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Barrel length--choke use?

silverback

silverback

.410
okay first post and its going to be a long one.

I have a maverick 88 with 20 inch barrel --cylinder bore--. Great weapon!!! i never thought i would have a desire to look else where.

recently i came across a great deal on a maverick 24 inch accu-choke barrel. i figured why not this way i could switch them out and be able to go skeet or trap shooting. I picked up a use 5 round mag tube to use as well.

Now i have found a 20 inch mossberg barrel with internal chokes. The chokes are accu-choke thread compatible.

My initial thoughts was to go with the 20 inch barrel with chokes. I figure it would be good configuration. My primary purpose would be for slugs-and 00 buck ( cylinder-IC choke), next plinking with trap and skeet (ic choke), modifed choke for general use and full choke for any possible hunting.


Or should i just go ahead and use the 24 inch barrel and mag tube and switch them out as needed?

given my list and priorities of use what real advantage would the 24 inch barrel offer.


Thanks
 
Skeet or Trap and even hunting is best done with longer barrels.
I would consider 24" to be short for me.
I hunt and shoot skeet with a 28" barrel and for Trap I use 32".
 
Welcome from MI!!!

I agree with LTB the more skeet/wing shooting you do the more a longer barrel will help. The reason is that it puts more weight out front and makes the gun swing smother.

I would go with the 24" barrel if you intend to multitask with skeet. od take the shorter barrel and pick up another longer barrel later.

You can do it all with the 20" barrel but being as light as it is , wing shooting will be a bit more of a challenge as swinging it will be a bit more jerky.
 
By my FNG question you can see that i am new to the idea of using shotgun for more than SD/HD and range plinking.


so what i am reading is, general consensus, keep the 20 cylinder bore for SD/HD and switch out with longer barrel along with 5 shot mag tube for getting into skeet,trap, hunting. also start looking for an even longer barrel.

32 inch barrel! man you almost touch what ever it is you wanted to shot with that! LOL! i couldn't resist. i am used to rifle 16 to 20 barrel lengths.
 
My field guns have 26 and 28" barrels which work well for me. LTB enjoys the competition side a bit more so he is a bit more particular than I. I hunted with a 30" barrel for several years and while nice in the duck blind it is a little long when hunting in thicker woods. I find 26" to be a really good compromise. I've shot a fair amount of sheep and grouse with this barrel length.

My 870 has the 26" barrel all my Mossberg field barrels are 28". I've seen a few 32"'rs around but they are harder to come by and used more by waterfowl hunters and comp shooters.
 
"so what i am reading is, general consensus, keep the 20 cylinder bore for SD/HD and switch out with longer barrel along with 5 shot mag tube for getting into skeet,trap, hunting."

Short answer ......YES

"also start looking for an even longer barrel."

28" is the perfect every use barrel.

"32 inch barrel! man you almost touch what ever it is you wanted to shot with that! LOL! i couldn't resist"

That is on my Browning BT-99 Trap gun. It is specifically designed for the game of Trap ONLY.
Actually 34" barrels are now becoming very popular with target shooters.
 
can't thank you enough. i know i need to gain more knowledge about this great weapon and its uses. all these years I have concentrated on rifle and pistol. The 12 gauge is slowly becoming a new interest. Very versatile cartridge.
 
I spent MANY years shooting pistols and rifles.
Starting shooting targets flying through the air about 6 years ago and have been hooked ever since.
Clay or feathered if it flies then it dies! ;)
 
ok i have been doing some thinking. Yep, a dangerous thing. Now with this new info--it sounds like ideally the 20 inch barrel with a modified choke would serve better shooting the 7/8 lee slugs and 00 or 000 buck. It would give better accuracy and longer effective distance?
 
The 20 inch barrel really wont offer and increased accuracy or distence over a longer barrel. It really only offers the benefit of being more useable in tight areas and lighter weight. Mode often they do come with rifle sights but there in no inherent difference unless you are talking about a fully rifled slug barrel.

With very slow burnings powders a longer barrel can generate higher velocities but with most modern loads there will really not be a significant difference.
 
Good to hear. I thought a modified choke would be am improvement over the fixed cylinder choke barrel I have now. I guess it will save me some cash to stick with the 20 inch cylinder choke I have and trade off the 24 inch to pick up a 28 inch barrel with chokes.
 
OK, let me back up. Yes the ability to change chokes will affect downrange performance with shot (bird and buck.) My apologies, I was not thinking about that when I wrote my response.

I didn't realize we were comparing a chokes vs. a non choked barrel.

The choke will make a difference where the barrel length will not.
 
I can't really say.

I've had two identical guns that both shoot differently with slugs and shot.

Each brand and type of ammo is going to pattern differently with different chokes. While the choke will affect the spread of the shot in a fairly-predictable way, determining exactly how much at what distance is going to be something you will have to experiment with with your gun and various types of ammo.. Same with slugs. In theory is should not make much difference with slugs but in reality these also need to be flushed out on the range. Each gun has it's own "sweet spot" combination of load and choke.

Sorry but I just cannot give a more definitive answer when it gets to that level.
 
I appreciate all your help. This gives me a plan to work with. Now I just need to pick up a 28 inch barrel an start testing loads. The fun never ends. That's why I like this activity. Always something new to learn.
 
Can I ask what you are loading the 7/8oz Lee slugs into,,, the cheap target loads, or are you loading from scratch?
 
I have been using the cheap target loads but I will eventually start from scratch. I am moving soon so my stuff is a mess.
 
Just to show it can be done. I shot this grouse with my 18.5" cyl choke barrel.

MikeGrouse.jpg
 
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