Phaedrus/69
Member
I have one shotgun and it does everything I need a shottie to do (Mossberg 500 Mariner/nickel in 12 ga).
I started out with shotguns but moved on to rifles in my youth. I never could understand why a shotgun has to be so long. For the last 15 years the only one I've owned was a Mossberg Mariner with 18.5" barrel.
However, I have started shooting trap and purchased a Browning Superposed recently. Still hate the length of the gun but enjoy stooting trap.
So, make that 2 shotguns.
I kind of look at it like the longer barrel will let you be a bit more aware of where you are pointing the shotgun. For example, is an 8" barrel handgun easier to shoot longer distances accurately than a 2" barrel? I can use short barrels on a shotgun, but I like the feel and the way a longer barrel pointsI have the same problem understanding the need for the longer barrels. Almost everyone in the trap community agrees that longer is better and some are shooting 34" barrels.
The key to great shotgun is fit and handling not barrel length or weight and key to fine balance is barrel blueprinting. No one did that better than the British. Now is great time to pick nice vintage double. The best deals can be found on those with 25" or 26" barrels. Kent of WV just released fine upland load 3/4 oz shot @1200fps in 65mm case with avg. gas pressure under 8000psi. What is remarkable cost per box is less than Winchester AA at Walmart.
I've always been a O/U and SxS shotgun guy. I bought the Auto-5 not many years ago to make a HD gun out of it. I cut the barrel, shot it a little bit and loved it, but cylinder bore doesn't cut it for longer range applications. I sent the barrel to Michael Orlen to install the Colonial Sporting Clays screw-in chokes and lengthen/polish the forcing cone. I'd shot Auto-5s a bit over the years, I admired them as a mechanical work of art (one of these old A5s would probably be a $4K gun +/- if they were produced today with the same craftsmanship that went into the old ones like this 1954 model) but they felt long and kinda cumbersome.That is the first short barreled A5 with screw in chokes I’ve ever seen.
Pretty cool, has me thinking about refurbishing one of my Remington Model 11's.I have a 12 gauge O/U, a 20 gauge side-by-side, and an Auto-5 with an 18" barrel and screw-in chokes. I do pretty much every shotgun thing I do with any or all of them. I definitely wouldn't want to give up either of the other two but I would be just fine using the Auto-5 for anything I do with a shotgun. I love shooting it with the short barrel waaay more than I ever did with the full-length barrel.
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My Dad has a Model 11 that he bought used in the early 1950s for quail hunting. I started shooting it as early as I was brave enough to withstand the recoil, probably about 9 years old or so. My brothers and I used it for all sorts of things over the years. It has a 26" Cylinder Bore (came from the factory that way) and we would often take it shooting black birds (they used to swarm by the thousands in winter around the livestock feed so they were good targets and plenty of 'em), and other things. We all noticed, separately, that that gun would hold a uniform pattern amazingly well out to ranges where other guns required Modified or tighter chokes to get the job done, yet the Model 11 pattern was nice and open at short distances. We patterned all these guns and the Model 11 just amazed us and our shooting friends with the seemingly impossible uniform and effective patterns at both short and longer distances.Pretty cool, has me thinking about refurbishing one of my Remington Model 11's.
One over/under with a tube set. My favorite and about only shotgun activity is skeet.
If you go with a carrier barrel and tubes, your subgauges can equal the weight of your 12 gauge barrel. That is the preferred set-up by skeet shooters and sub-gauge sporting clay shooters
I've always been a O/U and SxS shotgun guy. I bought the Auto-5 not many years ago to make a HD gun out of it. I cut the barrel, shot it a little bit and loved it, but cylinder bore doesn't cut it for longer range applications. I sent the barrel to Michael Orlen to install the Colonial Sporting Clays screw-in chokes and lengthen/polish the forcing cone. I'd shot Auto-5s a bit over the years, I admired them as a mechanical work of art (one of these old A5s would probably be a $4K gun +/- if they were produced today with the same craftsmanship that went into the old ones like this 1954 model) but they felt long and kinda cumbersome.
With the short barrel the gun is just right for me. I find it very well balanced, super-fast pointing, just the right feel and length, and it never malfunctions. 18.25" sounds like a short barrel, but keep in mind that the long receiver gives it the sight radius of a 24" O/U. The stock is original length except without the thick rubber pad, so length of pull is now 13.5". I have quite a few guns but this is one that makes me want to take it out and find something to shoot at just to enjoy using it (does it sound like I kind of like it? ).
Here's another photo to show the size of it compared to other guns that everyone is familiar with.
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