Barrel Lenght Argument

S

sparkysteve

New member
I got into a heated disscussion at work today about barrel length and shot performance. My trap expert foreman said I was stupid to have a barrel shorter than 30" because it shoots to slow and has a crappy pattern. I'm to expert shooter, I just have a 12 ga. Browing BPS and a 12 ga. 870 both with 26" and 28" barrells. I use them for everything from bird hunting, deer hunting, sporting clays. I have no complaints. I said it was for reasons of practicality that I like a short barrel to tote in the woods. He shoots a $8000 Baretta with a 34" barrel. We agreed to disagree. Any opinions?????
 
friction

I was under the impression that fater a barrel becomes to long, such as 34'' that friction takes hold and slows down the shot too much. As for pattern, i think that has to do with the choke.
 
The length has nothing to do with velocity.

A 30in may have a SLIGHTLY better pattern, but I can tell you for sure that is doesn't make the shot travel any faster.
 
Academic

I am no shotgun Guru but if what you have been using patterns well, is reliable, and performs well the tasks you ask of it, isn't the whole discussion an academic exercise? :)

It may be true that barrel length affects muzzle velocity. It may be true that barrel length affects patterning. It is almost always true that the amount of cash you spent on your favorite toy will impact your opinion of its 'clear' superiority. ;)

Seriously, if he is happy with his $8,000 dollar shotgun and you are happy with yours, does anything else really matter?:)
 
I believe that when you get over 30 inches of barrel, you start to lose velocity, not gain it. Also, the length does not affect the pattern until you move to extremes.

Dfariswheel said:
ears ago the NRA's American Rifleman Technical unit did a test to determine just what effect barrel length had on actual performance.

They put an adjustable choke on a Marlin 36" Goose gun and fired it for pattern and velocity.

After testing, the barrel was cut off one inch, and the gun was fired for pattern and velocity again.

This continued until the barrel was cut down to 12".

The NRA's results said that anything that was going to happen in a shotgun barrel was going to happen within 18".

Anything over about 30" and you actually started to LOSE velocity due to friction.

Nothing got wildly out of hand until the barrel was approaching 12".
Click to expand...
That was from http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157291&highlight=barrel+length+velocity.
 
shorty

i have a mosy 500 with an 28" that is use for birds and skeet, i have a 20" that i swap out for deer hunting. it is very hard to get a 28" barrel shouldered in a one man blind, with the 20" barrel it doesnt have to stick out of the blind. i can tell you this it would probably bust your partners ear drums in a duck blind with anything shorter than 26".
 
Sparky.. He is simply re-telling myths based on nothing. Why does he not shoot a 36" barrel if 2" or 4" make that much difference in pattern. I have a 30" and a 32" barrel on 2 of my trap guns, I actually do better with the 30". In fact, I hate to say it, but I shoot better with my 28" Berreta than my dedicated Trap guns. If there is an imoprovement in pattern, it would be so insignificent as not to matter. If he is still convinced, go out to the range and do some patterns. Mix up the papers so no one knows which gun shot which pattern and I bet he can't tell the difference, assuming of course you are both shooting the same choke. Choke is what determines the pattern, not length.. period. The only real positive with the longer barrels is that it puts some weight OUT THERE and helps with a smooth swing. You can do as well with a barrel weight, maybe better. Look at the barrel, it is thick at the breech and get smaller quite quickly,, the reason.. shotgun powders are consumed very quickly and no longer manufacture pressure. Longer barrels don't add much if any velocity to the load.
The bottom line is you aren't going to convince him as he is too deep into his beliefs, true or not. The best thing you can do is practice, practice and out shoot every time you can. Even with that done, he will most likely have some other reason why it happened. Been here before,, I am sure i will again
 
You're not going to shut him up or change his mind until you out shoot him with consistency. Either on the line or in the field.
 
My undersstanding is that the longer barrels have 2 advantages:

Longer sight radius and

Better follow through

While they may be helpful, especially in some shooting sports, I think alot of it is a matter of perception. Meaning, if you are use to it, and rely on it, it is helpful. But it doesn't make the gun "shoot better". In my own experience, I never felt a gun with more than a 28" barrel that "felt right"...they felt awkward (but I didn't do a lot of shooting with them). And for a hunting gun, I greatly preferred an even shorter gun (24" for birds) as it just "feels" handier.

Note that when I was young, I could shoot 98-99% trap with a "field grade" 20 gauge Mossberg 500. LOVED to shock the guys with their high $$$$$$$$ guns, at the trap range.
 
The better follow through arguement has been disproven.After all you are moving your upper body not just the gun. Remember thet the LOA of a 24" auto or pump is the same as an O/U 28" !
 
Your "expert" doesn't know what he is talking about. Test after test has proven that barrel length (within practical limits) has very little affect on muzzle velocity. This difference is more neglible downrange where target contact is made.

The choke determines the pattern, not barrel length. Type of shell, hardness of shot, etc. are a larger factor than barrel length.

Barrel length does affect the way a gun balances and feels.
 
It's all in what you use it for!

It depends on what your purpose is. For home defense, the shorter the better. That way you can turn the corners and manuever hallways with ease. Each type of hunting or sport has it's own needs. I'm not sure about semi-autos, but aren't most shotguns drop in barrels? I have several barrels for each of my 3 shotguns. When sitting in the closet they get the shortest of the bunch (18"-20"). When I plan to shoot trap, I put on a longer barrel. It takes all of 2 seconds.
 
Many moons ago, when I was a shotgunning teenager, my father told me that, after 18" in a barrel, birdshot loses velocity. The pattern is determined by the type and quality of scope; long barrel just gives long sight radius. My father was one of the best wingshots I ever saw; he rarely used a shotgun with a barrel that was over 22" or so. He also believed in the Cutts Compensator.
 
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