What he is implying is his spindle length is long making it a little harder to do barrel work through the spindle as opposed to between centers over the bed using a steady rest. Both ways work. A short spindle or headstock can make barrel work a snap with just an added spider at the back with a four jaw up front. Dial it in at both ends and your running. The longer spindle though usually comes on the heavier and bigger machines and that too has it's advantages. Alas there is rarely THE perfect tool...
I compromised on my lathe purchase with a 14x50 Clausing. It has a spindle length right around 22" and will work nicely if all I ever do are 24" barrels but that won't always happen, so I will just have to change methods a little bit to do short barrels. Not a big hill to climb and was worth it in my case as I got a smoking deal on this fully tooled set up that will do some larger work as well. Still anticipating South Bends release of their new Heavy 10 that should happen this year....
