Free Pistol barrel lenght

[jenrick]

I was doing some browsing here on TT and found a few threads about Pilkguns policy to not sell the longer barrelled Steyr LP10 air pistols. I can see the rationale behind it, but I'm curious then why no one produces a shorter barrelled free pistol for the same reason. Is it just the presumption that if you're shooting free pistol you know what you're doing? Or conversely are a shooting masochist and they are just giving you what you want?

Just something I was pondering. Unfortunately that was while practicing today, so it cost me some points thinking about it.

-Jenrick

[shaky hands]

The same angular error costs you much more in free pistol shooting. Antal & Skanaker presented a calculation that shows the same sight misalignment that takes you to the edge of the 10-ring on the air pistol target, makes you shoot close to the edge of the 9-ring on the free pistol target. Sight alignment is thus less critical in air pistol, and the shorter barrel makes sense. That, and also what you said about free pistol shooters expected to know their stuff. And third, have you noticed much free pistol development in recent years? Morini hogs the market and, while being less than ideal gun, does not have many competitors. Why bother then?

[renzo]

I was doing some browsing here on TT and found a few threads about Pilkguns policy to not sell the longer barrelled Steyr LP10 air pistols. I can see the rationale behind it, but I'm curious then why no one produces a shorter barrelled free pistol for the same reason. Is it just the presumption that if you're shooting free pistol you know what you're doing? Or conversely are a shooting masochist and they are just giving you what you want?

Just something I was pondering. Unfortunately that was while practicing today, so it cost me some points thinking about it.

-Jenrick

You have a point there.

I'd say that anyone who willingly involves himself in FP shooting (myself included) shows a notorious behavioral problem, and should be commited....................................

[David M]

Prior to the Sydney Olympics I made two new barrels for my Morini Free pistol,
one 14" and one 10" (std is 12").
The longer 14" was good in the calm but if you made a mistake on the trigger
it punished you.
The 10" opened the group up a little but pulled the errors in a little.
The short barrel proved to be very, very good in a gusty wind.
Result was that the long barrel was cut down to be another 10" wind barrel.

[BobGee]

David, on the 10inch barrel, did you extend the front sight beyond the muzzle like Skanaker does to compensate or was it a shortened sight radius?

Bob

[6string]

Hi,
The old Hammerli 120 used to be made in a long and short barrel version.
The short one had a pretty loyal following for a good while.

Best Regards,
Jim

[slofyr]

Similar discussion last year....

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 62#p218762

[jenrick]

I'm shooting a Toz currently, so I'm at the other end of the spectrum personally. I've debated make a sight extension tube, but I'm honestly at a loss as to what I'd gain. I certainly don't hold hard enough for it to matter a the moment. I was just curious if I was missing something. It really does seem to be the case that the FP makers produce guns that are competative at the highest level, and don't worry about anything else.

-Jenrick

[Fortitudo Dei]

I recently shortened the sight radius on my Morini 84e which has a standard 12 inch barrel and came fitted with the original “short” compensator (it never had a standard sight holder). Even with the front sight moved back to the most rearward position, the radius with compensator was still longer than what it would have been with the standard sight holder / bloop tube. This sometimes left me struggling to hold sight alignment and an occasional bad case of “chicken-finger”. I removed the compensator, cleaned all the crud out of it, shifted it to the most rearward position on the barrel possible and fitted a narrower 3.5mm front sight to the most rearward hole on the compensator. This has reduced the sight radius down to 350mm. The compensator no longer compensates and the pistol is now louder than it was, but the perceived movement of the front sight has noticeably reduced, alignment is easier to hold and I find it much easier to release the shot; I should have done this years ago!