more barrel questions

[fortress49]

How much advantage is gained/lost by having barrels of longer length with all other things being equal?  What is the advantage of a 32" barrel over a 28" barrel?

How much advantage is gained/lost by having chambers of longer length with all other things being equal?  What is the advantage of a 3 1/2" chamber over a 3" chamber?

With all other things being equal, how much practical hunting distance do you get out of a full choke as oppsoed to a mod chocke?

As you can tell from the questions I am not real sure of how to choose the proper shotgun barrels for my NEF handi rifle.  I have an O/U shotgun that I use for hunting right now but I am making uneducated guesses as to what chokes to use when I go out hunting.  I hunt dove, ducks, and geese.  I would alos like to hunt turkeys in the future.

I would like to purchase as few barrels as possible to cover the widest spread of hunting.  (The barrels themselves are not that expensive until you add on the fitting and shipping costs!)

What barrels would you recommend and why?

For the really high flying geese would the 32" full choke barrel be as effective as the shorter 10 ga barrel on a 10 Ga shotgun?  

Thanks for any advice you have to a confused new shotgunner.

Matt

[Brett]

Hi fortress49,I don't generally hunt ducks or geese so I don't know how much help I will be.  Try posting your questions on the Waterfowl forum you may get a bigger response.

 http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=19&sid=70e5a5da31d2399adbdf95403edf15e9

I do know that longer barrels are generally favored for pass shooting such as in duck or goose hunting because the longer barrel places more weight forward helping with the follow thru on your swing.

I also can tell you that the tighter the choke constriction the better the effective range. However, the tighter the shot column is the less room there is for aiming error.

3-1/2" shells allow room for a few more pellets and or a smidge more powder for higher velocities so having the ability to shoot 3-1/2" shells may be of some advantage.  Personally I'm not sure if it's worth the added pounding and think it would be wiser to learn how to bring the birds in closer.  For one thing you'll have fewer cripples and lost birds if you can nail them in close.  

I don't have any experience with 10 gauges so can't offer comparison between them and 12 ga.

[Brett]

As an after thought, if versatility from one shotgun barrel is what you are looking for, one barrel that could handle upland birds, waterfowl, turkey and maybe deer slugs,  I would recommend a 28" 12ga with threaded for screw in choke tubes and a hand full of various choke tubes to suit the quarry.

[fortress49]

Thanks Brett for your responses on this post and my previous barrel question post.

I will give the "Waterfowl/wingshooting" board a try too to see what they have to say.

Matt

[Markus]

Thi will require more time to answer than my wife will tolerate right now but I'll get back to you later

[Markus]

Barrel length is a personal prefenence thing More than a performance thing. I love my pardner my a barrel chopped to 22" for knockin around the woods and throwing cheap slugs, but I just bought an old model 176 10ga with a 36"barrel for goose hunting. To split the difference when I walking in fields or mainly sticking to the paths hunting rabbits and squirrel I use a 28" 20ga. Old school thought on high flying geese says long barrel and full choke. In recent years though folks have found that the right load and choke combo can throw a turkey killing pattern at 50 yards.

Don't waste the bucks on 3 1/2" shells. They beat the crap out of you and don't really add much. I never took the time to really pattern them but a lot of folks that did reported better patterns with 3" I shot a box of 10 3 1/2" hevi shot no. 2s. They didn't kill the geese any deader than the 3" that I usually use.

The best way to learn what chokes to use iis to pattern your gun with different loads at different ranges using different chokes and see what you gun is doing. The barrel and choke you use should be tailored to the type of shooting and hunting style. The type of shot makes a differenence as well. generally steel and other nontoxics tend to pattern one choke tighter than lead.

If I had to choose only one barrel and choke it would be a12ga 28" barrel with a modified choke. As a matter of fact I'm going to go to bed now so I can get up  and use that barrel on geese in the morning. Are you hunting over decoys, pass shooting or jumpshooting your geese and ducks. Are you successful in your shooting?

[ScatterGunner]

here's my 2 cents !

i have shoot consistantly better on walk-through sporting clays courses with my 20 gauge O/U browning witha 32" barrel than with my 28" O/U browning, same gun, same chokes, different barrels, at least a 5 bird difference.  who knows ??!!???

when shooting over dogs, i use the shortest barrels and cylinder chokes or most open choke available. a fast mount is good and the shorter barrels are lighter and are a little bit, not much, but just a little bit faster on the mount.

short barrels are also a minor advantage in the thicket, once again not much of an advantage but when you are chasing a ruffed grouse with the bead in a thicket you need every advantage you can get.

for trap i use a 34" shoulder mounted cannon  :-D  it seems to shoot better than any gun i've tried. for skeet i use a 28" 20 gauge O/U with skeet chokes, and a 410 SxS with full/full chokes.

can't offer you much on goose or duck hunting, havent tried them yet.

over the years, i have figured that if you are on target and got your lead straight, the barrel length and choke minor variables. if you like the gun and got your leads down pat, not much else really matters.


sg

[fortress49]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I really appreciate it.  It gives me some onfo to think about.  

Markus, when I hunt duck, it is over decoys on a very small pond..."Tank" as they are called here in Tx.  If geese fly high overhead, we have taken the opportunity to pass-shoot (if they are not to high).

I have only hunted geese and that was with decoys.

The duck hunting has been much more successful than the geese.  By the time the geese get down here to Tx I think they are to smart from being shot at all the way South and they are very wary of decoys and electronic calls.  Or maybe I am just to dumb!

Anyway, thanks for your help!

Matt

[Markus]

If you want to bust those high flyin gees try some hevi shot coyote loads. A guy I was talking to the other day said he was using t size shot and knocked one down at 90 yards. I read in one of the waterfowl mags that the hevi-shot B size retained killing energy out to 90 yards. It aint cheap but for the number of times I get out hunting geese it's worth it to shoot the best. $2.00 a shot make you aim a little more carefully too and you definitley get fewer cripples than with steel.

[Rustyinfla]

I believe the trend to have long 32-36" barrels on shotguns comes from the days when black powder was used as the propellant. In those days a long barrel was needed to get the most from the powder charge. With today's smokeless powders very little is gained beyond 26" as far as velocity goes.
  It will make a difference though as far ar the sighting plane is concerned. the longer barrels do offer a longer sight radius, thus are easier to aim better. That is if you want to consider what some folks do as aiming.
  For waterfowl where longer shot are used the added length could be an advantage.

   My .02$ worth,
     Rustyinfla <><