What is your favorite barrel length?

[Daryl Crawford]

I guess I really like the look of long guns (42" barrels), but balance point is what matters more to actual use. A long barrel that is too heavy may present problems. A short barreled gun with a heavy stock could present others.

 

[Spikebuck]

Many good points have been made for the reasons each of us chooses a certain length of muzzleloader. But I think Daryl has hit on a key point...balance point and the overall "feel" of a gun is, in many ways, more important that if the barrel is a few inches longer or shorter.

As an example, I have two .54 caliber 44" swamped early Virginia styled rifles. One was built by the late Larry Williams and one by Mike Brooks. Hands down, the Larry Williams gun, which is a little over a pound lighter, has as perfect a balance as I think is possible, and is the gun I'd rather carry around. The Brooks gun is built around a very highly figured and very dense stock wood which adds overall weight and also pushes the weight back a tad more than the Williams gun. Both are excellent shooters. While I'd rather "look" at the Brooks gun or shoot it at the range, when it comes to hunting, I'd rather carry the Williams gun due to the overall weight and the weight distribution.

I also have a Haines copy with a .54 cal 38" swamped barrel which is a little lighter than the Williams. While the balance is nice, the Williams still has something about it that one just has to feel. Everyone who picks these guns up and points them makes the same comment....the Williams gun is 100% the choice they would make just based on how the gun feels.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Currently working on a 'Hobbit Gun' with a 20ga bbl 10 inches long. Looks kind of like a walnut blanket gun in back action percussion with a 12 1/2" pull butt stock. I bet it will scream for goblin meat! Barrel from a Stevens single shot modern. It's real fun to handle, but I bet the muzzle blast will rattle the ears off a wooden jackass!

I've got something similar in the works. The barrel is 20 gauge from a Winchester 37. It will be a 25" flintlock using an old Siler I was given. We'll see how it handles. I could cut it off shorter and not have to buy a reamer to remove the full choke but I'd rather have the extra length. Some of my favorite guns have been ones that I've put together with spare parts.

 

[Ol 12 gauge]

All of my barrels are 28 inches. I have one flintlock Buffalo gun in 24 gauge. Then there is the Pedersoli kodiak rifle with included shotgun barrels. My favorite is my 12 gauge Ethan Allen. I have to it’s weight is what I like the most about it the weight really eats up recoil on the skeet field.

 

[hanshi]

Longer barrels really do look nicer. But as has been said there's more to this story. I settled on 38" as the best fit for myself. Shorter barrels are also a good fit. The one that fits best - by a small yet significant margin - is my .50 with a swamped 38" Rice barrel. Of course the 12-1/2" lop is a large part of this. A friend hunts with a 20 ga smoothbore "similar" to mine and from the same builder. His is 42" and handles much differently than my 38". It's kind of like getting a haircut; no two heads are alike and do best when matched to the individual.