ANATION
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Just curious how much easier it is to shoot a 6 inch revolver accurately compared to a shorter barrel, such as 3 inch or 4 inch. I understand that accuracy is relative so I was looking at 25 to 40 yards accuracy of at least 4 MOA.
Just curious how much easier it is to shoot a 6 inch revolver accurately compared to a shorter barrel, such as 3 inch or 4 inch. I understand that accuracy is relative so I was looking at 25 to 40 yards accuracy of at least 4 MOA.
So I have almost 14 years of shooting revolvers competitively in USPSA and IDPA competition, mostly USPSA. I have used four different revolvers in that competition. A 6.5-inch S&W 610, a 5-inch S&W 625, a 5-inch S&W 627 and a 4-inch S&W Model 10 Heavy Barrel. I always found the 6.5-inch 610 was the easiest to shoot accurately especially as ranges stretched out. It was not dramatically better than the shorter revolver but definitely noticeable as the longer sight radius and higher mass moment of inertia of that long full underlugged barrel combine to make the revolver more stable with a better sight radius. That said when shooting stages with lots of closer targets that allowed for fast moving transitions between targets that extra barrel length was also notable in making it not quiet as nimble as the shorter lighter guns especially the Model 10. At least from a practical-pistol competition point of view I think if I could build a custom revolver I would probably do a 6 - 6.5 barrel but would do a barrel profile that is lighter than a full underlug. The S&W 929 was made specifically for USPSA competition by the best revolver shooter to grace the sport (Jerry Miculek) and it has a 6.5 inch barrel with a tapered underlug to make it lighter weight but a long sight radius. YMMV
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S&W 610 6.5-inch
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S&W 625 5-inch
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S&W 627 5-inch
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S&W M10 4-inch
Thanks for the info. Off the subject of barrel length but I am curious since you shoot competitively. What is the trigger pull of your revolvers in DA? Do competitors want as light a DA pull as possible?