Long barrels are better?

[slayer]

Hello

It has been my experience shooting many brands of air rifles and spending many long hours with the best airgun engineers and manufacturers. The better the air delivery system whether it is hammer, hammer less, regulated or non regulated, electronic or mechanical will give a balance of more power, more accuracy, more shots per cylinder and at the same time requires LESS barrel length to achieve. We all call this TUNING. The better the design from the beginning the less TUNING is required by the user to achieve results intended by the maker. Airgunners seem to be a unique group of shooters that like to think the manufacturers design can be improved on. Sometimes it can.

Barrel length is free power up to a point that is different with every rifle and it’s tune. However it can be a crutch for a poorly designed air delivery system and turn the wasted air into use. Dana’s point about harmonics is well taken. The longer the barrel the more vibration and corresponding accuracy issues can be present. Requiring more tuning.

Many users want to recreate the firearm with air power. 4500 psi compared to 20000. It’s not a fair fight. Fun to try though.

Rob.

Rob is right on point. I'll add two thoughts .

1) Any additional barrel beyond what is required to achieve the intended ballistic performance is a liability.
2) Barrel harmonics are the cube root of the length - y=X^3. To put this into perspective, when you double the length of a barrel the amplitude of the harmonic is 9 8 times greater.

 

[Emu]

They are heavier, so at least for workout, the answer is yes.

 

[BackStop]

Sorry, I didn't address Dana's point(s) about harmonics. Something else to consider with harmonics is the thinness of the barrel, as in barrel liners. Thinner barrels are going to have a higher amplitude of resonance/harmonics than a more solid/thicker barrel. Of course, you do give up having a lighter gun, so there are always trade offs.

 

[Redtick12]

Rob is right on point. I'll add two thoughts .

1) Any additional barrel beyond what is required to achieve the intended ballistic performance is a liability.
2) Barrel harmonics are the cube root of the length - y=X^3. To put this into perspective, when you double the length of a barrel the amplitude of the harmonic is 9 times greater.

That math is not quite right, but the point is well taken. I don’t actually know what kind of function harmonics follow, but if it is a cube function then doubling the barrel length would make the harmonics 8 times greater. Close enough that we get the point though.

 

[slayer]

That math is not quite right, but the point is well taken. I don’t actually know what kind of function harmonics follow, but if it is a cube function then doubling the barrel length would make the harmonics 8 times greater. Close enough that we get the point though.

my bad - yes 8X Thanks for catching that!