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

Hi all, I totally agree with the comments on personal choice, I myself like shorter bbls, then again, I'm 5'8" on the short side. My length of pull that I like is about 14" to 14 1/4 depending on what I'm wearing.


I've heard all to often that you have to have 28" bbls and that shorter bbls lose follow thru on the swing (true). I'm more of a snap shooter, have been all my life and short bbls really don't hinder me at all with my shooting style.

To each his own as the saying goes. I'm just curious when some (not all) the pundents proclaim that short is in and long is out.

Thanks for all the responses - keep them coming!

All the best!!

Greg

The American who ordered my 12ga Francotte through VLD in 1899 asked for 26-inch barrels. I prefer longer barrels in the blind but have never seen anything over 30-inch for ducks in these parts. I have a notion that my Francotte makes more noise; for sure, it makes more sparks in twilight with store-bought or handloaded shells.

Barrel length should not be a popularity "thing". Just because some writer writes about a barrel length it should have nothing to do with what we like to shoot. We are so drunken by the pen!

Not sure about this. Maybe if you are a superb shot barrel length of a few inches will make a difference.

But, I confess to shooting my 29" Dickson sxs weight 6-1/4 lbs, as well(or as poorly) as my 26" Franz Sodia, an o/u weight 6-3/4 lbs. The Sodia has a tighter choke in the top barrel than the Dickson.

Key is, as Jack has put it, to shoot.

Regards

Five years ago a gun with a beavertail forend was hard to give away.They now seem to bring a premium.Maybe short barrels will soon follow.
Dave

I agree totally with those that say this has a lot to do with physique and personal preferences/abilities. I'm about 5'9" (5'10" before I got beat down) and find I'm very much in the middle of gun dimensions and preferences. I have guns from light 26" to moderately heavy 32" bbls. I like to think I shoot most of them fairly well (for me).

I think there's a lot more to it than just length. For example; my BSS 12g, 26" bbl weighs 7 1/2 lbs and swings like some 30" guns due to its heavy walled barrels. Maybe thats why I shot it so well. I suspect Rocketman's MOI measurements would confirm it has similar numbers to traditionally longer barrels.

Another aspect is the sight radius. A longer sight radius will reduce angular sighting error. You can do some simple math to calculate how much difference a sight radius on one length vs. another will make on targets out there at your shooting distance. While on that subject, a pump or auto with a given barrel length will have a longer sight radius than a sxs or o/u by about 6" right off due to the reciever length.

I like my 26" guns for the tight quail hunting I do. 28" and longer start to be a pain to carry and handle for this work. For western wild phez in open country, I've used a 32" sporting clays gun and also a 28" auto (the auto is longer), and as short as 26", all with great success.

I have gravitated to light (6,0-7,0lbs) hammer doubles with 75 to 80 cm barrels, usually 16 gauge. I need the lighter guns because of age and failing shoulders. The longer barrels make it easier for me to hit fast passing birds, especially ducks and geese at about 30-40 meters.

Decades ago, I used 7,5-9,0 lb doubles with 28 inch barrels. I still shoot them well but seldom take them hunting. I never liked 24-26 inch barreled doubles.

Niklas

16 gauge? Popular? I don't think so. 12s and 20s. Then the 16 is way down the line. Then every twenty years someone like Remington puts a few out and people snatch them up and put them in their gun safes as collectors. Twenty years later- a 16 gauge? Wow!! Haven't seen one of those in twenty years!

Jimmy, I wouldn't pay extra for that Remington that was just put out. On the otherhand, if I find a old Fox 16 on the 20 gauge frame or a nice Parker 16 on a zero frame, I can talk a whole nother story.

Tim

There are so many really nice old 16 gauge doubles out there, why bother with 12s and especially 20s. I do have one lightweight (6,17 lbs), long-barreled (75 cm) very well balanced 12X65 hammer double that I use for hunting sometimes (got my last geese with it, this past December). I feed it the same 28 gram 1200 or 1300 fps hunting loads as I do my 16s. Only thing different I notice with that 12X65 is that it is not nearly so svelt or so easy to carry all day long as the 16s.

Overall, my 16X65 and 16X67 hammer doubles have taken at least 90% of birds I bagged in recent years -- ducks, geese, desert quail and bandtails. In desert quail country in Arizona one can buy 16 gauge 28 gram loads in all sporting goods stores I have visited and even some gas stations.

Who would bother with that misanthropic, one-barreled rattletrap gun that Remington made?

Niklas