar in .177 is needed for 12 fpe.

 

[Mick_Green]

Good lord no. I believe over X length they are less efficient, and possibly more barrel flex If the air has already done its work, a longer barrel just adds drag. I have a 550 mm and I think that’s just about pushing a sub12 .177 as far as it will go. But on the flip side that was the whole ethos behind the “Ben Taylor” Smooth twist system. Allow the smooth bore to accelerate the pellets as fast as it can with least air then impart the spin at the fastest point in its travel along the barrel.

 

[1260engineer]

Longer the barrel the longer the pellet can be affected by the shooter moving after the trigger is pulled but before the pellet leaves the barrel .. ie lack of follow through, jerking the trigger or flinching in anticipation of recoil ...

For the very same reason the shorter barrel can be a pain as its less stable .
the short barrel will waste air on a pcp .
where the longer barrel is more efficient. less of a charge need as the exanding ait drives the pellet further down the barrel which means your discharge from the EV can be smaller.

At the end of the day it is down to the floppy bit on the back end of the rifle to aim the thing properly. hold through the shot . your part is only finished in the shot when the round has hit the target . not before .

 

[1260engineer]

Good lord no. I believe over X length they are less efficient, and possibly more barrel flex If the air has already done its work, a longer barrel just adds drag. I have a 550 mm and I think that’s just about pushing a sub12 .177 as far as it will go. But on the flip side that was the whole ethos behind the “Ben Taylor” Smooth twist system. Allow the smooth bore to accelerate the pellets as fast as it can with least air then impart the spin at the fastest point in its travel along the barrel.

The exact reason i wouldn't touch a FX barrel with a big stick .
accelerate a pellet as fast as you can the jam it in to some rifling in a mac donald straw .
luckily I use 615mm poly barrels . very accurate. faster fps than standard rifling . less drag . less pellet cutting . less swarf . less cleaning . less fussy .

 

[Mick_Green]

The exact reason i wouldn't touch a FX barrel with a big stick .
accelerate a pellet as fast as you can the jam it in to some rifling in a mac donald straw .
luckily I use 615mm poly barrels . very accurate. faster fps than standard rifling . less drag . less pellet cutting . less swarf . less cleaning . less fussy .

Even FX themselves eventually clocked that one as a bit of a dud and quietly handed us the STX with fully external rifled liners—basically their way of saying, “Let’s all pretend that didn’t happen.”

At some point, though, FX are going to have to pause mid “next revolutionary Solid (ahem… solid) barrel system” presentation and realise—they already solved this years ago. It was called a wheel. It worked. Nobody complained. End of story.

But no, instead of just dusting that idea off and calling it a day, we’re stuck on this endless tour of “innovations” that feel suspiciously like rearranging the same three parts and adding a new marketing buzzword.

Of course, we all know what’s really driving it—nothing says “cutting-edge engineering” quite like shaving production costs while politely squeezing a bit more profit out the back end. Revolutionary stuff, truly.

At some stage I might just sidestep the whole circus and try an LW 550 Poly barrel on my Epic to see how it stacks up against the CZ it came with. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the answer turns out to be… “yep, simpler still works”?

 

[FatSteve69]

Perhaps a CARBINE version of the Barrett 50 cal would be useful AFTER all

 

[Mick_Green]

Perhaps a CARBINE version of the Barrett 50 cal would be useful AFTER all

That would be one of these then Barrett M107CQ. may only be in games mind lol. but they do an M107 with a 9" shorter barrel

 

[FatSteve69]

That would be one of these then Barrett M107CQ. may only be in games mind lol. but they do an M107 with a 9" shorter barrel

Even 9" shorter it's still long .
Mind you I realise there's a difference between a high velocity round compared to a likkle snubby lead pellet

 

[FatSteve69]

Even 9" shorter it's still long .
Mind you I realise there's a difference between a high velocity round compared to a likkle snubby lead pellet

Different kettle of FLYING-fish !!

 

[1260engineer]

Even FX themselves eventually clocked that one as a bit of a dud and quietly handed us the STX with fully external rifled liners—basically their way of saying, “Let’s all pretend that didn’t happen.”

At some point, though, FX are going to have to pause mid “next revolutionary Solid (ahem… solid) barrel system” presentation and realise—they already solved this years ago. It was called a wheel. It worked. Nobody complained. End of story.

But no, instead of just dusting that idea off and calling it a day, we’re stuck on this endless tour of “innovations” that feel suspiciously like rearranging the same three parts and adding a new marketing buzzword.

Of course, we all know what’s really driving it—nothing says “cutting-edge engineering” quite like shaving production costs while politely squeezing a bit more profit out the back end. Revolutionary stuff, truly.

At some stage I might just sidestep the whole circus and try an LW 550 Poly barrel on my Epic to see how it stacks up against the CZ it came with. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the answer turns out to be… “yep, simpler still works”?

CZ barrels are lovely i have one on my CZ S200
and 2 more on my AGT's. I also have a sneeky feeling there might be one on my Huntsman . its either that or a match grade LW .

FX actually started with solid barrels .Verminator's . FX 2000 . cracking rifles .
tiz going full circle

 

[nobby]

I was just going to add, my Verminator II which I bought almost on a whim ten years ago doesn't have any accuracy problems.

 

[Mick_Green]

My Very fisrt PCP was (and still is in my posession) and RWS Rapier thats as good today as it ever was. excelent barrel and belive it was one of Fredrik Axelsson early designs with a propper barrel. 500mm I think

 

[varta330]

Assuming there is less margin for error the closer you are to your target then surely a longer barrel will always be more accurate than a shorter one?

 

[1260engineer]

The T3's long ish barrel 16x615mm poly 177 .
Super accurate and its about as fussy as a pig . will eat just about any pellets and shhhIT them out exactly where you want them


T3 cylinder and ev totally detachable

 

[FatSteve69]

View attachment 973358
The T3's long ish barrel 16x615mm poly 177 .
Super accurate and its about as fussy as a pig . will eat just about any pellets and shhhIT them out exactly where you want them


T3 cylinder and ev totally detachable

Looks like something out of Terminator....🫪

 

[FatSteve69]

Looks like something out of Terminator....🫪

Or......

 

[Mick_Green]

Assuming there is less margin for error the closer you are to your target then surely a longer barrel will always be more accurate than a shorter one?

If you want the most accurate sub‑12 barrel:

• prioritise quality, not length
• prioritise harmonic stability, not length
• prioritise choke and pellet fit, not length

A long barrel only helps if:

• it’s tensioned
• it’s stiff
• it’s straight
• it’s harmonically controlled (this is the part i fight for each diffrent pellet in the 550mm i have and mine not chocked
• aaaa)

Otherwise, it’s just a long metal tube making your groups worse. IMHO

but if your target is close enought with a long barrel you could always just poke it

 

[FatSteve69]

Or......

Not in a NASTY way though

 

[1260engineer]

Does make me wonder at times. all this long barrel short barrel stuff .
The times ive had folks bring there rifle to me . ive lost count of just how many .
this short barrels doing my head in its all over the place . my long barrels got more the wheeler dealers .
say out of 10 ive handed 6 back (learn to shoot) 2 back after trigger adjustment ( was set for a gorilla ) 2 back because ther scope mouts were to high for the comb on the stock .( head alignment issues)
bear in mind this could be long or short barrels.
Take muzzel flip . how many time do you think ive found it down to trigger weight . the trigger being heavy enough to lift the muzzel because of hand position and line of pull to send the shot high right . Springer folk . springer trigger as we know are pretty rubbish compared to pcps . we do some work on them but even then if you watch very carefully as you squeeze the trigger your crosshair will move .
Most of the problems we think we get with barrels is actually down to the shooter .
hold . triggering. head position. parallax adjustment. rifle fit and what they have it rested on . yes thats down to the shooter.
This is all before pellet choice and barrel maintenance. like swapping from say soft JSB to hard QYS
You have to give it time when changing pellet to clean swarf out . conventional rifled barrel cut pellet skirts. ie . leave rifling marks .
this build in the corners of the lands and grooves . especially softer lead pellets .
if you the swap to harder lead which has less give they collect the swarf left by the soft lead.


Pellet POI shift . just some faffing about i did the other week . there is a thread on it i did .rifle was zeroed with a totally different type of pellet . then i shot 3 other makes and types and weights . with no scope adjustment .

see( left) left 9 (middle) low 6 ( Right) left low 8 . there is nothing at all wong with the barrel.
In fact i used these off sets to judge where to aim to bring the shot to center .
Different materials. different drag. different speeds . different power . all changed by the pellet.

Shorts . the main thing is power . shorter barreled rifles need to generate / use alot more power to accelerate the pellet in a shorter distance. this then shows up in the rifles mechanics . springs weights .hammers. valves . ports and regs .
it also shows at the muzzel with the amount of noise and blast .
yes short barreled rifles can be accurate but tend to suffer in there economics

Longs . though the longer barrel is more efficient and are generally more accurate.
(they are ) .. they do have drawbacks. one is size of the rifle and weight . and the way the rifle is manufactured and tuned for mass production. this all adds up . alot of longer barreled rifles have floating barrels these days. power can play havoc with these barrel set ups . See manufacturers are not going to set up every single rifle for best performance and accuracy with the 12fpe limit . (goes for shorts as well)
Point ...how many threads . bought a sub 12fpe only to find out its putting out fac power. and these are built by companies that should know better.
All rifles are different. every single one of them.
get 2 identical rifles . pick a pellet . adjusted so they are both putting out the exact same power and fps . one will hit a grain of rice at 35yds . the other probably wont hit a barn if you were stood in it . yet drop the power by say 1.5 fpe and some how it becomes accurate .
the barrel dont change but the wave caused by the tolerances in the moving parts does .
example.. hammer diameter. . if you have lets just say 0.5mm limit overall . so that +/-0.25 from mid limit . which end of the limit is going to cause the biggest wave as the hammer is flung down the tube at the EV . easy bottom limit .
now think back to the other rifle which is accelerate. that may have a near top limit hammer . so its smoother . less rattle . less wave . less vibration though the rifle more accuracy.
total boll locks . actually no . what is there when your shooting . you carnt hear it or feel it. but you cans see it . your ticker . heart . just look at the movement it produces in your scope. it aint your breathing. just that little thud . nothing compared to the rifles hammer .
I could go on

Any see this stuff all adds up in these sorts of discussions. each person has there own point of view . the problem is.. has the other person which ever way round . taken into acount that they or they other person has a bottom limit hammer or is holding the rifle to tight and transmitting body function/movements to the rifle and blaming the rifle for in accuracys

I hate long barrels the waste paper and targets

 

[1260engineer]

Otherwise, it’s just a long metal tube making your groups worse. IMHO

Sorry had to laugh Mick at the above .

Groups 615mm barrel choked .25yds BR20 target . 3 shots per target .

Here's some thing to think about mate and its the reason i always use chocked barrels .
Think about making a barrel . they take i bar and drill a hole down the middle . or if you take a so called precision pipe . these bores are never perfect . they then force a broach down it to create the rifling. un choked the barrel is done apart from the crown .
now your pellet goes down that hole . If there are any tight spots in that barrel what so ever. what has happened to the skirt on the pellet.

(hands up who has had tight spots they have had to polish out . )
Barrels also have loose spots too .
This is why the choke comes in very handy. it give a pellet a squeeze making it uniformed again and increasing accuracy.

personally this is why i wont buy a new AGT . chokless barrels . made for high power and slugs .
if i wanted to chuck a brick at something i would use a . 25