Barrel length

[B725]

All of my shotguns have had 28" barrels and it's suited me just fine , Tuesday I was breaking clay's off the 118 foot high tower so if it had been a pheasant or other I would have been happy. Unless it's just me there seems to be a trend of 30" or even 32" I with my limited knowledge don't really understand the need to be swinging something as long as a yard brush about, so just interested in others thought's. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Long barrels traditionally offer a smoother swing and that is why they were adopted for shooting clays.

I use everything from 24" to 34" barrels on various guns, for various types of shooting, it's what you get used to.

[B725]

Excuse my ignorance but how does having longer barrels make the gun smother to swing? Isn't the control of the gun done by your own arm movement? What do you use the 34" for .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

14 minutes ago, B725 said:

Excuse my ignorance but how does having longer barrels make the gun smother to swing? Isn't the control of the gun done by your own arm movement? What do you use the 34" for .

There is more weight forward and the swing is smoother, all the longer shotguns get used on clays.

I normally use 24" or 26" in the hide and 28" for game.

[Poor Shot]

44 minutes ago, B725 said:

Excuse my ignorance but how does having longer barrels make the gun smother to swing? Isn't the control of the gun done by your own arm movement? What do you use the 34" for .

The extra mass and momentum out front helps to smoothen the jerks in your movement. 

Try swinging scaffold pole and then immediately stopping it or altering its course. It's not going to happen all that easily and, albeit on a smaller scale, that's the effect that having 32" barrels compared to 28" barrels has. 

[enfieldspares]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Long barrels traditionally offer a smoother swing and that is why they were adopted for shooting clays.

I use everything from 24" to 34" barrels on various guns, for various types of shooting, it's what you get used to.

This. I am six feet four inches tall. I find that as I need a long stock that long barrels "balance" the gun both in terms of its weight and in terms of its handling. All my guns bar the single shots and a Browning A-5 are side-by-side with well made barrels that are correctly struck off.

Edited June 23, 2022 by enfieldspares

[Scully]

In theory, short lighter barrels are faster to get going, but easier to stop, and longer heavier barrels slower to get going but harder to stop. The effects are hardly noticeable, but they’re there all the same. 

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. 🙂

[enfieldspares]

There's one thing to be WELL considered. That the longer the barrel the further away from your (usually left) ear is the "bang". You used to be able to tell at the midday shoot lunch the guys with the Churchill XXV, Hellis "Featheweight" and Holland Brevis guns. They'd be the ones turning on and tuning in their hearing aids.

[London Best]

All these theories are just that......theory. 
In practice what really counts is what suits the individual.

I am not a clay shooter, but in my (not inconsiderable) experience of wildfowling, pigeons and all types of game shooting, length of barrels makes not a jot of difference.

Edited June 23, 2022 by London Best

[London Best]

4 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

There's one thing to be WELL considered. That the longer the barrel the further away from your (usually left) ear is the "bang". You used to be able to tell at the midday shoot lunch the guys with the Churchill XXV, Hellis "Featheweight" and Holland Brevis guns. They'd be the ones turning on and tuning in their hearing aids.

My deafness is much the worst in my right ear (right hand shot). I blame thousands of Baikal cartridges in the 1970’s, not the length of barrels they came out of.

[B725]

I can understand that having a longer stock the gun is better balanced having longer barrels but I'm with London Best I don't think for the main that it makes much if any advantage having longer barrels. 

LB I still have some Baikal cartridges horrible dirty , noisey and six foot of flame out the end.

I remember year's ago when shooting on the Wash with Syd Wright one evening he came over to us wondering what on earth we were firing as he kept seeing the long muzzle flash. 

[London Best]

1 minute ago, B725 said:

 

LB I still have some Baikal cartridges horrible dirty , noisey and six foot of flame out the end.

I remember year's ago when shooting on the Wash with Syd Wright one evening he came over to us wondering what on earth we were firing as he kept seeing the long muzzle flash. 

But they were a good.......price!

[Agriv8]

My take - I have a 725 clay buster with 32 barrels I know where a clay is coming from and where it is going so most of the time my gun is moving before the clay is at the end of the barrel then swing in front and pull the trigger. It’s heavy and long but I am 6’ 6” and like a gun with a bit of weight ( there is also a 50 gram cartridge in the stock ) . I shoot clays most Sundays 

my game gun ( usually walking gun ) or walked up shooting is a 686 beretta 28 inch long because a I am carrying it most of the day. it is also very quick to the sholder and pop shot game if required and often is as back waking gun between trees etc !

I take the beretta clay shooting before every season to remind my brain that it’s throwing a different gun about ! In my head a bigger heavier gun recoils less so you have less barrel bounce for second clay.

I maybe need an experiment with both on the same target with the shot cam on and see if it’s all in my head.

Agriv8 

 

 

 

[Taileron]

I shoot a 32” Mk38  in the summer months and in the cold season shoot my 28” MK70. The reasons for this was that I found that with extra layers of padding (Skeet vest, coat etc) the Mk38 felt like a scaffold pole and the MK70 was just right even though I have them both at 15.5 lop. I’m also 6ft 4” and I find the 32” great on the high birds and long crossers but I do struggle to get it up to speed on the rabbits. The MK70 in the summer is far too fast but in the winter on clays and walked up its lovely. Funny thing how much layers of clothing change how much you shoot.

On a side note both were choked with browning Midas extended 1/4 1/2, the 32 was throwing noticeably tighter patterns To get the same patterns the 28” now has 1/4 1/2 and the 32” has Skeet 1/4

Edited June 23, 2022 by Taileron

[Smokersmith]

If it makes you happy ... it can't be that bad ....

[Sweet11-87]

have an old baikal o/u and that came with 2 sets of barrels, 28" and 32". its bark and recoil is signifigantly harsher with the 28" on. With the 32" the extra weight when swinging the gun through is way smoother. both meaning i can get on the second clay faster. however i still prefer a 28 for live quarry as its just easier to manouver round a hide, shoulder and get into all those weird shooting angles you find when not braced and ready like you are in a clay stand shouting pull. got to be somting in it otherwise all the serious clay guns wouldnt be 32"

[Walker570]

3 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

This. I am six feet four inches tall. I find that as I need a long stock that long barrels "balance" the gun both in terms of its weight and in terms of its handling. All my guns bar the single shots and a Browning A-5 are side-by-side with well made barrels that are correctly struck off.

This.  It is all down to your height and build. I, like enfield am six foot plus and long arms and find a long barreled shotgun both fits and swings much more smoothly so building confidence like you would point your finger. I have shot everyhting from 20 inch pumpers through 25 side by sides and my present 410s are both 30 inch and feel just like they are part of me when I mount them.  That is what it is all about.  What suits you, not what some artsy ftsy clever clogs suggests.

I had the pleasure to shoot with a very pleasant young man at Grimsthorp and he had so much stuff attached to the top rib of his shotgun I could not believe it...BUT  he said it had improved his shooting and he could shoot better than ever with it.. confidence in your equipment.

[enfieldspares]

7 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I have shot everthing from 20 inch pumpers through 25 side by sides and my present 410s are both 30 inch and feel just like they are part of me when I mount them. 

Ah yes. My ex-Royal Irish Constabulary 20" barrel Winchester 1897 that Mrs Thatcher so kindly banned along with my ex-Tom Collins of the Southern Armoury 21" barrel Winchester 1912 that Mrs Thatcher also banned at the same time. In 1988. Buy, hey ho, as they say and say again "the Tories are the friends of shooting....". Parrot, parrot, parrot. Funny thing is though it never seems to be that they are does it? Except David Cameron who rejected a licensing fees increase and rejected the last proposed lead shot ban.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

I was never allowed to take my Browning A5 (Humpback) to the clay ground with it's 13" barrel!  

[welshwarrior]

Barrel length isn’t the only issue here it’s also weight of the barrels. I’ve got very light  32” barrels on an OU.  It handles faster than a standard weight 30” sporter. 
The longer barrels point better as well as swing smoother.  

[Walker570]

100% .... no wieght at all in my 410 barrels but they just swing so smoothly like pointing my finger.  I'm fortunate that in many years I have as said had the chance to handle numerous shotguns but with relative beginners then try to find a shop which has a facility for you to actually try a few and find out what suits you.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Walker570

[Gerry78]

8 hours ago, B725 said:

All of my shotguns have had 28" barrels and it's suited me just fine , Tuesday I was breaking clay's off the 118 foot high tower so if it had been a pheasant or other I would have been happy. Unless it's just me there seems to be a trend of 30" or even 32" I with my limited knowledge don't really understand the need to be swinging something as long as a yard brush about, so just interested in others thought's. 

I’m over 6”2 in height I’ve tried 26-28-30 inch barrels from clays to Wildfowling  I always shot better with 30in barrels every one is different I was told by a old wildfowler “it’s all in the mind “if you think you shoot better with a longer barrel then buy a gun with a longer barrel 

[Old Boggy]

15 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

There's one thing to be WELL considered. That the longer the barrel the further away from your (usually left) ear is the "bang". You used to be able to tell at the midday shoot lunch the guys with the Churchill XXV, Hellis "Featheweight" and Holland Brevis guns. They'd be the ones turning on and tuning in their hearing aids.

Yes, I can relate to that having shot with 25 inch barrels for years at a time when we weren’t fully aware of the damage we were doing to our hearing without ear defenders. 
Fortunately, hearing aids have advanced significantly and so even severe hearing loss can be improved upon. Fortunately shooting folk are more enlightened these days. However, how many of us blame a lifetime of shooting on our hearing loss, not admitting that old age is a contributing factor.

OB

[London Best]

1 hour ago, Old Boggy said:

Fortunately, hearing aids have advanced significantly and so even severe hearing loss can be improved upon.

OB

When I complained that the hearing aids with which I had been fitted were of no use to me as I still could not hear the birds sing, I was told, “well, we cannot enhance what you cannot hear.”  Not used them since.

[JohnfromUK]

28" for me.  I'm well under 6 foot, and both in s/s and o/u I seem to be most comfortable with 28".  I have 27 to 30 in s/s and 28 or 30 in o/u and in all cases prefer the 28".