Short vs long barrel

[Guest TXGuy]

After years of not shooting or owning a .22 caliber handgun, I am returning to target shooting with a bunch of old geezers. I am torn between purchasing a long barrel (say 10") vs. a 5.5 inch one. Which one would better serve me? I am considering the long Ruger Competition and shorter Mark III.

[Guest Markx]

I have a Ruger Mark III Target with 5.5 bull barrel with a scope. It is a very sweet shooter. It is heavy though, I imagine a 10inch barrel would be even heavier. Would take some of the fun out of it for me.

[Guest dubaholic2]

go with the mkIII hunter. its got a 6 7/8" fluted bull barrel. long enough to get great accuracy, but not so long as to make it cumbersome.

[ls3_kid]

I have the 5.5 inch as well. 10 inch would be a huge gun hand gun. Maybe compromise in the middle with the Competition/Hunter 6.88 inch barrel.

Edit: I've been beat to the punch.

[Caster]

The stars at night, are big and bright...........

[hipower]

....deep in the heart of Texas...

[hipower]

Sorry...I could't resist...

[1gewehr]

As far as accuracy goes, in a .22 pistol anything over 4" does not really make a difference. Added barrel length gives a longer sight radius if you are using iron sights, and more velocity. For target shooting, more velocity is irrelevant. In fact, target ammo is designed to stay subsonic so that you don't have supersonic transitions affecting accuracy.

If you are planning on using an optic sight, the shorter barrel will be fine. If iron sights are your preference, the longer fluted barrel allows the longer sight radius without a huge weight penalty.

[Jonnin]

After years of not shooting or owning a .22 caliber handgun, I am returning to target shooting with a bunch of old geezers. I am torn between purchasing a long barrel (say 10") vs. a 5.5 inch one. Which one would better serve me? I am considering the long Ruger Competition and shorter Mark III.

The longer barrel gives you extra velocity, which allows the weakish standard velocity target ammo to punch out a bit more distance. Serious target shooters use standard velocity to avoid the aerodynamic problems caused by crossing the sound barrier in flight, that can kick the round off target. The long barrel also gives more sight radius which helps accuracy with iron sights. There is no noticable effect on accuracy from just the barrel; put a red dot on both and they will both do equally well at pistol target ranges (50 yards or less). The long barrel adds a lot of balance problems; we got a 7 inch barrel buckmark and the barrrel weight is a serious problem for extended matches --- I cannot shoot 90 rounds with that gun over an event without major fatigue. Its the real steel barrel though, not an ultralight one --- you can buy some long barrels with a light composite material build and that would help. The choice is yours, but there is little to be gained from the longer barrel unless you are shooting at extended ranges, perhaps scoped and benchrested? If you are just shooting at short ranges (under 25 yards) a 5-6 inch barrel is perfect, and even out to 50 5-6 is still plenty, I would not move to a 7-10 unless you wanted 100 yards.

[Guest TXGuy]

Thanks for the info. I know a lot more than I did. Years I owned a .22 Colt buntline I loved and also a Hi Standard semi. At the time I was fairly good with them, but now I understand why I could hit a match box at 20 paces with the buntline. And the trigger pull and distance was buttery smooth on the Hi Standard. However, I think I will go with the 5.5 inch Ruger, maybe add a good trigger, and maybe a scope. I do not know about the scope though. Any ideas on that?

[Guest dubaholic2]

red dot or holographic, unless you're going to be using a rest. i had a scope on my mkIII hunter and i could never use it without a rest.

[Jonnin]

Thanks for the info. I know a lot more than I did. Years I owned a .22 Colt buntline I loved and also a Hi Standard semi. At the time I was fairly good with them, but now I understand why I could hit a match box at 20 paces with the buntline. And the trigger pull and distance was buttery smooth on the Hi Standard. However, I think I will go with the 5.5 inch Ruger, maybe add a good trigger, and maybe a scope. I do not know about the scope though. Any ideas on that?

Scopes are frustrating on a pistol: more than 2-3x is *very* difficult to hold steady enough to do much at longer ranges and overkill at short ranges. A 3x scope at 25-75 yards is pretty cool once you get used to it, but a good red dot is easier to use and more practical up close. I have a 3-7x scope on one of my pistols and its not usable at the higher powers unless bench rested, I keep it on 3x when standing up. One issue with red dots is the cheaper ones have such a big dot you cover the target entirely at longer ranges. At 50 yards the dot can cover a good 1.5 inch circle of your target or more... a scope does not do that. A high dollar red dot has a much smaller pinprick sized dot if you want to spend the $$. A low power scope is better than a cheap red dot at 25+ yards, a good red dot is better than a scope out to 50, and past 50 a scope is nice again if you can hold it steady enough. What exactly do you want to do? You could spend a lot of money on this stuff and end up just plinking at 20 yards.... are you looking for long range? Jagged hole groups? Knocking a beer can off the fence? Going to compete or just improve on your own? What you want to do is possible and you can spend a ton of money on it or hardly any at all, depending, but outlining your goals matter before you shell out. There is no sense in spending 1k on a gun, 300 on an optic, 300 more on a trigger job, unless you are pretty darn serious. A casual shooter can do wonders with a mark 3 and a $75 red dot and some decent ammo --- spending more from there requires a need for better gear, and that means your skill level has surpassed this introductory gear.

[timcalhoun]

My wife says the length of the barrel doesn't matter. I think she might be lying though.

[Guest TXGuy]

Great advice and information based on actual use rather than promoting something to sell. After studying it, looking at guns in the store, and considering my usage I think I will purchase a Ruger Mark III and shoot it awhile to get familiar with its feel. If I change anything, it will probably be a red dot sight and/or a better trigger pull. I have no intention of entering competition shooting. I would rather see just how accurate I can become. Also, I can run with a group of other old guys who shoot for fun rather than competition. I might do just that. At any rate, thanks for all the help.

TXGuy