doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Churchill's 25" Barrels - Thoughts On

Hi all, does anyone have any thoughts on R. Churchill's concept of 25" barrels and his Rib?

Pros and Cons?

Anyone have a gun so equiped?

Thanks so much!!!

Greg

I can't see how a top rib tapering in width to the muzzle helps in any way other than making the appearance similar to that produced by optical recession on a rib 30-32" long. G. T. Garwood thought ribs of almost any sort created shadow lines (lines of sight or alignment) with the adjacent barrels which registered in what might be termed the subliminal optical consciousness. 26" barrels of my experience are too easily pushed and too easily stopped; 25" must be the same.

jack

I have a Churchill with 30" bbls that also has the Churchill rib.

Rocketman's favorite truism is 'Don't judge the whole gun by the barrel length'. Don is absolutely correct on this one.

26" skeet guns abounded at one time. I frequently chuckle at the currently fashionable 32" and even 34" guns folks want to swing at 21 yard 90 degree deflection targets.

My anachronistic 26" M-21 with the long style forend is looked upon as an abonimation by the moderns. I've shot many lines of skeet where the only barrel length on the squad was 26". We do OK...

I'll admit... on a 20ga O/U I prefer 30", but a 12ga heavy frame gun like a Superduper or a Winnie 21 works REAL well with 26" barrels.

Everything depends, nothing is always.

If your shooting live birds at max range the longer barrels give an edge. Think of box birds or live pigeons. If you've ever shot them you know what I mean.

Genuine XXV" Churchill guns are exceptional in every way. The 'con' is purely sort of cosmetic thing. To give you an analogy: XXV" gun is to tall und skinny what double-breasted brown suit is to a obese guy!
Querflinte SchieBen macht spaB, wenn sie passt.

Best day of shooting I ever did was in Scotland with a borrowed 12ga. that was handed to me just before the first targets flew. At the time I didn't even realize it had 25" barrels - just thought it looked a bit stubby but handled and shot superbly. Only after the shoot did I learn it was a Churchill XXV (but at the time, I'd never heard of such guns and it meant little to me).

Aesthetically, I prefer the profile of 12ga. guns with 28" or 30" barrels. But for practical use, I just want a gun that handles and shoots well - and sure I wish I had one like that neighbor's Churchill XXV!

I find a lot of people just follow that 28" or 30" "target shooting" herd. It's stupid to pay up to 30% more for extra 3" to 5" of barrel length on equivalent quality gun.

Unless you need that 3 to 5 to shoot the thing well. My Darne has 25 1/2 inch tubes. Grouse woods? Oui, of course. Pass shooting mallards? Non. I have a few other guns that don't have 25" tubes, however. I use them where they work best.
Best,
Ted

I honestly think what's in our heads---notions, for the most part---portend greater angle of influence than barrel lengths. I, too, was handed a XXV Churchill in Scotland and handed it back because it didn't feel right.

Like jack, I didn't know the barrel length until later. We use the guns that we shoot well and I've found that for grouse and ducks over decoys they're usually those with 26-inch barrels. To me, heresy. Notions die hard.