Fuel atomization is a critical process. Swirl injector is used in gas turbine combustion chamber, rocket thrust chamber and hybrid rocket motor, etc., because of its efficient atomization process. This paper focuses on an experimental study on spray characteristics of plug type swirl injector using three injector configurations namely SW1, SW2, and SW3. The objective of the study is to analyze the spray characteristics like liquid sheet break up length, spray cone angle, discharge coefficient, and volumetric flow of plug type swirl injector for three chosen configurations. The injection pressure got varied from 1 to 2 bars and water was used as working fluid. The experimental data shows that for all injection pressures, SW1 configuration gives 43–49% lesser breakup length, 39–51% higher spray cone angle, lesser discharge coefficient, and 1–6% lesser volume flow rate compared to SW3 injector. It is also observed that SW1 configuration gives 7–11% lesser breakup length, 1–3% higher spray cone angle, 1–2% lesser discharge coefficient, and 3–6% lesser volume flow rate compared to SW2 configuration. The observed results of lesser breakup length and spray cone angle make the plug type swirl injector of SW1 configuration best suited for the short combustor.