Scientific Study: Shorter barrels are more accurate!

[The Annoyed Man]

Based on this article I am going to get a hacksaw and cut 12 inches off the barrel of my .308!

Me neither. Mine's a 26", and that may be longer than necessary, but it sure isn't hurting its accuracy any.

[G.A. Heath]

There are a number of additional factors that can influence the whipping of the barrel. Length is the most obvious, but you can also affect it with the barrel diameter, contour, material, rifling pattern, bedding/float system, bullet design, load data, wear and tear, ect. Then there are factors that don't affect the whipping effect of the barrel that affect accuracy such as the crown, chamber design, and so on. So a shorter barrel does not immediately translate to better accuracy, a high quality barrel that is longer will be more accurate than an low quality shorter barrel. To prove this look at what the benchrest shooters are running. You really don't see many SBR's being competitive in benchrest, and there is a reason for it.