Barrel lengths and accuracy

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Alan Surry

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Jul 5, 2020
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I’m fairly new this game, but I have experience with guns going back to my childhood in the 70s shooting air rifles and .22 rimfire and competition shooting in the army.  My understanding is that longer barrels equal better accuracy for a number of reasons that we’re all probably familiar with.  What I’m trying to get my head around is the way that shotguns behave with different barrels.  There’s obviously no rifling and the distance between foresight and rearsight is not an issue from an aiming perspective, so the question is:  How much does the length of the barrel play in the spread of the shot and the velocity of the pellets?  I’m assuming that a longer barrel will provide a higher velocity shot simply because it has longer to travel under pressure before it leaves the muzzle, but how does this equate to accuracy in real terms?  I have 3 guns, a 30” O/U Franchi, a 28”O/U Lanber and a 24” Hatsan semi auto.  I would be interested to know how differently they performed at the same distance with the same chokes. 

 
Alan Surry said:
I’m fairly new this game, but I have experience with guns going back to my childhood in the 70s shooting air rifles and .22 rimfire and competition shooting in the army.  My understanding is that longer barrels equal better accuracy for a number of reasons that we’re all probably familiar with.  What I’m trying to get my head around is the way that shotguns behave with different barrels.  There’s obviously no rifling and the distance between foresight and rearsight is not an issue from an aiming perspective, so the question is:  How much does the length of the barrel play in the spread of the shot and the velocity of the pellets?  I’m assuming that a longer barrel will provide a higher velocity shot simply because it has longer to travel under pressure before it leaves the muzzle, but how does this equate to accuracy in real terms?  I have 3 guns, a 30” O/U Franchi, a 28”O/U Lanber and a 24” Hatsan semi auto.  I would be interested to know how differently they performed at the same distance with the same chokes. 
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Forget about accuracy, it plays no part in shotgun shooting. We aim a rifle and point a shotgun. 

In terms of barrel length, a longer barrel tends to be more pointable and steadier in the swing at the expense of weight and inertia. It will have little if any impact upon pellet velocity or spread, that’s determined by other factors.

How your guns perform at different distances through the same chokes would best be determined by the pattern board. Remember though, chokes of the same constriction vary slightly between manufacturers. What’s a 1/2 to one may be a 1/4 to another.

Be careful not to overthink shotgun shooting (something rifle shooters are often minded to do). Hitting a moving target’s a fairly simple process that can easily be made unnecessarily complicated. Keep your head on the gun, match gun speed with target speed and have the right lead. Do all three and it’s hard to miss.

 
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Shotguns are smooth bore. Anything over 24 inches has no (real) bearing on accuracy and it is only a handling issue (more weight up front). The only exception is guns with 'odd' forcing cones where the barrel length is designed to accommodate them (DT11 etc). Chokes maybe a factor as is the cartridge but as Jan points out those will be gun specific not barrel length dependent.

 
Alan Surry said:
I have 3 guns, a 30” O/U Franchi, a 28”O/U Lanber and a 24” Hatsan semi auto.  I would be interested to know how differently they performed at the same distance with the same chokes. 
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Whatever suits you best shoots best . Take all 3 guns all choked nominally the same , 3 boxes of your normal cartridges and go find a nice easy going away trap   and a nice easy high incomer , shoot half a box of your usual load at each target with each gun . You’ll soon see the real life result . 

pattern plates are great for gathering some specific information , but the down side is you will tend to rifle shoot them , and other than letting you look at pattern density it won’t tell you a whole lot about shooting a moving target . 

As far as barrel lengths go , the ballistics don’t matter . Just think there are a zillion dead pheasants that met their end with 26” barrels and 1100 ft/sec muzzle velocity .  
 

 
Freddypip said:
The only exception is guns with 'odd' forcing cones where the barrel length is designed to accommodate them (DT11 etc).
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There is actually no evidence past the makers claims to support that.  If Beretta had some super barrel it would not long be exclusive.

just sayin'

 
Wonko. Noted. I recall reading that there does need to be some parallel bore between the forcing cone and chokes and this has to be sufficient to allow both to do their jobs. I also didn't want to be the person responsible for suggesting a DT11 (which I think has 14 inch cones) could, or should, be cut down to 24 inches !!.

 
Alan Surry said:
  I have 3 guns, a 30” O/U Franchi, a 28”O/U Lanber and a 24” Hatsan semi auto.  I would be interested to know how differently they performed at the same distance with the same chokes. 
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As I understand it, and I stand to be shot down by "expert" opinion but chokes should provide the same result (give or take) across barrel lengths and even bores 12G, 16G, 20G. A half choke with 28 grams of e.g. 6 shot for example, should put the same number of pellets in a 30 inch circle at a given range whether it's from a 24 inch or 32 inch barrel and whether the gun is 12G or 20G.

Variables will come into effect but that's the theory.

 
Thank you everyone who took the time to reply and for the sound advice.  I must admit to being surprised at Jan’s comment regarding differing chokes from different manufacturers, but the answers all make sense.  I’m still very much at the novice end of the spectrum, so I’m not getting too fixated on this, but I’m the sort of person that reverse engineers something to find out how it works (otherwise known as tinkering) and I’m curious to learn.  Sadly that means I can’t blame my low scores on my choice of gun 🙄

BestI keep practicing 👍

 
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Westward said:
Jan's last paragraph is very important too. The technicalities of barrels, chokes and shells are the about the least meaningful concerns in clay shooting. Shooting technique and gun management are way bigger priorities.
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But but but.... buying more stuff seems like a much easier way of improving "ability", as opposed to getting out there and actually shooting clay after clay, or (heaven forbid) getting proper instruction from someone who knows more than what one can read on the internets... 😝

 
Westward said:
Jan's last paragraph is very important too. The technicalities of barrels, chokes and shells are the about the least meaningful concerns in clay shooting. Shooting technique and gun management are way bigger priorities.
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That's so true, there's someone on a American sight to puts down just about anyone elses chokes bar the one that sponsors his web sight.

 
Freddypip said:
Wonko. Noted. I recall reading that there does need to be some parallel bore between the forcing cone and chokes and this has to be sufficient to allow both to do their jobs. I also didn't want to be the person responsible for suggesting a DT11 (which I think has 14 inch cones) could, or should, be cut down to 24 inches !!.
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not necessarily -  I had a Beretta 682 barrel for a while that had been bored out by a moron.  It was a rippled chatter marked cone from chamber to muzzle with no apparent choke tho the opening measured like a normal F at about 0.690".  At 40yds it patterned like a hammer.  However I was frightened that it would blow up so I sold it to a gent that was unconcerned about his left hand since I told him outright what I knew about the thing.  I have no idea what became of it but conical barrels are prolly a future discovery that will revolutionize shotgun performance  :lolu:

 
Luke_(NL) said:
But but but.... buying more stuff seems like a much easier way of improving "ability", as opposed to getting out there and actually shooting clay after clay, or (heaven forbid) getting proper instruction from someone who knows more than what one can read on the internets... 😝
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That’s so true. I got a new cartridge pouch and it doubled my score!

 
Wonko - How good would it be for the sport for somebody with a 30 year old gun - that worked like a dream - and was modded beyond recognition by a quite but expert gunsmith - and used by somebody with cheap glasses and foam earplugs - to win the Olympics and a few world championships. I do live in hope.

 
I suspect that the sport would react as it always has by not GAF  --  OK maybe yeaaa for a few min then the regler zip response.  Human memory of the deeds of others can be quite short lived for any number of reasons.  but pretty much no one would GAF

 
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Freddypip said:
Wonko - How good would it be for the sport for somebody with a 30 year old gun - that worked like a dream - and was modded beyond recognition by a quite but expert gunsmith - and used by somebody with cheap glasses and foam earplugs - to win the Olympics and a few world championships. I do live in hope.
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You’ll live in hope for quite a while then😀 . If someone is talented enough to be winning National or World Championships  and/or  Olympic podium places , they will be sponsored at some level . By and large this would include product placement including the latest  brand x gun to give that halo effect for retail sales .  There are more than a few  high profile shooters who have swapped brand allegiance to guns back and forth during their careers . This would leave me to believe that their talent is 99.9 %  of their success , the gun having  comparatively little to do with it 

As far as wearing cheap glasses goes , it’s never going to happen , same with ear protection . If you made your living looking at moving targets and being exposed to continuous gunfire ...  

 
Freddypip said:
Wonko - How good would it be for the sport for somebody with a 30 year old gun - that worked like a dream - and was modded beyond recognition by a quite but expert gunsmith - and used by somebody with cheap glasses and foam earplugs - to win the Olympics and a few world championships. I do live in hope.
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Only person I can think of immediately that falls into this category is Martin Elworthy, world fitasc champion and many other titles in the late 90's, shot with a grade 1 mk38, game shooting hat and bog standard glasses and ear muffs. He's just the same now I believe and still very handy.

 
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