5.5 Inch Banshee Revolver?

[AxeHandle]

Working toward a pair of 8 shot revolvers chambered for Gary's Reeder's Hornet based 240 and 255 Banshee. Been poking at the barrel length question for a while.. My current thought is just go with a 5.5 inch. Waterboy has a 255 Banshee and pushed me toward the shorter length. What do you guys think about barrel length?
FWIW here is Gary's desciption off his web site.

In mid 2010 I decided to continue our small caliber direction. Our Raptors had been very popular so I wanted to go one step lower. For this I chose the 22 Hornet brass. I necked it up to .243 and .257 and these became the 240 Banshee and the 255 Banshee. With our economy in the dumpster using a cartridge that uses a small amount of powder just makes sense. Both cartridges use the new 55 to 75 grain bullets that have come on the market recently. Velocities in the 2000 fps range are normal with some higher with the lighter weight bullets. Both cartridges are extremely accurate and have no recoil. For varmints, coyotes or even smaller bodied deer the Banshees do very well.

[subsonic]

What do you want to use it for?

A longer barrel will collect more dust :-P

I would be inclined to go longer on a cartridge like this that is about "speed" as well as put some glass on top to see my little furry victims better.

[AxeHandle]

After some input on Gary's site we have adjusted to an 8 inch barrel....

[subsonic]

Maybe stick an extra long ejector rod on them to make sure those little buggers are all the way out, since they will be tiny and hard to pluck from the chambers....

[boxhead]

For holstering ease of availability, if necessary, I would drop to 7 1/2".

[2 Dogs]

It wont be much for a holster gun no matter what length. It's gonna be at least as heavy as a buckeye. I would go for the 8" barrel as well. It will be nice and stable. Jackrabbits and such will suffer.....

[Ken O'Neill]

7 1/2" or 8". 1/2" more or less won't mean squat for velocity.

[steveb]

"A longer barrel will collect more dust" ? LOL ! First time I've heard that'n ! I like it. Never thought I'd go to the short tubes, and now seem to have either the Sheriff Vaq or my Bulldog glued to me. steve b

[Lee Martin]

Glad to see you're leaning towards a longer tube Axe. When my dad and I built our 30 Streakers we used two lengths; 7" and 8 1/2". The velocity drop over the 1 1/2" was nearly 200 fps. These small bore bottlenecks want barrel.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"

[AxeHandle]

Just ordered a holster for a 7 1/2 inch too. Almost decided to leave the barrel end slick but remembered that turkey in Alabama with a handgun is iron sights only. Will D&T the top strap for a Leupold base though...