i am thinking of setting up a shooting head system but still confused on lengths.
a lot of situations willl require short back casts due to lack of room for distance casting.
what is the best ready made shooting head system out there.

i see that most heads are 13 yyards long but that seems a little long for my room to cast could i cut them down to around about 9 yards and still shoot effectively.

tight lines

I like cutting them myself just because of this, some situations ask for a really short head, others for a longer one then you might get if you bought a ready made one. I'd say get a WF or DT line two or even three sizes heavier then your rod is made for and start experimenting. I prefer the WF as you can play around with the taper a bit but you'll usually only get one head out of a line in stead of two with a DT line. Using mill ends or slight seconds is perfectly fine for this IMO, especially if you aren't sure of the weight you want yet and need to do a bit experimenting first this will help keep the cost down. For shooting line I prefer regular nylon but also have both Hardy and Loop shooting lines which won't cast as far but can help deliver a fly a bit better. Hope this is of any help.

If you want to look at ready made shooting heads I have the Loop system for my spey rod and think it's really nice.

Shooting heads can be any length you want. The trouble is the shorter the head the heavier it has to be to load the rod and the more it will dump. Also remember that as soon as the head stops unrolling in the cast it drops so this determines the 'flight time' and therefore the distance acheived.

Why not make your own by buying DT lines 2 sizes heavier than your rod rating and then cutting them back to suit. I find that different line densities behave differently on my setup and so each is cut to a length that works best. Remember heavier/thinner sinking lines unroll much faster than floaters so require a different timing in the cast.

Alternately check out TackleBargains who sell AirFlo heads for under £10 (33 foot).