Accuracy from a short barreled handgun

[Woodsman1]

Hi everyone, I have a new S W 686 with a 2 1/2 barrel, that ive not had a chance to fire yet. For those of you who own short barreled handguns. What kind of accuracy could i expect at a reasonable distance, and at what distances do you shoot yours ? Thanks so much for the imput everyone.

[Bubber]

Woodsman1, In my limited experience a shorter barrel does not mean less accuracy. What you do lose is Sight Radius. A longe sight radius allows you to see movement of the front sight varying from one shot to another. You will also lose some veloacity using the same ammo from a 6 to a 4 to a 2and 1/2 inch barrel. Either of those items may be compensated for by loading your own ammo and better sights or optics. A freind of mine had Gene Marshall build a snubby open revo. It shot well and with the Tasco Pro Point optic on it, and one had no problem hitting steel ram silohuetes at 100 meters consistantly. Welcome to the Forums. Later rdd

[Blueridge]

Well I use a Ruger Alaskan (shooting .45 Colt) in USPSA and IDPA competition. It has a 2 1/2" barrel, and shoots just fine. While it took me a little practice to shoot well with it consistently, I have been able to make 30-50 yard shots without much trouble now. I have not really practiced shooting targets beyond those renages with my hanfdguns. For me the big thing was keeping the gun stable (sights aligned) throughout the trigger pull.

I used to on occasion get "constructive" comments on how the shorter barrel was detrimental, but I have become good enough now that I get "Wow" comments on my ability to make shots (which is often due to the barrel length and how "hot" my loads are). Especially the long shots on stages. While I have a 2 1/2" barrel the sight radius is 4 3/4", so sighting is not as bad as most people imagine.

I do have to load my ammunition "hotter" to make power factor, but I have become accustomed to the loads now. I use 5.6 - 5.8 grains of Titegroup under a 250 grain LRNFP bullet in my loads, and the max load listed in the Hodgdon reloading guide is 6.2 grains. I have used as high as 6.0 grains in competition, but I backed down to find my minimum load to make major. The 5.6 grain load made 167pf at a match, so I upped the load to 5.8 grains for more leeway for temperature variance.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Blueridge

[Woodsman1]

Thanks guys, I guess ill just have to get out and shoot it abit. Thanks again.

[GentlemanJim]

I have seen guys hit steel plates at 200yds with snubbies

As was said above its the sight radius not an accuracy issue.

Just practice

Jim

[anoshoot]

Practice, practice, practice all in a nut shell. Dont rush yourself, make your hits.

[Duane Thomas]

Frankly - and I know this runs counter to the conventional wisdom - I have always preferred something with a shorter barrel for distance shots. I've never found the "longer sight radius" advantage that so many people claim really worked that way for me. What I found was that having that long barrel waving around out there just made my wobble zone WAY more apparent. This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing, but it doesn't lead to a smaller wobble zone, it just leads to less confidence on long shots. Just my experience. OTOH, I much prefer the balance of a gun that sits more back in my hand, and the (apparent) greater stability of the sights on such a gun for distance work.

YMM seriously V.

[goat68]

If your talking self defense, the typical range of 25 ft will present no problem. The muzzle flash alone will be enough to scare most bad guys away! You may even give em some powder burns. I have a hard time with short barrels at longer ranges. The double action triggers move around a lot in my hand to make consistant good hits without slowing way down.

[Blueridge]

If your talking self defense, the typical range of 25 ft will present no problem. The muzzle flash alone will be enough to scare most bad guys away! You may even give em some powder burns. I have a hard time with short barrels at longer ranges. The double action triggers move around a lot in my hand to make consistant good hits without slowing way down.

As I advised above, I have become accustomed to shooting my Ruger Alaskan with "hot" .45 Colt loads in competition. It has a trigger pull that I found with a gauge to be 16 lbs double action pull. After some practice and getting used to shooting that in competition I don't think that it slows me down any more than shooting a longer barreled revolver or handgun. Keeping my revolver stable throughout the trigger pull was the greatest challenge.

Basically don't let the short barrel scare you, and practice with it until you are confident with it.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Blueridge

[Duane Thomas]

These forums are really not the place for discussion of what shooting will accomplish on "bad guys". This is a competition shooting forum, and discussion of "real-world self-defense" is strongly discouraged.

[goat68]

Please let me rephrase myself.

What I've found is that the 357, being long and skinny is hard to get in and out of the cylinder. Therefore one can do a lot of walking while performing a reload, and if allowed, one could walk up to the targets reducing the distance and eliminating any sight radius issues. The trick is not to get too close so you don't damage the targets. I am one of those that has problems with the shorter sight radius guns.

[benos]

They must be pretty accurate, because I remember selling Telly Savalas (in Kojak) shoot a helicopter out of the sky with a snubby, from the hip!

Okay, S&W snubby's are normally very accurate, but very difficult to shoot accurately past about 15 yards.

be

[Duane Thomas]

Hey, Jim Rockford took down a light airplane with a snubby - and in the pilot episode, too.