Coach guns

[Spinner]

Howdy

I've started hankering after a coach gun for a variety of reasons, but if I get myself one it needs to be as versatile as possible ..... useful for hunting, clay games, HD, etc.

I thought I'd tap into the collective wisdom and see if anyone has experience with a coach gun ...... something like a Baikal or Boito or whatever .... 20" barrel sxs double trigger.

What are they like to shoot? Obviously being lighter you'd expect them to kick a little more but are they really nasty? Are they restricted to 7/8 oz loads or can most people tolerate 1 oz, 1 1/8 oz loads OK? What's muzzle flash like? Are they significantly louder than longer barrels? Can they be used effectively at clay games .... skeet, sporting, 5 stand, or are they only useful for CAS?

Any experience would be appreciated. I like to learn from others mistakes rather than make 'em all myself

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[mondocomputerman]

I just got one given to me and have the same questions. I tried to search and it has been slow going.

 

[A Cleaner]

They aren't terrible with respect to kick. In fact, they are surprisingly docile with standard 1 oz. trap loads from Winchester. I would not recommend shooting 3 inch magnum loads and in fact, some SxS are limited to 2 3/4 anyway. One thing to keep in mind though...don't dump both barrels at once. Your shoulder may very well regret it, even if it seems like a novel at the time.

Get one and shoot the heck out of it. They are fun guns and great for leaning against the nightstand.

 

[Father Knows Best]

I've got a couple, because I'm a cowboy action shooter. Mine are a Baikal Bounty Hunter II (made in Russia) and a Charles Daly Liberty II (made in Turkey). Both are 12 gauge with 20" cylinder bore barrels and double triggers. The Baikal has internal hammers, while the Liberty II is mule-eared (it has real external rebounding hammers).

They are great guns for cowboy shooting and home defense, but not much good for much else. I've shot skeet with them, and they do o.k. if you get on the targets quick. They're pretty much useless for trap an clays, though, because of the short barrels and lack of chokes. The wide plane of a side-by-side also is not conducive to picking up and tracking rising/crossing targets.

I generally shoot featherlight (1 oz) target loads or equivalent black powder loads out of them. I have shot 7/8 oz high velocity game loads, which kick less, and the occasional 1-1/8 oz target load. I think they're be quite punishing with anything heavier, even though they have 3" chambers and are rated for magnums.

Basically, a coach gun trades off performance at any kind of range for a short, light, handy package. There is a price to pay.

For an all-around shotgun, I still recommend a pump. If you want a double of some sort (sxs or O/U), 26-28" barrels with screw chokes will be a lot more versatile than a coach gun.

 

[Father Knows Best]

don't dump both barrels at once. Your shoulder may very well regret it, even if it seems like a novel at the time.

Actually, I do that fairly regularly in cowboy matches. I usually shoot in the black powder categories. When the stage has an odd number of shotgun targets, I usually load two for the last target. It's not really any slower than loading one, because I grab two at a time from my belt, anyway, and that way I don't have to think about which barrel to put it in. I'll then pull both triggers on the last target. It makes a very satisfying BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM and a nice cloud of smoke, not to mention a really cool jet of flames and embers. The recoil isn't bad, because black powder produces more of a shove than a kick. Just be sure to clear it with the RO before the stage starts, and have the gun firmly mounted.

 

[zeke]

Have one of the Baikals with real hammers and adj chokes. It delivers a real healthy kick with standard buckshot, and shoots good spread at 25 yds with the mod choke.

It has done very respectable (after you get used to it) at informal claybird shooting , especially with the full choke. It really needs a good recoil pad, especially for any extended shooting in t-shirt weather (opinion).

Have shot short pumps (18 and 20 inchers) with cylinder bores. They are not very well suited to claybird shooting , at least for my minimal skill level. Have a 18 in pump with adj cjhokes, it does well at clay birds agin with the full choke installed.

 

[mattw]

I mostly shoot alot of informal trap in the back yard but my experience has been that barrel length doesn't matter as long as you're quick enough to blast the clay(s) before they get too far away. If you have a longer barrel (26 or 28 inches) you could wait for the split second where it stops going up and starts to go down. Not sure for skeet or any of the other games though, trap and its variants are the only games that i think involve the clay flying away from you.

 

[Father Knows Best]

Short barrels aren't much of a hindrance on skeet, except for the fact that longer barrels swing better and promote smoother follow-through. Short barrels can definitely be a handicap in trap, but as you've pointed out, you can compensate somewhat by using a tight choke and getting on the birds quickly. A real problem in trap is that the targets are rising, and the wide plane of a side-by-side will make them very hard to see. You may have to shoot when the targets are obscured by the barrels (trap guns are generally set up to shoot above the bead for this very reason).

Short barrels are a huge handicap in sporting clays, where you will often see targets at great distances and on edge, and from many different angles. It's not so much that longer barrels give better patterns (choke makes a bigger difference than length), but the longer barrels give a much longer sighting plane from your eye to the bead, resulting in more accurate pointing.

I can still hit 23-25 on a skeet field with my 12 gauge 20" coach guns. I can't do anywhere near as well in trap, and the coach guns are hopeless on a clays course.

 

[bubbygator]

I have the Stoeger Silverado in 12GA, & I shoot the low-recoil Aguila mini-shells for Self Defense. I've shot the regular shells for patterning & they are stiff but still very manageable.