Alfa project 9mm, 4.5" vs 6" barrel
- Thread starter timandkimandshea
- Start date
The perceived precision advantage between 4" and 6" barrels is that the longer barrel has a longer sight radius and is easier to shoot. The longer barrel also gives a marginal increase in velocity, which may help in longer (25m+ shooting).
Other than that, one will balance better than the other but you'll have to go to a shop and hold both to determine which one balances better for you.
Other than that, one will balance better than the other but you'll have to go to a shop and hold both to determine which one balances better for you.
unopistoleros
CGN Regular
Alfa offers about ten different grips for their revolvers. They make them in wood, rubber and some plastic-ish material and there are four-five sizes to choose from...
The accuracy isn't different from barrel to barrel. It's been shown in other testing I've read about that the bullets only need a couple of inches to reach their full spin rate and leave with a stable trajectory. After that it's all about bullet to bore fit, quality of the muzzle crown and matching the charge and weight to the barrel twist. But these things aside the two lengths will shoot equally as accurately.
What IS affected as mentioned above is the sight baseline length and our ability to see small changes in that picture and to hold the sight picture. The 6 inch barrel on paper will be more accurate for a given shooter because the longer sight line length makes the shift at the target due to small errors less. So if the shooter has good vision and steady hands and shoots slow bullseye style shooting then the longer barrel will likely be better for them. Also the slightly heavy front end of a longer barrel is going to rest more steadily by reducing the effects of nerve movement in the hand and arm.
On the other hand a good shooter can produce good results from the shorter barrel. It's just a little more work and looking for a more perfect sight alignment. The upside is that a shorter barrel clears a holster more easily if using the gun in action shooting events. And for shifting from target to target quickly the lower swing weight of the short barrel makes it a touch easier to stabilize on the new target in rapid sequences.
So buy the one that suits your shooting style and goals the most. Longer for slow paced accuracy shooting and shorter if you are looking at going into speed related shooting.
Oh, and for MOST of us the sight baseline length issues one way or the other are going to be masked by our vision and nerves even for slow paced bullseye shooting. So any reduction in group size from the longer barrel might not be as much as it could be. For those of us that get nice sharp tidy groups now a longer barrel will keep that or improve on it. But if we can't get sub 4 inch groups at 25 yards with a known good gun now then it's not likely that the extra 2 inches of barrel will change that.
What IS affected as mentioned above is the sight baseline length and our ability to see small changes in that picture and to hold the sight picture. The 6 inch barrel on paper will be more accurate for a given shooter because the longer sight line length makes the shift at the target due to small errors less. So if the shooter has good vision and steady hands and shoots slow bullseye style shooting then the longer barrel will likely be better for them. Also the slightly heavy front end of a longer barrel is going to rest more steadily by reducing the effects of nerve movement in the hand and arm.
On the other hand a good shooter can produce good results from the shorter barrel. It's just a little more work and looking for a more perfect sight alignment. The upside is that a shorter barrel clears a holster more easily if using the gun in action shooting events. And for shifting from target to target quickly the lower swing weight of the short barrel makes it a touch easier to stabilize on the new target in rapid sequences.
So buy the one that suits your shooting style and goals the most. Longer for slow paced accuracy shooting and shorter if you are looking at going into speed related shooting.
Oh, and for MOST of us the sight baseline length issues one way or the other are going to be masked by our vision and nerves even for slow paced bullseye shooting. So any reduction in group size from the longer barrel might not be as much as it could be. For those of us that get nice sharp tidy groups now a longer barrel will keep that or improve on it. But if we can't get sub 4 inch groups at 25 yards with a known good gun now then it's not likely that the extra 2 inches of barrel will change that.
