Black Collar Arms Announces Complete Bolt Action Pistol Builds

There’s a little more to it than that. With the switch barrel system and your chassis, I can go from a 204 Ruger pistol to a 375 Raptor rifle in five minutes time. That’s pretty cool.
With an AR, I can go from 243 to 375 Raptor, and I can go from 223 to say 300 Blackout, but there is even more flexibility here between calibers as well as pistol rifle brace.

I didn’t say “full rotation”, if you noticed. I said “good twist”. And yes, barrel length is always a factor for twist, powder expansion, stiffness, etc. that all affect ballistics. Any experienced shooter and/or reloader knows this well. I’m rather surprised that you say otherwise.

Besides, I asked jwtaylor about *his* gun, so it’s a wonder why you’re answering for him.

That accuracy requires a full rotation of the bullet is one of those common firearm myths. Hear it all the time. Didn’t mean to imply that’s what you were suggesting, but it comes up a lot so I threw it out there. Same with the idea that longer barrels are more accurate — it just isn’t the case. Sorry if I sounded like a total dick! I can be sometimes but it wasn’t intended at all here haha. Having shot many centerfire rifles with 5-inch to 12.5-inch barrels, including .308s in 10-, 10.5-, and 12.5-inch (including 10-inch .308s that are sub-half-minute guns and banging steel targets at 585 yards from a 5-inch AR), I threw in my $0.02. I’m also very familiar with JWT’s setup. But again, I’m very sorry for my curt reply that reads really a-hole-ish. No attitude was intended.

BTW we have published a handful of articles discussing accuracy vs barrel length (and the TL:DR is that there’s no relation). Here’s a fairly extensively one that’s a good read with some good data: https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/challenging-what-you-think-you-know-about-barrel-length-velocity-and-accuracy/

All is forgiven (strikes royal pose and magnanimously extends hand to wave away the stale air of contention). 🙂

I’m acutely aware that ballistics is a complicated topic, replete with all sorts of variables, so I won’t pretend to be a master of any or all. I’ll stick only to what I know.

That being said, I’ll take the common 5.56 as an example. Generally speaking, this round is optimized for a 20″ barrel (again, for any readers, I said “generally”, so just bear with me okay). Shortening to a 16″ carbine won’t sacrifice much other than some muzzle velocity, but when people go into pistol lengths things start to suffer. I know someone who built a 5.56 pistol with stubby 5.5″ barrel. Granted, it’s just a fun gun (a flamethrower), so if we have the freedom to do so, why not? But it’s not at all accurate or reliable.

That’s why I was inquiring about the MOA achieved with jwtaylor’s build, considering it’s a short barrel in .308.

Accuracy is not a function of barrel length. The old tale about longer barrels being more accurate is more about the sight radius than the barrel length. Longer barrels can get higher velocities.

When you fire a shot the barrel acts like a turning fork and vibrates. You want the muzzle to a node point where the vibration is minimal. There are three ways to do this. 1. Shorten the barrel until you get tight groups. You will find as the barrel is shortened the groups will open and close. But this process cannot be undone without replacing the barrel. 2. Use a tuning device such as weights or Browning’s BOSS device. 3. Tune the ammunition with combinations of projectile, powder, primer, and case.

@Southern,

I’m aware, hence my pains to state that I was talking in general terms, not specifics, as many variables come into play.

However, in speaking of my own experiences, I’ve never seen good groups from 5.56 in 5.5″ or 7.5″ pistol barrels.

I have a Browning BOSS on one of my BARs and am familiar with its function.