Underhammer Barrel Length

[LostinIdaho]

I got a new barrel for my H&A underhammer. The new barrel is a .50 cal for fall deer hunt.

Haven't decided what length yet.

I have a Smith carbine that I can easily hit a 9 inch plate at 150 yards. It has a 21.5" barrel.

Looking for suggestions and reasons. Thinking in the 30" range. Shorter wouldn't be bad for portability.

 

[M. De Land]

I got a new barrel for my H&A underhammer. The new barrel is a .50 cal for fall deer hunt.

Haven't decided what length yet.

I have a Smith carbine that I can easily hit a 9 inch plate at 150 yards. It has a 21.5" barrel.

Looking for suggestions and reasons. Thinking in the 30" range. Shorter wouldn't be bad for portability.

I just cut my H&A back 4 inches from 36 to 31 3/4s after recrown. It feels much better in off hand work and makes the front post a bit easier to see and it fills up more of the rear sight slot. I also removed the under lug and front rod pipe as it is strictly a competition gun . I won the first match I competed in after the cut back as it was easier to hold steady from the weight reduction that tended to tire me in a long match. It still has enough barrel weight to be steady and moving the front sight a bit closer to the rear sight helped quite a bit as well in defining the front post against the target. I use a globe sight up front with a post which works really great(light shield) in the summer sun or winter indoor shooting.
The caliber is a .45 Green Mtn. and the octagon barrel is 1 inch across the flats.

 

[Plainsman53]

LostinIdaho:

What barrel diameter did you get? Are you wanting it to weigh similar to your 20 gauge barrel?

 

[LostinIdaho]

Its a 15/16 straight octagon. At 30" it would be a little lighter than my 20 gauge barrel.

 

[hanshi]

My underhammer came with a 33" barrel which always felt just about perfect.