Home CMMG How Much Barrel is Too Much Barrel (45 Carbine)

How Much Barrel is Too Much Barrel (45 Carbine)

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How much barrel is too much barrel? In this video we doing 45 velocity test using a chronograph and a 45 caliber pcc. The in the velocity test we use a custom long 45 barrel in the cmmg mkg 45 pistol. 45 pistol caliber carbine s are a usually direct blowback but give the substantial difference required in reciprocating mass in 45 vs 9mm the CMMG 45 uses a radial delayed blowback system to make it more functional across a length of barrels with minimal change in the operating system. Taking the 45 velocity data we came up with a good list of candidates on what the best 45 barrel length in a 45 pistol caliber carbine.

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33 COMMENTS

  1. The predictions:
    1. It will leave the barrel (it did)
    2. 14 inches for highest velocity (it was 15, I was slightly off)
    3. 8 inches for most efficiency – velocity, handiness, accuracy, all balanced (there isn't really an answer for this, it's subjective)

  2. So vso. Just thinking out loud here.

    But what if i take your numbers and just scale up for what 454 casull would do. In terms of velocity.

    Do you consider that a simple plug and play order of operations? Or is there more at play i am not catching on to?

  3. A note about how you pick your "efficient"/optimum range. You are choosing optimal based on percent improvement from 1". The thing is that we don't really care about the slowest case from the shortest barrel; we care about range and terminal ballistics. In that regards, the value should be percent reduction from maximum velocity.

    From 11" to 15", we only pick up 7 fps which is <1% of the max velocity. In that regards, 11" to 15" should be yellow and you really don't want a barrel longer than 11". At 7", the velocity is approx 5% of max; I would call 7" the most efficient and recommend any from from 5-11".

  4. It's interesting that the velocities plateau when the bullet starts to reach transonic. It would be interesting to see test data for supersonic ammo. Additionally, I had always thought that pistol ammo peaks in velocity around 10 inches. It is amazing to me that 45 ACP peaks at 15 inches.

    It is important to note, however, that only 50 fps is gained between 7 inches and 15 inches which is only a 5% gain. IMO, 7 inches is the most efficient length for 45 ACP from this data. More than doubling the barrel length for a gain that is matched in the variance of the ammo is a major cost in weight gain and everything that follows.

    Again, this will be interesting for supersonic ammo.

    Source: I am a mechanical engineer working on my PhD in data analytics.

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