Quote:
Originally Posted by 5-Shot
I'll not bore you with the (very) messy mathematical details, but there is a way to calculate the probable difference. Given 20/20 shooter eyesight and the difference in sight radius between a 3 inch and 4 inch J-frame Smiths, the shorter gun should, on average, produce 0.12 inches larger 5-shot groups at 25 yards.
Ed
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It is just barely possible that in the 3 - 4 inch barrel range, the mathematical calculations are relevant. However, in the summer of 1931, then-Major Julian Hatcher fired a "possible" at the British Nationals at Bisley with an H&R pistol with 8" barrel rather than the customary 10" barrel, with Ensign Harry Renshaw taking second place with a 98, using the same H&R pistol. The following year, interest in short-barreled H&R pistols increased considerably. Walter Roper subsequently did a limited study of the effect of sight radius on accuracy (three shooters, extensive shooting with more than one sight radius), and concluded, IIRC, that the shorter sight radius was better for one (top) shooter, longer for another, and unclear for the third. Roper reports all of this in his book Experiments of a Handgunner. There was also published an article by him in the September 1946 American Rifleman, in which he noted that after over a hundred shooters purchased short-barreled H&R pistols, a majority of the 65 who reported back to him reported better scores with the short pistol.
It seems quite clear to me that the arithmetic involved is often less important than other variables in the individual shooter, and the actual practical result can usually be determined only by extensive experimentation.