doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 26" Doubleguns--Are they making a comeback?

Doug, you guys in Utah don't count!

For crying out loud, you're hunting birds that migrate up to 38 miles a day to feed (sharptails) that fly at an altitude of up to several hundred feet!

So yes, you get to have a longer gun. I swear you have to lead them by about a football field in length to make contact.

It may be, that one measure of the popularity, or not, of 26" barrels, is to look at what is being offered on new guns.
As I peruse the internet sites, I find few new 26" field doubles. most are 28". That includes over/unders as well as SxS. Target shotguns are obviously excluded as it's virtually impossible to find a new quality target shotgun with 26" tubes.
Truly an unscientific view on my part, but an observation nevertheless.

King, I think you'll find that your 20ga SKB, at least if it's one of the old Ithaca imports, has 25" barrels, not 26". Not sure why SKB/Ithaca did that, because the shorter barrels on the 12ga guns were 26".

The difference today vs the past is that you don't have any trouble finding new doubles with barrels longer than 26" that also have more open chokes, like IC/M. After the end of the American doublegun industry, on virtually all the imported sxs (and most of the OU's as well), if you wanted chokes as open as IC/M, then you had to buy a gun with 26" barrels. Virtually all the 28" barrel guns were M/F.

On several occasions, I've taken 32" O/U sporting clays guns in the field pheasant hunting. I gotta admit, it's harder to miss. But, if you get into a cornfield with them, it's at least a hassle, and sometimes comical.

I have always used shorter barreled shotgun in the duck blind, seems to be so much less fuss with getting the gun out and up.
Short barrels can also have tight chokes
Mike

As I sit in a lodge in Wyoming cleaning my 30 inch 20 Rizzini after shooting Chuker,pheasant, and huns all day, I think length is a matter of preference and balance. I shoot guns from 25 to 30 depending on the game I am hunting. If it fits, shoot it!

Most everyone seems to be on the same page, nitpicking notwithstanding.

I cannot get too "fast" in grouse/WC cover, IME. Butt-heavy is not the same as fast. Light is not the same as fast. Thanks to Rocketman for finding a way to measure and quantify fast.

On average 26" doubles are faster than 30" doubles. Yes, I know you can find fast and 30". They are more the exception and, often, quite pricey.

Have a 26" Miroku Daly that's pretty fast, but a couple of 20 ga M-21 skeets in 26" are even faster.

Don't know about the wild west. Suppose a 391 sport would be about right...........

Sam

No.
JR

Well, I guess that settles it.

26" Doubleguns--Are they making a comeback?

As far as I'm concerned they never went out of style. But lets hope they are and maybe they will now that McIntosh is no longer around to promote everything longer.