How Long??

[YoungGunner]

I am thinking about getting a new rifle to my collection but it will be almost strictly for hunting and minor "shoots" shooting besides from the day to day shooting at the house. Green Mountain sells barrels in 36" and 42" lengths and I cant possibly imagine carrying a gun with a 42" barrel around the woods for HOURS, but it would look more "correct" with the kit I want to buy. So with that in mind, with your go-to BIG GAME hunting gun how long is your barrel? and what are the +/-'s of longer barrels?
(weight not an issue, I aint no mamby-pamby! :surrender: )

 

[Trench]

You'd be surprised at how much of a non-issue this is. I have a .36 with a 40" barrel and a .58 with a 36" barrel. No problems with these in thick stuff. My next rifle will have a 44" barrel and I'm not worried about that either.

 

[BrownBear]

I like the looks of those long barrels, but when I build one it's fer sure gonna have a swamped barrel. I've got a GRRW Hawken with a 36 inch 58 cal barrel tapered from 1 1/8" to 1" and it tips the scales right at 12 pounds. And even with the taper, it's still pretty muzzle heavy. Yet I've handled some rifles with 42" swamped barrels that tip the scale somewhere down around 8 pounds and balance like a shotgun.

In my book, the longer the barrel, the greater the need for a swamp job. And at 6'4" and 220 pounds, I ain't no namby-pamby my own self! :rotf:

 

[nchawkeye]

I've hunted with a 42 inch barrel since the 70s with no problem...

If you want to learn how to hunt with muzzleloaders like they did back in the day there is a learning curve to go through...

 

[Supercracker]

I was just about to put up a very similar question. I do most of my hunting in thick stuff. I've always thought that the really long barrels you wee would be an issue. At least slightly more of one than a 34 or 36" barrel.

 

[rawhide]

I my self hunt with a 28 inch hawken. and wish it was shorter. becuase most of the hunting on west wa. is in dens brush! easier to get thruogh the thick stuff. I think thats why barrel lenths changed when the mountian men came more west. I could be wrong.

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. YoungGunner,
For the last year, the rifle I have used the most for hunting is a flintlock with a 47" barrel. The long barrel has proven to be as easy to use as any of our shorter barreled firearms; even in the thick stuff.
Best Wishes

 

[texcl]

my 2 main hunting rifles have 42" barrels, I haven't had any issues.

 

[BrownBear]

I was just about to put up a very similar question. I do most of my hunting in thick stuff. I've always thought that the really long barrels you wee would be an issue. At least slightly more of one than a 34 or 36" barrel.

We do lots of hunting in really thick stuff. The length of the barrel isn't as much of an issue as the balance. If a gun is really "muzzle heavy" it's slower to mount and swing. That's not a problem for slow, deliberate shooting, but a real stinker if you have to shoot fast.

I don't care how long a barrel is, provided the gun balances more like a shotgun, i.e., with the balance point more or less between my hands than further out.

A couple of years ago I jumped a deer at 10 feet and dropped it at 20. I was in an opening so there was nothing for the barrel to snag on. But there is no way in tarnation I could have made that shot with a muzzle-heavy gun, much less have got it to my shoulder and aimed before the deer disappeared from view.

 

[ebiggs1]

I spent $500 bucks on a Pedersoli Blue Ridge in 54 cal just to find out I don’t like long barrels. I think 32 inches long is enough.
I never tried to heft a long barreled rifle through the oak brush in Colorado but a 24” is challenge enough. We hunted the mountains northeast of Cortez. How deer and elk get through some of that stuff is amazing.

 

[runnin lead]

I've been using a 28" T/C for years ,just put together a .54 1-70 15/16 X 36" for flint lock & had it cut & recrowned to 32".
It balances Nice & have lots of cases it will fit into,also E-Zer to get it in & out of the safe With a shelf for handguns at the top.

 

[longcruise]

Our Colorado "thick stuff" can't hold a candle to the stuff in the east and the NW. My guns are shorter barreled but I'd not think twice about hitting the high country with a 42 incher.

 

[tg]

I hunt in very thick brush in the western Ore. coastal mt. gullies and thick replants and do not find a 44" barrel to be any problem at all,the preference for short barrels is likely a carry over from ones centerfire days.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I find it no difficulty to go through river bottom brush around here using my 39" barreled Tenn. Poor Boy Style Flintlock rifle. If I can fit my 6'1" body through an opening, I can certainly carry my rifle through it.

I learned a long time ago not to go busting through brush. Instead I follow and use game trails to negotiate difficult terrain. Animals are controlled to a large extent by the Law of Conservation of Energy. Most of the year, they can't waste energy moving around, so they take the easiest routes to get around their territories. Its their back yard.

Use their trails to tell you the easiest ways to go. When an animal leaves a game trail to escape a predator, it leaves LOTS OF SIGN on, and above the ground, as it crashes through brush.

An obvious plus is having a longer sight radius on the longer barrels. As your eyes get older, you appreciate all the more the fact that the front sight is so far from your nose! Since hunting with any Muzzleloader is a single shot event, for the most part, accuracy is what " makes meat" for you. The longer sight radius will give you that capability of placing your shot accurately on game, even when you are excited, and pumping with adrenalin( Buck Fever)! :hmm: Use a tree as a standing rest, whenever one is available. :thumbsup:

 

[rwiliff]

For what it's worth, I think short barreled rifles balance like bowling balls. No comfortable way to carry them.

Warmest Regards
Robert

 

[E Poffinbarger]

Colorado, here's some food for thought: If you hunt where there is no chance of you being the hunted, then barrel length probably doesn't matter.

However, in the Mississippi swamp where its really thick, and the ill tempered hogs and gators can be real close without being seen, a failsafe, accurate, quick handling rifle can be rather important.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee165/Osage_2007/HuntHog2006.jpg

 

[YoungGunner]

Osage, Thats about the best reply I've gotten, I've seen five mountain Lions on My property alone, and many of the people I know that hunt have had their fair share of encounters. Not to mention a valley and a half over is where our school has done research on the 23 mountain lions in the area. (I have the calender with all the pictures from the science club) So I definately think that I'm going to go with a 36 inch barrel due solely to the fact that I dont know what might be "eyein" me.

 

[E Poffinbarger]

YoungHunter:

Ooops, I forgot to mention, the rifle in the photo is a Lyman .54 GPR- Hunter 32" barrel, which I recently sold.

So this year when I return to the swamp I will be hunting with a Cabela's .54 Hawkin 28" barrel.

Now go buy what you like, that feels good to you.

Osage

 

[roundball]

So with that in mind, with your go-to BIG GAME hunting gun how long is your barrel?
and what are the +/-'s of longer barrels?

I was also skeptical about hunting thick woods with longer barrels until I tired it...after years with 29" barrels I went to 33" and had no problems...then a couple of 39" Virginias, no problems...now using a 42" this year at the range and I can already tell there won't be a problem.

You just come to know what you have in your hands and you sub-consciously adjust your movements with it...and remember...the whole world used / hunted with them for centuries, no problems.
No minuses to me so far, and pluses are the longer sighting plane favors accuracy, more weight favors accuracy, and they're just more traditional too.

PS:
I believe a lot of the movement towards slightly shorter barrels during the westward expansion was primarily influenced by horseback travel.

Also, I even fashioned an extension and went squirrel hunting one day to see first hand what 42" would be like, no problem.

 

[BrownBear]

PS:
I believe a lot of the movement towards slightly shorter barrels during the westward expansion was primarily influenced by horseback travel.

That's a really astute observation. And I bet you're right on the money.

I've carried bolt rifles with 24 and 26" barrels and they're a PITA, even with a saddle scabbard. If I was balancing a long gun across my lap most of the time, I can just imagine the contortions of keeping it from snagging up in the brush we work. In fact, the "saddle gun" that lives in my tack now has only an 18" barrel.