It has been well known in GMA welding process that wire feeding speed (WFS) or deposition rate increases linealy with the increase of wire extension. In this investigation, however, such an well-known relationship was .reconsidered in terms of contact-tube to work distance (CTWD) instead of wire extension. To verify the proposed relationship between WFS and CTWD, bead-on-plate welding was performed with various CTWDs in the range of 15∼35mm under the condition of near-constant voltage and current As expected, the test results showed an excellent linear relation between WFS and CTWD. Furthermore, the value of the slope turned out to be quite similar to those of previous investigators obtained either theoretically or experimentally through the Precise measurement of electrode extension. Present result also demonstred that the increase of CTWD could be very practical measure for increaring deposition rate without any increase of heat input Depending on the tip recess the practical maximum of CTWD was appeared to be limited somewhere in 25∼30mm mainly due to the entrappment of porocity.