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Long, long ago, when I was young & slim, shotgun barrels were quite a bit longer than most of today. I can recall the usual duck& goose guns with 32’’ bbls being routine, with special ’’Long Tom’s’’ of 36’’ & 38’’.
The common opinion of that era was that the longer the bbl, the more uniform the shot pattern, no matter the ‘’choke’’ it had. Those were the days of brass & waxed/oiled paper shells with pressed cardboard ‘’wads’’ & Lead shot. Business-end closures were either a flat heavy paper ‘’wad’’, or the then-newer ‘’star crimp’’.
We dutifully ’’patterned’’ the guns with each new load, but never learned much useful.
Then in the late 1960’s & early 1970’s, we saw a gradual swing to plastic shells wit sealed plastic star crimps. Many used plastic ‘’shot cups’’, which supposedly kept shot strings together better.
Remington Arms ammo division did extensive testing using all sorts of shotgun bbls mounted to a machine at one of their non-domestic plants. The word I got was that any bbl length over about 18’’ had no appreciable effect on patterns on paper.
Soon, we began seeing sporting shotguns with much shorter bbls for all wing-shooting hunting uses. Indeed, I had guns in 18.5, 24, & 26’’. Yes, the 18.5 was a hacksaw job on a damaged LC Smith; but the others were U S & German makes.
Today, it seems that few sporting double guns are offered in shorter than 28’’. We hear babble about ‘’sighting 0lanes’’’ and ‘’smoother swings’’, as in golfing equipment.
Has anyone here kept-up with this issue ?
Please tell us what you know. . . . .
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Long, long ago, when I was young & slim, shotgun barrels were quite a bit longer than most of today. I can recall the usual duck& goose guns with 32’’ bbls being routine, with special ’’Long Tom’s’’ of 36’’ & 38’’.
The common opinion of that era was that the longer the bbl, the more uniform the shot pattern, no matter the ‘’choke’’ it had. Those were the days of brass & waxed/oiled paper shells with pressed cardboard ‘’wads’’ & Lead shot. Business-end closures were either a flat heavy paper ‘’wad’’, or the then-newer ‘’star crimp’’.
We dutifully ’’patterned’’ the guns with each new load, but never learned much useful.
Then in the late 1960’s & early 1970’s, we saw a gradual swing to plastic shells wit sealed plastic star crimps. Many used plastic ‘’shot cups’’, which supposedly kept shot strings together better.
Remington Arms ammo division did extensive testing using all sorts of shotgun bbls mounted to a machine at one of their non-domestic plants. The word I got was that any bbl length over about 18’’ had no appreciable effect on patterns on paper.
Soon, we began seeing sporting shotguns with much shorter bbls for all wing-shooting hunting uses. Indeed, I had guns in 18.5, 24, & 26’’. Yes, the 18.5 was a hacksaw job on a damaged LC Smith; but the others were U S & German makes.
Today, it seems that few sporting double guns are offered in shorter than 28’’. We hear babble about ‘’sighting 0lanes’’’ and ‘’smoother swings’’, as in golfing equipment.
Has anyone here kept-up with this issue ?
Please tell us what you know. . . . .
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