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KY Jon #611544 02/23/22 11:47 PM
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Originally Posted by KY Jon
Truth is British gunmakers would give the customer whatever he was willing to pay for. It is a metric issue, or conversion by and large. A lot of Spanish guns are 27” which is 68.58mm. 70mm would be 27.56” so 27” is a slight compromise. 29” is 73.66. Some English makers used 29” to differentiate their guns being slightly lighter. 25” was the brainchild of WWGreener which is 63.5mm. The metric to inches is a bit messy.

These inches to metric conversions need to either have the decimal point moved, or change millimeters to centimeters. But as JBLondon correctly notes, English gunmakers were still measuring barrels in inches prior to 1965, when the Metric System was adopted. So the commonly seen barrel lengths of 27" or 29" have absolutely nothing to do with the Metric System, and are most likely a matter of marketing and/or inventory control. It would be interesting to know if there was some other logic behind the adoption of those uneven barrel lengths. Perhaps we will soon be informed in the Perpetual Never-ending Epic OCD Reilly Thread that it was yet another invention by E.M. Reilly and his imaginary 300 employees.

In addition, most U.S. makers were using the even numbered lengths of 26, 28, 30, and 32 inches ( or more) long before most of the world adopted the Metric System. But we see some guns that vary from those common even number barrel lengths. Robert Elliot stated that the Syracuse Lefever guns were sold only in lengths of 28", 30", 32", and rarely in 26" lengths, and that uneven lengths are a good indication of cut barrels. But I have seen many Lefevers with odd lengths of something like 28 1/8" or 30 3/16" that are very obviously uncut due to the presence of full length choke tapers and intact keels between the barrels and ribs. This practice of leaving the finished barrels a bit long is most often seen in the older rod cockers or two-hook cocking system guns, and some small hook guns. However, I have never seen uncut Lefever barrels that are some fraction of an inch under some even number. It seems like they were OK with giving the buyer a bit more for his money, but never less.


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

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The effect of barrel weight and length is now quantifiable in terms of pounds/ounces or grams/ kilograms and moment of inertia. Note that the muzzle area of the barrels are more or less twice as far from the balance point as the butt area. Balance moves as a function weight change times length from balance point to the removed/added weight. Inertia, however, changes as a function of weight added/removed and the length form balance point squared (length times length). That is weight removed/added from butt area will have 1 weight times one length. On the other hand, one weight times two length times two length (1 W times 2 L times 2L = W times 4L) shows that a barrel weight change(such as shortening or lengthening barrels) will affect inertia by four times as much as the same weight change at the butt. So, changing the barrel length by 2" (say about 4 ounces) would have about the same effect as changing the weight at butt by 16 ounces.

From the above we can see that barrel length is a very useful tool for adjusting gun handling.

DDA

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I love it when Rocketman makes me revisit my high school algebra and college physics! However, I don’t think I would have understood the importance of that explanation if he had not summarized with “ So, changing the barrel length by 2" (say about 4 ounces) would have about the same effect as changing the weight at butt by 16 ounces.” Noodle on that you all and realize that barrel inches really do make a BIG difference in how a gun handles.

That said, as I have had Don tell me again and again, there is no right or wrong with this stuff ( gun feel, dynamics or handling). One man’s preference is another man’s anathema!

Don, I hope you are well my friend! We miss you down here in the Carolinas.
Dr. P

JBLondon #611672 02/25/22 08:04 PM
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Originally Posted by JBLondon
The UK govt. adopted the metric system in 1965 and, as in Canada, many of the citizens still think of length in imperial. If your odd-inch-length British barrels are pre-1965, then I wouldn't think metric conversion has anything to do with it.
It would if they were sourcing rough or semifinished barrels from Belgium or France, which the bulk of the cottage makers and finishers probably were They likely may have bought stock length european barrels and trimmed them to shorter even inch lengths.

Last edited by AGS; 02/25/22 08:04 PM.
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Salutations, Dr. P., always good to hear from the N.C. crowd. Thank you for your kind words. Shot a round of skeet with a group of Univ. of Mo. Science and Technology students a couple of weeks ago. It was a real hoot watching the "light bulbs" come on over their heads as we spoke about handling in terms of weight, balance (center of gravity), MOI at CG, and at butt (parallel axis theorem). It was a real world application of knowledge they had learned but had never considered as applied to guns. Great fun for an old man!!!

Mostly well here, but do have parts starting to wear out - having a shoulder replaced in a couple of weeks.

Really looking forward to getting back for a Southern SXS when covid goes away. Hope every one there is safe and well.

DDA

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