Length stop for billet shears

The invention relates to a length stop for billet shears for cutting off bar and profiled material, comprising a stop slide (3) which is arranged on a guide rail (2) and can be continuously adjusted to the respective section length and on which a piston/cylinder unit (8) is arranged which can be acted upon by pressure medium and whose piston rod (9) acts as a stop finger and is released during the cutting of the bar section. The aim of the invention is to reduce the manufacturing costs and the energy consumption during use and to improve the functional reliability. The object of the invention is to keep the requisite release travel of the stop finger as small as possible and at the same time permit unhindered ejection of the remaining end of the bar without having to adjust the position of the stop slide (3). According to the invention this is achieved in that the cylinder is of two-stage construction, and a first piston (11) connected to the piston rod (9) and a second piston constructed as a differential piston (12) are arranged in the cylinder, which pistons (11, 12) can be actuated independently of one another (Fig. 2).