doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Length - When Will The Pendulum Swing

Greg, I don't think that pendulum is going to swing again. There were a few reasons short barrels (especially on sxs, but also on OU's and even on pumps and autos) were popular in the past. Mr. Churchill sold a fair number of Brits on his 25" barrel concept, which if nothing else was a clever marketing ploy--because almost no one else was making 25" barrels at that time. (He also fit those barrels with a rib of a unique design, which was supposed to give the illusion of longer barrels. Well, if it's supposed to give the illusion of longer barrels, doesn't that mean longer barrels must have some advantage? Never quite figured that one out.) But more than anything else, especially for American shooters, skeet sold the public on relatively short barrels. There was a time--not all that long ago--when virtually all skeet guns had 26" barrels. And since skeet (which was created by grouse hunters) is an attempt to replicate shots often seen in upland hunting, it only made sense that upland hunters figured the short barrels--if not the heavier weight of most skeet guns--made sense for them too. The final factor in the popularity of short barrels had to do with the fact that back before screw-ins were popular--and they still aren't as popular in sxs as they are in OU's, pumps and autos--if you wanted open chokes on most mass-produced guns, the only way to get them from the factory was to order your gun with short barrels. The usual combinations were 26" IC/M; 28" M/F. Certainly for most upland hunting, IC/M is a better choice. And pretty much the same thing was true with an OU, pump or auto. To get the more open choke(s), you had to go with the shorter barrel(s).

Greg, if you like short barrels, take advantage of the fact that used "shorties" often cost less than the same gun with longer barrels. And the reason I don't think the trend will reverse itself, at least not any time soon, is because the "new" clay game--again, supposedly created to mimic hunting--is sporting clays. And the trend in sporting clays is to longer barrels, not shorter ones.

Finally, I agree with the comment about ignoring the trend. Buy and shoot whatever works best for you.

It a hell of a stretch to said that it actually does that!

Where the hell have you been?????

When clay target games were making shooters shoot without a pre-mounted gun a short barrels was much easier for many to mount and handle a fast, shorter barrel. When they allowed the shooter to mount the gun then it became more about sightplane and follow through than mounting and swing. The 25" and 26" guns will be back in favor only when the game favors them and neither Skeet or Sporting Clays does that now. With modern powders and wads any barrel can be made to be about as effective as any other barrels legenth. So it comes down more to style of shooting than any other reason for the longer is better barrel usage.

Olympic skeet requires a gun mount. I think that many of them still use 30"

KMcMichael,

Yes that is correct he did say on driven birds he still shoots the 34" barrels. I am wondering what problems the 34" barrels create? I know he was shooting 34" for sporting clays on his Perazzi for a while. So did Andy and Wendall. I agree with you and Jack Maloney. It really does come down to what you as an individual shoots best. I myself try to stick to the basics. I shoot .015-.015 #7-1/2's for sporting clays. I found the more I tried to switch shot size or chokes on different stations, it just ended up putting my head in the game instead of just shooting the targets. Sticking to LM/LM with 7-1/2's on all the targets has worked for me. I am buying a Kolar when I come home for vacation. It will have 34" barrels.

There's a big difference in one brand of a given length of barrel vs. another. I put some 32" bbls on my K80 once and thought I'd never catch some of the targets. I tried a 32" 682 Gold E and I was sold on it. It was 7 3/4 lbs and fairly quick for the barrel length. I was after the sight radius while keeping the gun swing feeling like my 28" K80 as much as possible. The 32" 682 came as close as I could tell. I also shot a guy's Pgun with some new light 34" bbls. They felt like a 30" or less target gun but with the long sight radius.

Digweed shoots 34" barrels on driven birds? The guy must have a pretty fair set of arms. It's one thing to do that in a game that allows premounting, but playing up and down with a gun of that nature can quickly become quite tiring. That's one reason why pairs of guns, built for traditional driven shooting, tend to be relatively light--although the barrels usually aren't very short either, other than on something like a pair of Churchills.

Hi all, that's a good point the COL made about chokes in bbls, I do remember the time prior to tubes, that choke was determined by bbl length. As to the clay games, I really don't do any, except the ones my boys and I do out in the pasture, you know different angles, side, front or there we decide to put the thrower. For us it's simple and fun and we do use our hunting guns not ones made just for clay games.

It seem to me everytime there is a new game that wants to simulate hunting, it just evolves into a complex sport of new guns just for that game, folks changing tubes between stations, changing the comb and on and on. But, hey these games are fun and do help to hone your skills and if you like them..go for it.

As it's been said, go out and shoot and shoot what you like regardless of what the next guy shoots or thinks. It's your choice and I think the KISS method here also applies. Just have fun, life is already to complex, why wreck your fun.

All the best!! Great responses and good info!!

Greg

I believe that FITASC is his main thing and it does not allow premounted guns.

From the pictures that I have seen he is a large fellow.

Marine, I believe he said he liked the 34"s on some targets and 32"s on the others and even contemplated carrying both but decided against it.