barrel length

[white eagle]

How much does the length of the shotgun barrel have on the range of the load?
Is the fact that wads are used negate the need for a long barrel to get range out of a scattergun?
[smilie=s:

[cwtebay]

https://deltawaterfowl.org/barrel-length-ballistics/#:~:text=Barrel%20lengths%20for%20the%2012,very%20 little%20by%20barrel%20length.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I think that's a pretty accurate article (link, above). I think it's just old timer lore that a long barrel is more accurate at longer distances given the same choke. Some of the late 19th and early 20th Century water fowling shotguns had very long barrels (Long Toms), and moving ahead a bit in time there were the "Goose Guns" made by Marlin and Mossberg. Shorter barrels seem to work as well, are faster on the rise and swing. It is true that a longer sighting radius makes for better, more precise aiming, but we are talking shotguns here, and a practical ranges. I think the 26" barrel is a good compromise and that 30" can prove cumbersome. I'm currently working on restoring a Win. Mod. 37 12 Ga. (single shot) with a 24" barrel for woods walking, but primarily for varmints and not skeet or trap.

DG

[Delkal]

With modern loads the increase in distance/pattern for a longer barrel is small if using a full choke and insignificant if using a modified or improved cylinder choke. The barrel length you use has more to do with how the shotgun handles for you and what you hunt. If you hunt ducks from a boat and are not going to carry it all day get a longer 28-30+ inch barrel for a better sight radius for the long shots. For upland game or walking thru the woods I prefer a shorter 26 inch barrel for a faster swing.

[country gent]

I believe shot size may make a small difference here also. bird shots my benefit a little more than the heavy shots and buckshot from the longer barrel. Less deformation with the heavy shot sizes in the shorter barrel.

Would be interesting to take a 30" cylinder bore barrel install choke tubes in it, pattern with several shot sizes, then repeat at 26", 24" and 20", same barrel same tubes only change would be the length.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Makes a difference in velocity when black powder is used, most modern shotshells gain little velocity beyond 18" barrel length. Internal barrel diameter, chamber forcing cone,taper of forcing cone, interior finish of barrel, choke, taper of choke all come into play with the patterning ability of a shotgun. Shotshell design, wads, shot hardness, shot size all can affect the pattern. The high dollar shotguns can have the barrel tailored to pattern a specific shot shell to a specific pattern, many, many variables, but length has little effect.

[Mr Peabody]

Anymore with the quick change chokes I have to use I don't find barrel length that important. I can get the same patterns from a 22 inch barrel that I get from a 28 inch barrel.

[rbuck351]

I think a 4" longer barrel will increase range by 4". It is 4" closer to your target.

[Adam Helmer]

A LONG barrel gets you INCHES closer to the target! On shotguns, I think 26 inches is enough for pumps and semis. For O/U and doubles an inch or more may be needed to improve balance.

The 30-inch Long Tom barrels make great Lamp Stands! LOL.

Adam

[Texas by God]

A vent rib 20” 12 gauge barrel with chokes for my 870 would be very neat. I wouldn’t have to switch between the 18” Cylinder choke barrel and the 28” choke tube barrel!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

My understanding was that longer barrels got the shot speed up a little with factory ammo or BP.
With modern ammo and things like 3" Magnum, it probably doesn't matter as much as it used to.

[Sgt H]

Another thing to consider is the type action. A pump or semi auto with a 22-24" barrel is going to have about the same length sighting plane as a double with 28-30" barrels due to the length of the action.

[W.R.Buchanan]

[QUOTE=Texas by God;5699372]A vent rib 20” 12 gauge barrel with chokes for my 870 would be very neat. I wouldn’t have to switch between the 18” Cylinder choke barrel and the 28” choke tube barrel!/QUOTE]

The Remington 870 Special Field has an English strait stock and a 21" bbl. They were available in 12 and 20 ga.

I want to do a similar gun on a Mossberg 500 (I have several nice Stocks and Fore Ends I can modify) Cut the Vent Rib barrel down to 21-22" Ream the Forcing Cone and thread it for Rem Chokes.

I think it would be a great Upland Bird Gun, that could double as a Pig Gun in a pinch with a Rifled Choke Tube and Slugs

I like the Mossberg's more than the 870's for several reasons that I have discussed in my "What I did to my Shotguns," Sticky Thread.

All I have to do is find another $150 M500 with a Vent Rib Barrel.

Randy

[xtriggerman]

What has been missed here is the effect of bore wad friction. Those long toms worked for long range back then as they would today over any considerably shorter barrels. In Gunsmithing school, it was explained like this. The creation of a good tight pattern is not just the diameter of your choke. Alot of the mechanics of a pattern belongs to how the barrel friction brakes the wad and shot that are nearest the barrel bore. The leading shot in the string is typically the shot from the front and center of the shot pack. The shot in the center and rear most part of the shot string are the shot that are mostly in contact with the barrel bore or wad cup shoulders. That being said, the shot velocity is slightly manipulated by barrel friction and a drop in bore pressure after it has spiked in the first 20 + or - inches of barrel. The more you can slow the wad with a longer barrel friction, the less work the choke needs to do with a thinned out section of shot coming threw the choke as well as not beating the hell out of the roundness of the lead shot by all wanting to be slammed together all at once in the choke walls. Buffer is the go to for the modern shell to improve choke battering of the shot. An old time gunsmith mod was to take a dowel rod rough spin the last 12 inches of bore with course 60 grit to improve patterns by accelerating the wad friction in the last part of the bore. The more you can pre choke - string the shot in the bore, the better the long range pattern. Obviously as noted, this is not the end all of patterning as clearly pointed out above, but it gives real credibility to the Long Tom barrels and has some degree of merit in modern barrel lengths as well.

[TomAM]

I chronographed and pattern tested 3 different barrel lengths in my 12 ga 870 back in the 80s.

After finding that there is virtually no difference, I've used a 21" ever since.

[William Yanda]

I think a 4" longer barrel will increase range by 4". It is 4" closer to your target.

Hard to disprove that.

[RickinTN]

Many misconceptions about shotgun barrel length and handling. I know it's hard to believe but longer barrels are faster than shorter barrels. I shoot Sporting Clays and am a Master Class shooter. I shoot a 34" barreled Perazzi. Most manufacturers don't make a 34" gun and therefore you will see mostly 32" barreled Browning, Beretta, or Kreighoff guns in a competition. Most skeet shooters as I understand have migrated to 30" or longer barrels in their target guns.
To answer the original question I have no idea.
Take care all!
Rick

[Mk42gunner]

[QUOTE=Texas by God;5699372]A vent rib 20” 12 gauge barrel with chokes for my 870 would be very neat. I wouldn’t have to switch between the 18” Cylinder choke barrel and the 28” choke tube barrel!/QUOTE]

The Remington 870 Special Field has an English strait stock and a 21" bbl. They were available in 12 and 20 ga.

I want to do a similar gun on a Mossberg 500 (I have several nice Stocks and Fore Ends I can modify) Cut the Vent Rib barrel down to 21-22" Ream the Forcing Cone and thread it for Rem Chokes.

I think it would be a great Upland Bird Gun, that could double as a Pig Gun in a pinch with a Rifled Choke Tube and Slugs

I like the Mossberg's more than the 870's for several reasons that I have discussed in my "What I did to my Shotguns," Sticky Thread.

All I have to do is find another $150 M500 with a Vent Rib Barrel.

Randy
Randy,
Thirty years ago or so I had a Mossberg Model 600 (same as a Model 500 with Mossberg's version of a Poly choke) that had the choke messed up. Probably why I got it for cheap.

Out came the hacksaw, cutting the barrel just past one of the supports for the vent rib, the barrel came to 23". The gun handled very well and shot a surprisingly tight pattern, just shooting it in the snow it seemed like about a modified pattern. That gun absolutely loved the old Remington 2 3/4" 12 pellet 00 buckshot loads.

To answer the first question, my personal opinion is that choke, load, and pattern density matter more than barrel length.

Robert

[TomAM]

For many years I've used a Browning B80, with a 21" choke tube barrel from a Beretta just like that Remington special field, having a straight stock. The Browning is just a re-badged Beretta, so that briefly available barrel created my idea of the perfect field gun.

[poppy42]

I think about the only benefit to having a long shotgun barrel is a longer sight radius!

[white eagle]

Lot's of knowledge here
thanks you have helped me out

[Patrick L]

Those super short guns were in vogue for awhile, but they were eventually discontinued. Even Remington quietly went from 21 inches to 23 inches on the Special Fields before they too were discontinued. Reason is they pointed like bricks. Ballistically they gave up nothing it's true, but since you point a shotgun rather than aim it, precision on target suffers. Sort of like the difference between pointing your fist and pointing your finger.

I flirted with a 23" barrel on my Ithaca 37 pump for a few years, eventually traded it off for a 26" barrel. That's plenty short enough.

Technically a pump or auto can get by with about 2" less barrel length and come out the same length as a double, due to the receiver length.

But this is all personal opinions on gun handling characteristics. To answer your original question, a short barrel will shoot just as hard and pattern just as tight as a longer one, load and choke being equal.

[pipehand]

One thing that may be helped by a longer barrel is a drop in pressure at the muzzle. This can make the gun seem quieter, and possibly make muzzle blast disrupt the shot column after it leaves the bore. It probably makes no noticable difference when increasing by a couple of inches, but when doubling the length of barrel as in using a MetroGun extension it certainly is noticale, particularly with subsonic loads.

[Adam Helmer]

My favorite PA Grouse gun is a 16 gauge 870 with IC 22-inch barrel. It worked well in the late 1990s and now we have no grouse due to massive avian predators.

On a pump gun, a 22 or 24 inch barrel is enough in my opinion. Handy shotguns have many applications. I prefer a 12 gauge for my house gun, but the 16 gauge would also do for bad guys.

Be well.

Adam

[white eagle]

Speaking of grouse we used to have them around here as well
but the DNR introduced the darn turkey's and no more grouse, shame too

[Shawlerbrook]

Yes, longer barrel only aids in aiming.