Barrel Length vs. Felt Recoil...

H

Hans

New member
Hey everyone--

I am considering getting a Ruger SP101 in the next few weeks, either in the 2 1/4" or 3" barrel. I was just curious, how much of a difference would the weight of the longer barrel make in perceived recoil, if any? Also, would there be much difference in accuracy? This would be my first wheelgun, and I would probably use it for CCW occasionally. Thanks for the help.
 
You will notice little to no difference when talking about a 3/4" inch difference in barrel length...now if it was the 3" vs the 6", there would be a good difference.
 
What about accuracy difference between the two, I realize that there may be some, but will it be significant?
 
I think the longer the barrel the more velocity you can get from a bullet so terminal ballstics will be hindered on a shorter barrel.

Also shorter barrels = a snappier gun, with a louder report, I think if you practice with any gun and learn how it shoots regardless of what it does physically you can shoot sufficiently and purposefully at any target.

A revolver also has intrinsic accuracy because it's not a semiauto, just like a semi-auto rifle you'll hear people say is less accurate than a bolt action rifle. Less playing with the bullet and more 'click' - pull - boom! not click - pin released - boom - cycle ammo - expel gas. (maybe not in that order.) :D
 
There probably won't be any accuracy difference. Velocity will be a little less in the shorter barrrel. But we're only talking about a 3/4 inch difference.
 
I owned a dao 2.25 sp101 for a bit and also had a 3 inch sp101 at the same time.

Recoil is about the same. I certainly could not feel any difference.

When shooting double action the accuracy was about the same.

Now if I took the 3 inch version and shot it single action my accuracy improved a bit. And I suspect the extra sight radius might have also helped a bit.

Overall I think any differences are pretty small when talking 3/4 inch of barrel and what not.

The dao vs. the double action or single action made a lot more difference to me.
 
dont know if this will apply to a little gun but i have a 4 inch .500 linebaugh vaquero and have had a 4 5/8s .500 and a 5.5 inch .500. It may be my imagination but i feel the 4 inch gun kicks less. My theroy is that the bullet is in the barrel a shorter amount of time and that helps in the muzzle flip part of the recoil. Weight does matter. But muzzle flip is 80% of percieved recoil. As far as accuracy goes i have never seen a differnce in barrel lenght as long as your eyes are good enough to use a shorter sight plane.
 
There is little difference between the two

Barrel difference adds a little volicity, and can stabilize a bullet a little more but the difference is minimal.
The main difference and improvement with an longer barrel length is sight radius. The longer the distance between the front and rear sight the easer it is to hold the gun on target. Small movements of the front sight are easer to see when the distance between the two are farther apart.
The slight added weight on the front of the gun will decreas barrel flip but again with only 3/4 inch its going to be minimal.
Your best choice would be 1. which feels better 2. which is easer to conceal.
And dont worry about the rest.
You have picked our a well built gun from a company with a great history.
Have fun.
 
Just bought the SP101 2" DAO a few weeks ago and have used it every range trip, most recently being yesterday. I find it to be a very accurate revolver and a great carry choice, which is why I bought it. I also wanted something that would allow me to shoot magnum loads with little recoil and be snag free. I wouldn't obsess over accuracy at distances because with any gun, that comes with practice and most defense situations are close encounters so it's unlikely you'd miss regardless of what you had.
 
Barrel Length V Recoil?

I'm 66 years yooung and have been shooting since 1956. That's a while.
I have and shoot a S&W 686 and a Ruger SP-101 .357 in 2 1/4 inch barrel.
From my experience...
The heavier the un the less felt recoil.
The shorter the barrel the more muzzle flash and velocity loss.
The SP-101 is larger than a "J" frame S&W. Almost the side of a "K" frame.

I have tried to stress my SP-101 but have not been able to stress any of the many Rugers I have owwned. My next step will be to get a set of Hogue, after market, grips and maybe a Wolf Spring Kit for the little gun. :)
 
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