doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 30 Inch Tubes for Upland Birds?

I am considering an upland gun with 30 inch tubes. Choked right but with longer tubes than I am used to. Is this ok? 28 inch guns are the norm for me. Thanks, HuntersDad

I have a 12 and a 20 SXS with 30 tubes. They are my preference.

Barrel length can be (& has been) argued till one turns blue in the face. However all things considered actual bbl length on an upland gun is one of the least important characteristics of said gun. Neither a long sighting radius or forward inertia for a sustained swing are of much importance in an upland gun, likewise there are few places where one can swing a 26" bbl'd gun that a 30" one will become hopelessly entangled in the brambles. Fit, Balance & Choking are far more important to an upland gun than a few little silly CM's either way. If your gun meets these criteria just don't let anyone "Convince" you it is impratical to use & can't be shot well, just shoot it & enjoy it. I have sucessfully used guns with bbls from 26"-30" in the uplands. My all time best shooting upland gun had 28" tubes but I give other characteristics of it credit for it's success.

If you shoot it well you will never carer. If you do not shoot it well it will become the reason or excuse for the poor shooting.

Looking back I can not remember more than a very few times barrel length was ever a problem. And in most of them the stuff was so thick that no barrel was short enough and I really should not try shooting. Hard not to want to try when you see a bird after hours of hunting but I have dropped birds into thick stuff that even a good dog has a heck of a time finding.

Barrel length is over-rated. Fit, balance, chokes, shell and shot selection are much more important to me. Even gauge selection is not that big of a deal to me for upland hunting. Hard to be over/under gunned at 25 yards with good choke and shell selection. 25 yards has covered a lot of game for me over the years.

I think you'll be fine with a 30" SxS....my 32" SxS is the same overall length as my 24" SBE with a 2 inch extended choke.

Barrel length can be more or less irrelevant, or it can be very relevant, depending on what kind of hunting you do. Do you hunt chukars or pheasants out West and see a lot of long distance crossing shots? Then the extra length can really help. The best shooting gun I've owned was a 30" 16. But, if you hunt mostly behind pointers in thick stuff, and most of your shots are at 25 yds as Ky Jon stated, then I don't think it matters much.

Just stand 2" back from your usual shooting position and it will work out OK.
Seriously, ditto what 2-P said, so well.

If it feels good, shoot it!

I spent a lot of time over 20 years or so thrashing around in the brush with a 26" bbl. gun, but I've come to agree with Jay. "If it feels good, shoot it." I think the ideal barrel length depends more on you, and what works best for you, than on the conditions you are shooting in. Are you 6' 2" tall or 5' 8" tall? Are your arms long or short? Somewhere in my increasingly dim memory I have heard that the ideal barrel length is twice what works for you as a length of pull. So a guy who feels comfortable with a 15" LOP may, according to this rule of thumb, be best suited to 30" barrels. I'm one of those guys, and I know that, at least at targets, 30" works best with my 15" LOP. In the brush, with a woodcock or grouse, taking off like a rocket, who knows? For the really close ones, the 26" bbls may give you a fast swing advantage. But, when you go out for a day's hunting, how do you know which shot - close or longer away- is going to present itself? Like Jay says, "if it feels good, shoot it!!"

Rich

I'm into guns with "lively feeling" to them. They tend to be light and have loooong barrels. One needs to consider "lock, stock, and barrel" as one harmonious unit.