Your preferred barrel length for deer hunting?

[Skychief]

Whitetails that is.

 

[BigDogg]

I only have one ML at the present time. A .50 cal flint Lyman GPR. Its barrel length is 32". First year hunting with a frontstuffer so I hope to bring home some venison with her.

 

[roundball]

Used 28" and 32" barrels for 18 years and they did fine. Now have some 38" barrels, with some 42"s on the way...given the choice I like the longer 38" and 42" barrels.

 

[saber]

do not hunt whitails any longer but for black tails 44 inch is what is on 3 of my longrifles

 

[hawk]

mine are 46" now ...used to be 28" they all did the job.

 

[George]

My main gun is 46". Love long barrels.

Spence

 

[crowkiller]

42" I like the way they hang for off hand shooting.

 

[BrownBear]

It's entirely circumstantial here with blacktails. They have such huge ranges and limited "patterns" within them, that you are seldom hunting a particular animal. You're covering lots of miles on foot in rough terrain rather than sitting in stands. And you more or less pick how and where you like to hunt and adjust your arm accordingly.

I have barrels from 24" to 39" and I use them all, depending. This year I hunted with a 24" 58 cal, a 28" 58 cal, a 32" 50 cal, a 28" 62 cal and a 38" 62 cal. Next year if the weather is different and the habitat preferences change, I bet I use completely different guns.

My shorties are balanced more like shotguns and are great for close, quick shooting in tight cover with thick underbrush to your waist. The long barrels are ideal for longer offhand shots in waist-high and higher grass and open country. Swap locations with either type of gun, and you'll be at a disadvantage.

 

[tg]

We don't have any Whitetails here to speak of just Mulies amd Blacktail and I like a 42-44" barrel my next gun when it becomes possible will have a 48" barrel. I hunt very thick stuff in the Coastal Mts and valley draws and creek bottoms of Western Oregon and have never found the length to be a problem of any kind, the lock is usually held back under my armpit for weather protection so not that much really sticks out, many are fearfull of the long barrels which I found to be unjustified.This is a common thing, when T&C developed their Hawken they were quoted in a mag article that they could not imagine going thru the woods with a 42" barrel and that flat springs would not last any time at all, we have been pummeled with a lot of missinformation on many aspects of MLs'and the trend to mix the old and new and call it "old" for 40 years, many are starting to fade away now with the communication marvel of the internet.

 

[shootemup]

I like long barrels, 44" is the longest I have at the moment. May need to rectify that... :hmm:

 

[Bill Hall]

What's a whitetail? A tanned woman skinny dipping in the moonlight? :redface:

Ok, for mulies and elk, I like barrels 32" to 34" long. I have trouble with the longer barrels when an animal "springs up" in front of me, since the quick shots make the muzzle bob up and down a few times before I can get it zeroed on the game. With a shorter barrel, and a well fitted gun, it tends to pop right onto the spot I'm focussing on. Then again, I'm not quite 5'6", so I imagine a bigger guy wouldn't have the same issue. I just don't have the mass required to counter the leverage. Of course, I'm describing offhand shots while "sneak" hunting, so hunting from a stand or blind may not have any bearing on the body size of the shooter. Bill

 

[Pete Gaimari]

28" is just fine for deer, elk, or anything else in my neck of the woods.

Contrary to popular belief. Colorado isn't all open country. We have a lot of tight woods.

 

[rawhide]

where I hunt here in wa. its mostly wooded and lots of under brush. so a 28 inch barel comes in realy handy in the thick stuff. most shots are under 100 yards avage around 50-70 yards. I hunt with a .54 28 inch hawken for black tail deer and rosevelt elk.

 

[caddo]

I like 42 on all of mine.