Getting back into CLA- I have owned both 20" and 24" Henry .22 Frontier. I liked the feel of the 20", but went to the longer barrel for site radius. But remember reading that most .22 ammo burns all powder in the 16" range- so other than longer site radius is there an advantage to the longer barrel?
thanks
chuck

Nope. If you prefer the shorter one, get it and be happy.

There is the hypothesis that the longer barrels lower SD and ES. Then there is also the more weight in the barrel, so it could slow down your movements. But it can also keep them going too so it's not free

16 inch barrel with a "bloop tube".
But I'm sure that would be frowned on

The report is inversely proportional to barrel length. In other words, use shorter barrels if you want louder muzzle blasts.

Seriously, a longer sight radius with iron sights trumps having excess barrel sans any powder to burn.

I have one with the 24" bbl. and it is a pleasure to shoot. I got it with the intention of getting back into smallbore lever action.

My wife shoots a 24" Henry. It's as accurate as my 39A or 9422 Legacy, and it has a very good stock trigger.

The short barrels sight radius is plenty good to shoot a perfect score. For example -
The hunters pistol competitors shot 10” barrel pistols on the same 1/2 scale targets and managed just fine.
There are folks who shoot SB CLA using Winchester 9422 carbine short barrel with high master scores as well.

If anything, the 20” barrel length offers a slightly shorter time duration when the bullet is in the barrel so you’re less likely to pull the shot off target after ignition. And you’ll get a few more FPS from the short barrel.

On the other hand, the longer barrel can be a bit steadier to hold and offers the coveted sight radius.

Shoot what you like and enjoy the game.

Something else to think about - the Golden Boy and Silver Eagle have a slightly different stock, and I think their trigger is a little nicer from the factory. I have a frontier, and it's great, but if I was to do it over again, I would go with a Golden Boy.

mychippy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 19, 2021 1:19 pm I have a frontier, and it's great, but if I was to do it over again, I would go with a Golden Boy.

The downside of the Golden Boy is no groove receiver and no 24" barrel. The comb is also lower so cheek weld is more like chin weld.

Good point! I forgot about the receiver mounts.

Yes on that particular rifle, the chin weld works pretty well for me. Not as good as a cheek riser, but for an unmodified rifle it's surprisingly good.