what pains me is people buying calibres like 7mm rem mag, 7x64, 270 in barrel lengths so short the velocity that makes them actually perform well compared to others, is entirely lost...and in turn, you're left with a bigger case, more powder, more barrel erosion, more recoil, more noise, etc...for what, the same performance you could have had if you bought a .308 or 8x57?
There's a reason stutzens are traditionally made in certain calibres, those that work with short barrels.
These days manufacturers believe (probably quite rightly so) that consumers are f*cking daft, and therefore offer a selection of calibres/chamberings in short barrels (one reason being,,,it's cheap!)..so people think for months and months, go on forums, research, god knows what and how much time they put into selecting a calibre and chambering that's perfect, little do they realise that their 18" 7mm RM actually underperforms (on various levels) a bog standard .308..DOH!
short barrels are also not helped by this odd phenomenon of people using moderators,,I can't personally get my head around it and why the hell you'd carry that type of sh*te around on the end of your rifle, but hey ho. so yes, short barrels helps people avoid the witches wand syndrome.
So when the US chap asked why we have such short barrels over here, it's not only a moderator thing but also that a lot of people here simply don't get the point that certain calibres and chamberings need a specific barrel length for burning powder, as well as hitting their sweet spot performance segment which differentiates them above their smaller siblings.
