The gunsmith has my s14 barrel [44mag] to shorten it to 9 inch. That will clear a beavertail forend by a half inch. Them long bull barrels are heavy.
True, but them short .44 Mag barrels kick. I'd prefer the extra weight of the 14" for most shooting myself.
Dont know how much this can help, but a friend of mine has a # of Smiths chambered in 357,does his own reloading and has a chronograph. He noticed about 150 FPS difference per 2 inch barrel length given the same loading. He tells me pretty consistent from his 3 into his 8 in barrels. Im betting its comparable to the 44 mag.
I was thinking if it would be better to go from a 10" 44mag to a 12" for more weight and vel. It would seem like you would end up having what amounts to a 6" barrel on a revolver if you went to a 8" on a Contender. I may even sell my 10" 44 and go to a 14".That or port the smaller barrel. Of course you may not be as sensitive to recoil.
The Contender does not have a barrel/cylinder gap like a revolver does. I've read that there's anywhere from a 25 to 75 fps velocity loss through the barrel/cylinder gap. So while barrel length will make a velocity difference of between 50 and 75 FPS per inch, you also have to account for barrel/cylinder gap and/or lack thereof.
To the OP:
Looking at Hornady 6th Edition loading manual, they show a maximum velocity of 1400 FPS with a 240 grain JHP fired from a 7.5" Ruger Blackhawk. They show a maximum of 1800 FPS for the same bullet fired from a 14" T/C Contender. They also show a maximum of 1800 FPS with an 18" carbine in their rifle section. The difference the 4" of rifle barrel make over the 14" Contender seems to be that 1700 to 1800 FPS is attainable with a wider range of powders in the rifle, whereas they only made 1800 FPS in the 14" Contender with one powder. If maximum velocity is your major concern, the 14" barrel will be your best bet.
As for what factory ammo would do, I'd expect it to perform similarly (most .44 Magnum factory ammo I'm familiar with is loaded with a 240 grain JHP). As for how much velocity you lose going from a 14" to a 12" or going from a 12" to an 8 or 9", I don't know. I'd expect approximately 200 to 300 FPS velocity loss going from a 12" to an 8", and about 150 to 250 FPS loss going from a 12" to a 9". Those are guesses based on an average of 50 to 75 FPS velocity loss per inch, but all barrels are different, so you may only lose 25 FPS per inch with a fast barrel, or you might lose 100 FPS per inch with a slow barrel.
