Yup, I am with the majority of the group on this one, 7.5". I can shoot that pretty well off hand and it settles quite nicely on my bench bags. I don't know if it is just balance or the few oz's of extra weight, but I don't notice the recoil as much with the 7.5" SBH v/s a 6" bbl?

But I think that the original question was "what is the optimum barrel length". If you are talking about vel or accuracy and carry isn't a factor my guess is that you wouldn't get a lot more speed (at least with factory loads)or much more bang for your buck with anything over 14" (unless you reload and can tailor your powders).

Bill in OR