by David E. Petzal

A couple of generations ago, before there was a chronograph lurking under every loading bench, gun makers used barrels of sensible lengths. If you got a .30/06 or a .270, most likely you got a 22-inch barrel. If you bought a magnum, it was probably 24 inches. Over the years, however, barrels have been getting longer, possibly because manufacturers are afraid their guns/ammo won’t deliver advertised velocities.

I’ve never feared shorter barrels. They are handier to use, weigh less, and often are more accurate than the longer ones. And as a rule, you lose very little velocity when you lop off some steel.

As proof of this, ace Texas rifle maker Charley Sisk recently published an experiment where he barreled six rifles with 27-inch tubes and chronographed them, cutting each one back an inch at a time. Space doesn’t allow me to list all the figures, but I can give you the totals.

by Chad Love

There was an interesting article last month in a Texas A&M University publication called Agrilife Today, which sought to put a monetary value on the bobwhite quail.