For me, the whole point of packing a handgun is keeping it "handy" and easy to pack and use. Four to six inches would be the range of barrel length that I would consider. I've long since sold all my longer barreled revolvers, and I don't scope the ones I've got. After trying the long barreled, scoped hunting rigs, I decided that carrying the bastard offspring of a rifle and a revolver wasn't for me. I'll pack one or the other, sometimes both, but I don't try to combine the features into one gun anymore.