how much does accuracy suffer as the barrel length shortens on a lever rifle?

Mr. Friendly

Mr. Friendly

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I'm talking the straight wall / pistol cartridges like the .30-30, .45-70 & .44RM.

take the Mare's Leg and it's 12" barrel and then your 16" take down or trapper barrel's vs the 18.5 options that exist.

would they all print in a 5" circle at 100 - 150 yards?
 
It shouldn't affect the inherent accuracy of the rifle at all, unless you are shooting at extreme ranges at which point the bullet is transitioning to subsonic. The slight impact will be on the distance between the two sights. At 150 yards, you should be good for that level of accuracy easily, assuming the gun has a good barrel and the loads are decent.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
It shouldn't affect the inherent accuracy of the rifle at all, unless you are shooting at extreme ranges at which point the bullet is transitioning to subsonic. The slight impact will be on the distance between the two sights. At 150 yards, you should be good for that level of accuracy easily, assuming the gun has a good barrel and the loads are decent.
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I sure wish we had a like button. thanks Gp! :)
 
Grizzlypeg said:
It shouldn't affect the inherent accuracy of the rifle at all, unless you are shooting at extreme ranges at which point the bullet is transitioning to subsonic. The slight impact will be on the distance between the two sights. At 150 yards, you should be good for that level of accuracy easily, assuming the gun has a good barrel and the loads are decent.
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Mr. Friendly said:
I sure wish we had a like button. thanks Gp! :)
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Agreed, the sighting radius will have the biggest impact on accuracy. Also, if you have a short stock like on the Mare's leg that certainly doesn't lend itself to accurate shooting at any reasonable distance.
 
RSuIWmT.jpg

This is my pet load with a 405gr RCBS GC HC out of my 16" Trapper. I was getting the same groups with either an 18" or 22" 1895.
 
kc34 said:
Agreed, the sighting radius will have the biggest impact on accuracy. Also, if you have a short stock like on the Mare's leg that certainly doesn't lend itself to accurate shooting at any reasonable distance.
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I'm not leaning toward a Mare's Leg as much as I am a rifle with the 16" barrel. however, if I did go with an ML, I would definitely convert it to a full length butt stock!
 
Mr. Friendly said:
I'm talking the straight wall / pistol cartridges like the .30-30, .45-70 & .44RM.

take the Mare's Leg and it's 12" barrel and then your 16" take down or trapper barrel's vs the 18.5 options that exist.

would they all print in a 5" circle at 100 - 150 yards?
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First off the 30-30 is not a straight wall and neither it nor the 45-70 were originally designed for handguns, despite crazy people who have made that happen recently.
;)

Yeah, you knew that, just pulling your chain.

I think the reduction in sight radius for iron sights would be the factor to contend with when shortening the barrel length for those three.
 
Accuracy in the field with a very short barrel carbine is poor for two reasons, short sight radius and bad handling characteristics. Muzzle light rifles are difficult to hold steady from field positions. I have two .44 magnum carbines. Put receiver sights on both, to improve the sight radius and precision of aiming. The 16" barrel Rossi and the 20" barrel Chiappa both shoot similar groups when rested on a solid bench rest. But I can shoot much better with the longer barrel from kneeling, offhand, or with an improvised rest. I only carry the short barrel carbine for "bear repellent" and would only use it at very close range anyway. So it's OK for that purpose. But for hunting the longer barrel carbine is far superior.
 
I won a local game and fish off hand shooting contest, competing against others with scopes and long barrels, using a Ruger 44 magnum carbine with a rear peep sight. I think you can get great practical accuracy from a pistol cartridge carbine, just not great ballistics. If we had shot off a bench, I would have lost. But shooting off hand negated the minor differences in actual accuracy. Most guys can't shoot three shots into a palm sized group at 100 yards shooting off hand. Sometimes, I can.
 
I have a red dot on my fullstocked RH in 45 Colt and I have no problem with 2" groups @100yds with some closer to 1" so easy deer accuracy to there. 255gr hardcast @1820 fps
 
Mr. Friendly said:
anyone record results when trying to reach out further than 100 yards?
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As some of these cartridges have significant drop between 100 and 200 yards, it makes judging distance accurately and knowing the appropriate hold over far more critical than flatter shooting cartridges. Even 25 yards makes a significant difference in point of impact beyond 100 yards.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
As some of these cartridges have significant drop between 100 and 200 yards, it makes judging distance accurately and knowing the appropriate hold over far more critical than flatter shooting cartridges. Even 25 yards makes a significant difference in point of impact beyond 100 yards.
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indeed, but when one knows their rifle and cartridge, they should be shooting with some modicum of accuracy, no? ;)

if the cartridge proves itself to be accurate at the longer range with something like a 12" barrel, it will help me with my choice, I would hope. :)
 
I wouldn't worry as much about accuracy, that should be good if the rifle and cartridge are decent. I would look at what energy it delivers at the maximum distance you intend to use this for, assuming its hunting. What is the intended use?
 
Mr. Friendly said:
anyone record results when trying to reach out further than 100 yards?
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After 100 the drop is so severe you almost need to know distances to the foot and have a drop chart handy. These are not cartridges for over 100, IMO there are about 1,000,000 better ones for those distances.
 
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