a carrier bbl is a new concept created to address the issue of weight.
personally, I think its silly, since 99% of skeet shooters like to weigh their guns UP.
the external bbl weight was designed to be attached to the 12ga bbl when the owner shot the 12ga events. the weight matched the weight of the tubes. this concept has been in place for decades and was accepted as the norm.
but...the vast majority of 12ga o&u's kick, so the vast majority of 12ga events ended up being shot with semi autos. it wasn't uncommon to see all the tube owners break out their semis for the 12ga and doubles events.
then, all of a sudden, everyone just did away with 12ga ammo and guns and shot the 12ga events with 20ga guns.
so...here comes the carrier concept. why?
makes no sense since weighing the light 12ga guns up was always the goal.
this is why to this day, I feel the 4 bbl set concept wins the day. 4 bbls, 4 gauges, all the same weight.
No, it's not about weight only, it's about handling ..... what your muscle memory feels when you shoulder a gun and swing it. The whole world doesn't revolve around skeet shooters, and what they like, either. Carrier barrels make perfect sense when you're really serious about sub gauge sporting clay competition.
Nothing wrong with a 4 barrel set, as long as they all have the same handling characteristics. Many do not.
SRH
