Benelli nova pattern

jagertiger · 06-21-2003, 12:07 AM

My friend purchased a benelli nova shotgun with a 28 inch barrel about a month ago and started trap shooting with it and wasn' t getting many hits with any of his chokes so we went out and patterned the gun today and found that it holds a very tight pattern.

I was going to buy the same gun but now I was thinking I should buy the one with the 26 inch barrel instead. Does anybody out there have the same problem and do you think the shorter barrel would help solve the problem.

oldelkhunter · 06-21-2003, 04:54 AM

With or without replaceable choke tubes barrel length has nothing to do with patterns.....the way the barrel is bored and length of transition of the barrel to the choke diameter are the factors on how a gun patterns or not to ones satisfaction. This providing you are using the same exact ammunition everytime you try a different choke tube. There isn' t one bit of difference between 28 and 26" barrel lengths when it comes to hunting...although some of the longer lengths come in handy for trap and pass shooting.

Antler Eater · 06-21-2003, 07:33 AM

As oldelkhunter has stated so well, barrel length does not affect choke. You didn' t say specifically what you were going to use the gun for. That would make a difference in what I picked. If your going to get serious about trap then (depending on your physical demensions) I would opt for a longer gun. By the way trap shooters prefer a tight pattern so your friends problem would be more a matter of technique and swing rather than a pattern issue. If skeet or sporting clays are something you want to get serious about I would not choose a pump gun to compete with. I have seen people use them well but they put themselves at a tremendous handicap in doing so.

For most hunting situations a 26 inch barrel would serve you well. As has been stated the differences in performance between a 26 and a 28 inch barrel are negligible. You need to go heft a few different guns and see what feels good to you. If possible shoot them. Things will get so much clearer for you then.

jagertiger · 06-21-2003, 11:54 AM

I was going to use mine mostly for turkey and upland birds and some trap shooting just for the fun of it.
thanks for replying and I' ll let my friend know it was just his bad shooting

bentbarrel · 06-23-2003, 11:18 AM

With a good turkey choke like a comp-n-choke the Nova makes a great gun for turkey!

jagertiger · 06-24-2003, 03:17 PM

that' s exactly what is was thinking when I saw that tight pattern.