There was a test they did where they took drywall sheets lined up behind one another and shot it with various calibers

mass x speed x speed

more energy, less inertia my dude, and inertia is what you need for the wall

speed (velocity) is a lot more important than mass

which is why a few gram heavy bullet can REKK your body armor and kill you

The other part of it Proyne is that I have in more modern handgun loads (JHPs) in particular they are using fast burn powders these days so in a long barrel (over 14") you are losing muzzle Velocity.

as the long as the bullet is going SANIC FAST supersonic speeds

>you are losing muzzle Velocity.

I call bullshit

you might get no measurable improvement in muzzle velocity, but I find it VERY hard to believe you would lose muzzle velocity

.44MAG lever gun chronos faster as SBR than a Carbine

for that to happen, the pressure from the atmosphere outside would have to be higher than that inside barrel

there's friction from the barrel, you know

Now if you were to up that to a 20" plus barrel it would really lose the MV

14" to 16.5" will cause about 10 to 20% depending on the powder,

yeah but that requires an insane scenario where the barrel friction is equal to or greater than the pressure difference between a figurative gunpowder explosion and NTP

you have no idea how high friction gets at near-sonic speeds gets do you

But if you go to a slow burn powder it will result in the traditional increased MV in up to 18" barrel

a simple way to visualize this:

does a 20'' have a muzzle flame?

Firing .45? I'm gonna say no

actually no, that doesn't actually prove anything

as what you're firing might burn VERY slowly

I can't find a 20" barrel i .45ACP

THAT is a good argument in my favor

Makes sense, why the hell would you do that

since you can't find a 20¨ barrel, do you agree it could be because a 20¨ barrel provides no benefit?

20" is a fairly normal "Rifle Length" Barrel across calibers

no measurable benefit over a X¨long barrel that is shorter

The M16s have 20" barrels, 20" shotgun barrels, ect

I have found 16 to 17" barrels for .45ACP, but then again the military chose 10" barrels for their Thompsons.

which one is optimal

obviously, if you use a 200¨ barrel you will lose out

but I'm

really interested to hear what the breaking point is

assuming
>20" is a fairly normal "Rifle Length" Barrel across calibers
I'd hazard a guess and say 20" is close to optimal since weapon designers have a LOT of practice

I mean it could be 16" as has been mentioned ITT

or maybe it's 24 or 22

in (7.62x51 Winchester Comercial loads) 24" is considered the best ballance of mobility vs Maximizing performance, in 6.5 Creedmore I hear calls for 26"

But in terms of usefulness, 20" offers a ballance of MV and functional mobility so it is common, the other big ones in the US are 16" because of the NFA and 14" for 5.56x45 rounds because that is the threshhold for useful MV vs FM that the military uses

The M1 Garand was set up with a 24" barrel