doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 26" barrels

It seems to me that barrels less in length than 26" are a real liability when trying to sell a double. No matter what the maker, model, engraving or condition, everyone wants at least 28" or more. This in spite of the balance or fact that the need for longer barrels is a relic of the old days of slow burning powders which made guns shoot "harder" and at longer distances in long barrels then modern powders. Yet, I can remember when 25" Churchills were all the rage. Have any of you noticed this? Is there any logic to this situation or is it just a style which will change? Pheasantflyfisherman

My guess changing styles. I was in a Fort William gunshop when Churchill 25s were the rage and the man behind the counter handed me a Churchill 25 and said What do you think of this? It didn't feel right to me.

You get more gun for the money with the longer bbls, ho ho.
I don't agree the Need for longer bbls is just a relic from the slow powder days?....some people like the help they get keeping their swing going with the extra bit of weight hanging out on the end.
But I don't know much, even on a good day
cheers
franc

gun barrel length is like ladies hem lines...they go up an down as styles change...

from a practical stand point, 25" barrelled guns were popular with grouse hunters for quick snap shots in heavy cover...

32" guns were all the rage with trap shooters...

skeet shooters used to like 26" guns...now they all seem to want 30" guns..

30" now seems to be the norm for sporting clays...

wunder watt will be the next fad...

It is not nearly as much "fad" as many here seem to think. There is good reason serious shotgunners of longer range targets and game use longer barrels. They break more long birds with the longer barreled guns ............. period. They kill more flyers inside the ring with the longer barreled guns .............. period. I'm not going into why I believe that is, I just know from 58 years of shotgunning, most of them years that I have been very serious about my hit/miss ratio, that I shoot higher averages on most types of shotgunning with the longer barrels. I can name one place that I might shoot a 26" gun just as well as longer barrels, pointed quail/woodcock. Other than that example, the longer barrels rule, IMHO.

You're full of misinformation, ed. 32" guns are the norm in serious sporting clays. You see a 30" every now and then. For the casual sporting shooter, who may shoot 4 or 5 rounds a year, what they shoot is not germane to the discussion. They are not setting the standards.

Tell us, ed. Just how many sporting clay tournaments, or big shoots, where you could actually observe what shooters use, have you attended in the last few years?

SRH

well then, why not 34" or 36"? where does it end... or does it?

It ends where the mass majority of people involved find they shoot the best at the targets at hand. You can't be expected to understand it because you are just an armchair expert who parrots what he reads elsewhere. If I am wrong, and you have deduced that 30" barrels are the "norm" through actual observation and analysis, answer my question about how many big sporting clay shoots you have attended and competed in, or even sat and watched. I think I already know the answer to that .......... so just consider it a rhetorical question.

SRH

Heck of a lot of guys don't carry their guns in rough cover and snow for miles and miles. 32" and even 30s are pretty much a PITA. I just sold a 32" Evans because of it. Right now, I'd like to find a nice light ~25" Darne.

I love and prefer 26� guns for exactly what Stan said: flushing quail. I also really enjoy them shooting low gun skeet where the shot is more instinctive than aimed. Each barrel length has a place though usually specialized.

A hundred and twenty years ago, Capt. Money went to great lengths to explain why 30-inch barrels were best in his series of magazine articles which were compiled into his book Pigeon Shooting. Then from the 1940s to the 70s Jack O'Connor told us 26-inch barrels were best. Round and round.