I had wondered about this myself, as I've got rifles of various barrel lengths and always wondered how much effect it made.
The following information is from Mark White's book "The Ultimate Ruger 10/22 Manual and User's Guide" . Apparently, he cut a 28 inch barrel two inches at a time and measured for muzzle velocity.
Ruger 77/22; Remington Standard Velocity .22 LR ammunition
Barrel Length/ Velocity
28" 1,095 fps
26" 1,107
24" 1,119
22" 1,129
20" 1,138
18" 1,149
16" 1,157
14" 1,149
There's also some more testing and discussion about barrel quality on velocity, too, here.
http://rimfireshooting.com/index.php?showtopic=3340&st=0
Here is another section that would be of relevance.
We used five CZ 452 .22 rifles with different barrel lengths and fired six rounds each of six different cartridge types. The chart below reflects the average velocity of each six round group followed by / the standard deviation of the six round group.
The rifles were:
CZ 452 Ultra Lux with a 28.6" barrel
CZ 452 Special with a 24.8" barrel
CZ 452 American with a 22.5" barrel
CZ 452 FS with a 20.7" barrel
CZ 452 Classic with a 16.5" barrel (Fuzzy the Limey's old CMP Sporter rifle)
The cartridges were:
CB Longs = CB
RWS Subsonic Hollow Points = SSHP
Wolf Match Target = Standard Velocity or SV
American Eagle Solids = Lead High Velocity or LHV
CCI Mini Mag Solids = Plated High Velocity or PHV
CCI Stingers = Hyper Velocity or HypVel
-------CB---- SSHP----SV----LHV-----PHV---HypVel
28.6 652/53 968/16 1037/13 1206/16 1188/24 1660/50
24.8 676/34 997/20 1062/13 1219/22 1217/40 1660/47
22.5 653/65 998/08 1069/10 1229/22 1213/24 1708/31
20.7 701/44 957/39 1062/05 1224/14 1190/11 1661/26
16.5 685/22 949/27 1057/14 1205/17 1208/22 1666/39
So in summary, although barrels longer than 16" or so do give up velocity, it's essentially an insignificant difference if the choice is between say a 22" sporter barrel and a 26" target barrel.
The following information is from Mark White's book "The Ultimate Ruger 10/22 Manual and User's Guide" . Apparently, he cut a 28 inch barrel two inches at a time and measured for muzzle velocity.
Ruger 77/22; Remington Standard Velocity .22 LR ammunition
Barrel Length/ Velocity
28" 1,095 fps
26" 1,107
24" 1,119
22" 1,129
20" 1,138
18" 1,149
16" 1,157
14" 1,149
There's also some more testing and discussion about barrel quality on velocity, too, here.
http://rimfireshooting.com/index.php?showtopic=3340&st=0
Here is another section that would be of relevance.
We used five CZ 452 .22 rifles with different barrel lengths and fired six rounds each of six different cartridge types. The chart below reflects the average velocity of each six round group followed by / the standard deviation of the six round group.
The rifles were:
CZ 452 Ultra Lux with a 28.6" barrel
CZ 452 Special with a 24.8" barrel
CZ 452 American with a 22.5" barrel
CZ 452 FS with a 20.7" barrel
CZ 452 Classic with a 16.5" barrel (Fuzzy the Limey's old CMP Sporter rifle)
The cartridges were:
CB Longs = CB
RWS Subsonic Hollow Points = SSHP
Wolf Match Target = Standard Velocity or SV
American Eagle Solids = Lead High Velocity or LHV
CCI Mini Mag Solids = Plated High Velocity or PHV
CCI Stingers = Hyper Velocity or HypVel
-------CB---- SSHP----SV----LHV-----PHV---HypVel
28.6 652/53 968/16 1037/13 1206/16 1188/24 1660/50
24.8 676/34 997/20 1062/13 1219/22 1217/40 1660/47
22.5 653/65 998/08 1069/10 1229/22 1213/24 1708/31
20.7 701/44 957/39 1062/05 1224/14 1190/11 1661/26
16.5 685/22 949/27 1057/14 1205/17 1208/22 1666/39
So in summary, although barrels longer than 16" or so do give up velocity, it's essentially an insignificant difference if the choice is between say a 22" sporter barrel and a 26" target barrel.
