Powdr, I didn't read the entire thread, but shorter than 20" does get a mite loud. My Remington .308 carbine had an 18.5" barrel and it did work well for a tree stand one and done deer rifle. My 24" 7mm RM barrel hits near everything as a tree stand gun, but was ideal out west. I like about a 20" myself though it would depend a lot on the cartridge and what you intend to do with the rifle. Guys get pretty hung up on barrel length and velocity and with a chronograph it would be one more thing to mess with. I don't own one so for me it doesn't matter as much as what I intend to do with the rifle.
