Which would you choose & Why ?

[johno]

carbine, on a long raod march every ounce counts. plus its easier to carry because it's smaller

Put me down in the carbine's corner also.

[Hangfire]

I would go carbine myself. I've always liked quicker and lighter long guns.

hf

[FALPhil]

Heh, heh. There was a time whe a 24 inch barrel was a carbine, and "real" rifles had 30 inch barrels. I guess evereything is relative.

[BattleRifleG3]

I have a 30" barreled musket that would be called a carbine. Full length Brown Bess, now that's a long gun.

[Shaun]

give me a rifle with a 24" barrel or better every time I want every bit of accuracy I can have.

[FALPhil]

In that case Shaun, you are going in the wrong direction. Shorter barrels give better accuracy, all other things equal. The reason is that shorter barrels are stiffer, and that stiffness translates into dampened barrel harmonics.

Many people equate sight plane with accuracy, and while it it true that a longer sight plane allows the human eye to center the sight in a more accurate fashion, it is not related to accuracy imputed by barrel length except as the barrel is used as the foundation for mounting the sights. OTOH, if you are using optical sights, sight plane is not an issue.

There are many, many other factors that affect accuracy, and barrel harmonics is merely one of them. However, the management of barrel harmonics can make or break accuracy in a rifle. After all, it is the principle on which USRAC's B.O.S.S. is based.

Quote:      

Originally posted by Shaun give me a rifle with a 24" barrel or better every time I want every bit of accuracy I can have.

[Shaun]

I also like the advantage that every once of powder in my loads is burned pefrfectly with my toys but many of my rifles weigh in the 10lb range so it wouldn't matter which one

[johno]

one adavantage to the longer barrel is less recoil and noise with the same cartridge.