Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Is there a specific purpose to a "long" barrel? Does it aid in accuracy? Otherwise it seems awkward and unwieldy Is it?
Oh! Okay then. That makes a lot of sense. It has room to gather speed so when it leaves the barrel it has more "fuel" than a regular handgun would have. Thank you for your reply L. So when you encounter potential murderers carrying long-barrel weapons you are not the target if you are close to them. They are looking to take out those at some distance. Comforting right? Yeah. Not so much.
This post was edited by RosieG at July 13, 2021 5:01 AM MDT
Maybe they need both. A long barrel whatsit and a handgun for close encounters. TWO FISTED SHOOTING. Why not? Wild Wild West! Thank you for your reply L and Happy Tuesday to thee and thine! :)
A longer barrel allows the projectile to receive energy from the powder blast for a longer period of time, thus increasing its velocity. Higher velocity means better accuracy.
This post was edited by Element 99 at July 13, 2021 12:01 PM MDT
Long-barrelled guns, from rifels to artillery pieces, other than shot-guns, are also "rifled" to increase the accuracy of the round's flight. It consists of shallow grooves along the barrel's length, cut in a gentle spiral to make the round spin.
Very large guns such as were made for battleships and the "howitzers" used on land, had very long barrels for maximum range.
The ultimate though was the Second World War "V3" battery being built by the Nazis in North-East France towards the end of the War. Despite the successes with the V1 flying-bomb and the V2 ballistic missile*, this was a set of guns intended to pepper London with 6" calibre shells. Each gun was some 400 feet long, and the barrel had side-chambers part-way along to hold more propellant fired behind the shell to accelerate it to the velocity needed for the 90-mile range. The guns were underground, in steeply-sloping shafts, with the muzzle at about ground-level.
Luckily the battery was never finished. The site was spotted on reconnaissance photographs, and thought naturally to be another ballistic-missile installation. The RAF bombed it heavily enough to disrupt it, and a Canadian regiment captured the site after D-Day.
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* Ballistic refers to the flight pattern of the missile, not its warhead. The V2 rockets carried conventional high-explosive charges. Although the "intercontinental ballistic missiles" of the Cold War carried nuclear bombs, the adjective still only means how the rockets would have flown. Ballistics, with an 's', is the science of projectiles which can be anything from a bowled ball to a weapon of war; and is used forensically, for example in matching a bullet from a murder scene to the individual gun that fired it.
SpunkySenior 