520Fan,

I actually agree with you on this. Back when I did a lot of serious target shooting I had a Mod 46 with both a long and short barrel. I found I preferred the shorter of the two. It's easier to keep both front and rear sight in focus when they are closer together.

My calculations are based on the (somewhat) questionable assumption that the shooter is able master that task as well as keep the target in focus. (A Merit eye disc helps a lot here!) Since a person with 20/20 eyesight can resolve one minute of angle, the rest is pure probability and arithmetic.

The point in my earlier response was to demonstrate that any theoretical advantage for the longer barrel was so small that it was bound to get lost among all the other shooting variables.

Ed