Depending on how much faith you have in Fred Smith, he did a test and posted his results on the Bullberry website with regard to the .204 and barrel length. As Lone Star mentioned the barrel length had nothing, necessarily to do with accuracy but it definitely changed velocity. I own three .204 Ruger Contenders and to be honest I wouldn't even cosider one much under the standard length of 23". Even at that the carbine is only a total of 37" long...how short do you want ?