doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrels, not what they should be?

It's pretty much proven beyond any reasonable arguement that the heavier, longer barrels make everyone shoot better and more consistantly. Virtually all competition guns of any clay sport or live bird sport have longer and heavier barrels than a 28" 'game gun'. Granted there are some upland hunting conditions or birds that require shorter and quicker handling guns, but it sure ain't pheasants or dove.

Now I'll be the first to tell you that lugging a 7 1/2 lb 12g club up and down Calif razorback hills is a bear... and I've done it for years until discovering 20g guns, and recently 410's. But even though the heavy guns were a burden to carry, I could shoot more consistantly with them. We're all consumed by the attraction of lightweight guns, myself included. But truth be known, I think some of the best game shots I've seen were using 7 1/2 lb guns or heavier. I guess those lightweight "game guns" are just sexier.

Chuck, if that was the case all the chaps would have been using their pigeon guns on the estates shoots.
...but they didn't!
The lite 6 1/2lb English Sle 30" 12b was the gun of choice for well over one hundred years for those who could, and did.
It was for shooting, not lugging for those great sets of barrels.

Lowell these 'Chaps' that 'could and did' you keep refering to...

Didn't they have people to 'lug and load' their guns for them ?

Bad shots miss, good shots hit. For some reason, good shots are much less concerned with shotgun dynamics and quality of strike than the bad shots.

That quote should be a framed needle point in the "Hall of Wisdom"

To quote Dandy Don Meridith from a Mondaynight football game; "Howard, you have a tremendous grasp of the obvious."

Michael Yardley wrote something on just this subject some years ago. I believe his comment regarding using a sxs "game gun" in lieu of a modern target long barreled o/u was that he gives up about 5% in scores.

My early Hunter Arms L.C. Smith Gr.3e 12 ga. 30" bbls are not what I would call 'lively', but they are certainly well crafted bbls with much attention paid to small details such as gold inlay at front of rib, excellent matting and engraving of rib, wonderfully struck without a ripple to be found, and interesting smooth round notches cut at the muzzle end of the top and bottom ribs.

...and some fret over case colors and others over gold inlays!
I'd say the ones concerned with shotgun dynamics may be closer to the field than the overstuffed chair types.

These guys even had chaps load guns for them. Probably had gun cleaners too.

That's seems to be typical of old American guns, plenty of spit and polish with little attention to barrel "blueprinting". What one ends up with is a nicely decorated "Viking club"!
Just compare a typical heavy English fowler to an American equivalent and you will see what I mean.
If one does not have money for of fine English make some Continentals also make lively guns.