What are the advantages or disadvantages of a 24" verses a longer barrel?

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rnnhntr

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I have shot traditional muzzleloaders for over 50 years and they generally have had barrels longer than 30 inches. A lot of the modern inlines seem to have 24" or 26" barrels, with barrels longer than 28" seeming to be uncommon. I am looking at purchasing a modern inline and am wondering how much difference there is in performance between longer and shorter barreled guns. Obviously shorter barrel equals shorter sight radius, but more maneuverability.
 
I personally prefer a 24-26 inch barrel. Think of it like diminishing returns. Longer barrel not worth the little bit of gain. Some will say a longer barrel better for still hunting. Not me. I'll always take the shorter barrel. Understand that I only apply this philosophy to hunting applications.
 
My rifles have 24 and 26 inch barrels. Seems like I shoot the longer barrels better at the range than the 24's. When hunting from the treestand, I prefer the shorter barrel guns. Way easier to handle and swing around.
When I hunt from the ground, it's the 26 inch barreled rifle I usually carry.
 
TC did testing on this back when they started making traditional muzzle loaders. They found that anything longer than 28 inches wasn't much help. That's why they Hawkin has a 28 inch barrel.
 
Dangit. I knew that my 30" Accura LR has too much barrel that i dont need. Although, at the time, it was my only option for a .45 cva. It doesn't help much, but it doesn't hurt anything either. At least for my needs and use.
 
You give up a little velocity, but gain a bunch of better handling and ease of use. Especially if your a spot and stalk hunter in heavy cover like what I do.
 
I have shot traditional muzzleloaders for over 50 years and they generally have had barrels longer than 30 inches. A lot of the modern inlines seem to have 24" or 26" barrels, with barrels longer than 28" seeming to be uncommon. I am looking at purchasing a modern inline and am wondering how much difference there is in performance between longer and shorter barreled guns. Obviously shorter barrel equals shorter sight radius, but more maneuverability.
Longer barrels get you closer to the target :elmer:
 
In small bore competition many moons ago, folk used to extend their sight distance by affixing a long tube to the end of the barrel (called a ' bloop tube' due to the sound it made). They Also sometimes put lenses in thier sights to see them better....
 
The old Lyman Blackpowder Handbook had many pages of measured results for all the popular calibers and barrel lengths.
That data showed a clear and significant benefit of a longer barrel for roundball shooters…in terms of muzzle velocity and muzzle energy..at least on paper.

Realistically though, roundball sectional density and ballistic coefficients hinder any significant practical advantages.
The extra 100+fps with 3-4 extra inches of barrel didn’t carry much extra anything any much farther with roundballs… ( more speed increases the drag forces slowing the ball down at about the same rate as not having the extra speed)

Conical bullets ( because of the energy limits inherent in black powder) seem to optimize in around 26-28 inches of barrel…their superior sectional density is better able to offset the drag force and deliver more down range.
Of course new “black powder“ like BH209 perhaps doesn’t have the burn rate/gas expansion energy of genuine black powder so optimum barrel length could mean something different.
 
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