I believe your correct about the longer barrel balancing out the rifle and equalizing resistance of the lever throw. I've only tried it on my Marlin GG vs Marlin XLR and it seems to be easier to use the longer rifle with speed. I could try it on my Win 71's as I've got two short 20" Brownings and one longer Winchester but honestly I'm still building up ammo resources, but my Marlins offer a similiar analog.
