My shorty Huntsman came with the shortened ramrod. The ramrod length, after taking off the wooden extension off a standard H&R ramrod and replacing it with a .45 LC cartridge case cut to about 1/2" in length made the ramrod just right for a 20.25" barrel. Also, the thimble for the front of the ramrod did not have to be moved for it's original location. Besides cut and crown the barrel and make the adjustments to the length of the ramrod all that was left to do was to drill and tap a new hole to affix the front ramp sight and it was GTG. Therefore I believe the length of the ramrod and the original location of the front thimble was what dictated the 20.25" barrel length. It could have been 20" if needed but it works great the way it is.
As a sidebar, the reason I cut and crowned my TC Renegades to 20" was after trying a TC White Mountain Carbine ramrod in my Renegade the barrel length to accomodate that ramrod best was 20", however those ramrods are very easy to fabricate or adjust for length since they are solid and do not collapse. I did have to remove and relocate the front thimbles on the Renegades but those barrels could have been easily cut to any length....<><....
