430man said that you may have trouble with heavy bullets in shorter barrels. more info please, all ive ever used is 240 hardcast, was thinking of trying some 300s for kicks. some states have a min. barrel length, 6.5 is the longest i think.
OH yeah, even a 320 or my 330 gr .44 boolit will be fine in a 6" barrel. But when you think of 2" to 4" you ask for problems.
The longer the case, the longer the barrel needs to be but that also depends on caliber so even a .500 JRH works in 6".
Just don't think a 45-70 will work in a 4" barrel! That thing really needs 10" and even then you need the right powder. The .500 S&W should have a longer barrel because of case length so cutting one to 4" is just plain crazy.
Now ALL of them will go bang and you can kill an animal at close range.
What I am talking about is accuracy and accuracy at all ranges, not 7 yards. Even 25 yards is plain silly with a hunting revolver or accuracy testing.
I limit hunting to around 100 yards. But if I know where to aim, I can kill a deer at 500 meters with my revolvers but boolit drop is the main reason to use reason. So even with a .460 or .500 S&W, I doubt I would ever shoot more then 100 yards without a bench and actual aiming points.
Anyway, you need a certain velocity and twist rate for your boolit to maintain long range accuracy. That is easier from 6" up in barrel length. You are not hurting yourself with a longer barrel.
