Bolt vs Gas Gun question

[ELR LVR]

View attachment 1674766

Gas guns are my favorite.

My first build shot 9 shot groups darn near that tight at 50 yds with 69 SMK's (Stopped at 9 because well,
I was afraid shot 10 would spoil the group lol)
I was so beside myself with its accuracy ...
...the 223 Varmint bolt gun hasn't been used in nearly 20 years.
Looks like you know your AR's well man
They can be much more accurate than many people believe.

 

[Hengehold]

To the OP, there is an article in this site that discusses barrel length vs rigidity. The basic takeaway was that all things being equal, a shorter barrel is more rigid and should be easier to tune. Therefore, more likely to be accurate.

The details were something like for each additional inch of barrel length the barrel becomes less rigid by a factor of the 2nd power. I am not a math guru but I believe that makes the barrel interesting more flexible as it gets longer. Think of an exponential curve rather than a linear relationship between barrel length and rigidity.

long range shooters use a longer barrel for the increased muzzle velocity (~20ft/sec per additional inch of barrel).

 

[Iowa Fox]

Sorry no,

If you enjoy specialty pistols at distance those shoots are a lot of fun. Should be one coming up in Ohio I believe.

 

[jelenko]

That brings up a good point.

Using iron sights, a longer sight radius does enable more precise aiming.
Of course, sight radius can be increased without increasing barrel length by using a 'bloop' tube.

 

[dellet]

If you’re talking AR 15 or AR 10, a big limitation is barrel diameter and contour.

Even if you go full custom on an AR 15, you’re limited to about .980” on the breech end and more or less a heavy varmint or medium Palma barrel without a heavy breech for the chamber.
A .930 straight barrel would more likely fall into the light varmint or even the feather weight class. Consider that when you see some 600-1000 yard groups with an AR 15

The AR10 is a little better with a 1.20” breech end and you could probably squeeze a little larger than a .930” gas block, but not much without hitting the hand guard. So your barrel would be limited to that diameter past the gas block.

Everything has its limitations, but people have pushed that envelope pretty far.

 

[Rickhem]

Just as a point of interest, the actual rifled portion of the Olympic level airguns is only about 10" long, the rest of what looks like the barrel is just a larger diameter tube. The pellet never touches that part. Some .22lr rifles are similarly constructed.
Now these airguns are purpose built for 10 meter competition, and are fired from a standing position, so part of the justification for that short barrel is that tiny shooter movements are unavoidable. At the relatively slow ~500fps pellet speed, the pellet is out of the barrel sooner in a short barrel, so the short barrel time helps alleviate the risk that any shooter movement could be altering point of impact while the pellet is still moving through the barrel.
But overall, as a blanket generalization, a longer barrel does not automatically enhance the precision capability of a firearm.

 

[mongo chicago]

Gas Guns can be made to be as accurate as bolt guns. I.M.H.O. It just takes a lot more work and tuning to do so. Also a lot more money and maintenance. They are also harder on brass and you end up searching for your cases.