deerthumperjerryshei

I just traded for a Browning A-5Light Stalker shotgun with a 22" barrell. My other shotguns have 26" & 28" barrells.
What are the benefitsto going with a shorter barrell..
I know a shorter barrell is lighter and the swing will be faster,
but what about the shot pattern. Will a shorter (22") barrell pattern be the same as a (26") barrell, will it increase or decrease?
Any info. would be appreciated..

Thanks, Jerry

Retaks

The pattern wont be any major dofference if there is any at all. The shorter barrel will be easier for hunting in thick woods and lighter for carrying the gun all day. The longer barrel will swing better for wingshooting or clays.

Paulpskp

Barrel length should have no bearing on patterns, that is controled by the choke. Longer barrels provide a longer sighting plane and sometimes can smooth out the swing on crossing shots. Use what your comfortable with, my shotguns have several barrel lengths and I use them for different applications. Grouse and Woodcock I have a 24" barrel on my M59 auto, my waterfowl and pheasant guns have 26" or 28" barrels. I tend to shoot the 28" a little better not sure why. Good luck.

mauser06

with todays loads and choke tube options barrel legnth comes down to pretty much personal prefrence in the end. "turkey guns" in the past has 30+" barrels and usually full choked barrels.

alot of turkey guns today have 20-24" barrels and high tech choke tubes in them with advanced shells that throw better patterns at 50yds then the old "turkey guns" threw at 30yds.

me, i prefer short n sweet for my turkey gun. manuvers better, less barrel to be spotted moving, less chances of it hitting trees and limbs etc, lighter, and still throws an awesome pattern and will rock a turkey at 50+ with hevi shot. but for my upland bird hunting, i like 28-30+" barrels. they swing better IMO..and give you a longer sight plane...

but, last week i took my 870 with a 21" barrel grouse hunting. i knew id be in thick thickk cover and covering MILES. i didnt wanna carry the heavy, long mossberg...5 shells fired...2 dead grouse. 1 was a 1 shot kill..the misses were my fault..

just personal preferance...barrel legnth also adds velocity upto a certain point..think its like 20fps per inch of barrel out to 28+ or something. so my 21" is shooting the same shell 140fps slower than a 28" barrel...but, i havent had any animal tell me my shot was moving to slowly...

some will still argue that the longer the barrel the better the pattern...but in todays world, i just dont see it...shells and chokes have came a long way and were at a point where the gun patterns well enough to kill game at extreme ranges for a shotgun, but the pellets dont retain their energy well enough to kill the animal...yep, even the stump barrels...

Paul L Mohr

What these guys have said is true Jerry. Patterns are primarily the function of the choke, and this gun has interchangeable chokes so take your pick. It is really a matter of finding a load you like that will pattern well.

I took my girlfriend to get some trap and skeet lessons and I took that gun with me. They did such a good job with her (she had never shot a gun other than a bb gun before) that I decided to take a few lessons as well. I asked the instructor about the barrel length issue and he said not to worry about it.

The only thing barrel length effects is balance and how the gun swings. If you have a problem with stopping your swing then a longer barrel may help since it puts more weight out front and is harder to stop.

And another thing to consider is that when most are talking barrel length they are talking about over/under type shotguns that do not have receivers. When you add in the length of the receiver which is fairly long on that gun you come up with almost 30 inches of length. I actually checked it, but forget what it came to exactly. So that short barreled A-5 is actually like shooting a 28 or 29 inch double gun.

I had thought about getting an extra barrel for it but everyone I talked to that had experience told me to keep the barrel I had and not waste the money on a longer one (they are rather expensive). Besides if you take it in the woods you will love that short barrel.

I have also read that most modern loads reach velocity at around 16 or 17 inches of barrel length, so the shorter barrels really don't effect it much. Never actually did any chrono testing to prove that or not though.

And I actually did pretty good with it on the trap range that day.

Have you had a chance to shoot it yet?

Paul

deerthumperjerryshei

Thanks for the info. guys.
Paul I haven't shot the A-5 yet but I did shoot a couple rounds through the 17HMR..

Maybe tommarrow!!

Jerry

Paul L Mohr

How did the 17 shoot and how far off was the scope?

Paul