Well I've said before I don't suggest the use of birdshot over slugs or buckshot and my own personal shotgun is loaded with #4 buck because I know its a better choice. I just simple stated that the pictures used in the first post are very misleading to the damage bird shot will actually do at close range.
Interesting point on birdshot for HD
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Well I've said before I don't suggest the use of birdshot over slugs or buckshot and my own personal shotgun is loaded with #4 buck because I know its a better choice. I just simple stated that the pictures used in the first post are very misleading to the damage bird shot will actually do at close range.
I don't buy that. One of the theories is MV. A faster MV forces the shot cup open sooner resulting in a wider pattern. The same shell in a greatly longer barrel has a slower MV, so the cup opens slower. This keeps the shot pattern tighter. I've seen it on slo-mo videos of wad development.
The guys that win shot pattern contests today are running 30"-32" barrels. Not years ago, right now. No one running 21" barrels are winning.
So you could accomplish the same thing by reducing your powder charge....extra barrel length isn't required for reducing the speed of the shot.\ The reason for the extra barrel is more precision in aiming, not tightening your pattern. Again, that's all done via chokes.
I don't think you'll find a single reputable source that will claim a longer barrel will tighten your pattern.
You are invalidating the argument of pattern sizes and barrel length. In order for the argument to be valid you would have to use the same load in both barrels.
If you had 2 shotgun barrels, identical in every way except for length (one being 21" and the other being 32"), and patterned an identical shotgun shell out of both, the longer barrel would pattern tighter.
The guys that compete in this sort of thing go to extremes to get the tightest patterns possible. They look at every single aspect of the barrel, gun, and the load being used. With that being said, 100% of the guys winning are using barrels longer than what us hunters typically use, usually 30"-32". If shorter barrels produced tighter patterns the winners would all be using shorter barrels. They ain't.
That's as reputable as you can get; the guys that do it for prize money and win consistently are using longer barrels.
The custom makers, like SumToy Customs that have made numerous winning barrels, recommend long barrels. How's that for reputable?
The guy quoted in the article in the OP advocated it for HD use, albeit for a stupid fuckin' reason.
Again, the long barrels are being used because they provide a more precise platform for aiming.
How is it that the pellets would be able to know which length of barrel they've slid from, and behave differently based on that knowledge. It simply doesn't matter with respect to pattern density.
Right, but nobody here is.. I'm simply saying that at close range it can be a motherfucker on a living target.
No, they are not being used for aiming. The competitors in question all use receiver-mounted red dot sights, so no sight radius is involved. The shotguns are shot from a stable rest, so they aren't using the longer barrel to aid in swing/follow-through.
I explained one theory already. In an extremely long barrel the shot exits the barrel at a slower MV.
Slower MV = shot cup stays closed longer
Shot cup closed longer = holds shot together longer
Shot is held together longer = tighter groups
I ain't making this shit up. I'm relying on knowledge and experience of the folks that do this for a living, as well as what is putting men in the winner's circle.
There are a thousand articles out there like this, also I've done these types of tests informally myself when training at the Eagle Bluff Firearms training class put on by the company I worked for in the early 2000's.
The things that matter if you want a tight pattern: Extended chokes, lengthened forcing cone, and a back bored barrel.
https://shotgunreport.com/2012/06/05/effects-of-barrel-length/
Never said anyone here was advocating it's use for HD. I stated clearly who I was referencing.
I agreed with you. I stated numerous times that the most important factors in tight patterns are chokes, forcing cones, and backboring. Why else would I pay good money to have my personal barrels all backbored and the forcing cones lengthened.
But........
If you have 2 barrels, one 22" and the other 32", and all the same custom work has been done to both of them, the 32" barrel will pattern tighter.
If only the shorter barrel has the custom work done, then the shorter barrel will pattern tighter. I agreed to this earlier. I stated earlier that my 14" Rem870 will pattern tighter than a standard 28" barrel, due to the fact of my choke, backboring, and lengthened forcing cones.
Nope, I never once said that. It's a slight byproduct of a lengthened barrel. The purpose of a lengthened shotgun barrel in a hunting shotgun is to aid in swing/follow-through, which I also stated earlier.
As to why the guys that shoot competitively for the tightest possible shot patterns use longer barrels, I'm not 100% sure. MV is one of my theories. I don't do that sort of competition, although I've seen it done and talked to custom shops like SumToy. The subject of why they use longer barrels never came up.
Then what happens to the shot in the longer barrel? How does it know from which length barrel it slid?
The guys that shoot shotguns competitively to achieve the tightest possible shot patterns are all, 100% using barrels of the 30"-32" length. That's all the proof I need. If shorter brrels produced tighter patterns then winners would use shorter barrels. In fact, it's only the losers in this sport that are using short barrels.
If you can't provide a single reason outside of some unknown, amorphous black magic, then that isn't proof.
It doesn't. But it is slower. Have I not explained this several times already?
Slower MV = shot cups stays together longer = shot stays together in the cup longer from exiting the barrel = shot stays together longer = tighter patterns.
So again, you're saying the speed of the shot cup (not the length of the barrel) is the difference. Or are you saying ( you said you didn't) that the extra length barrel is slowing the speed of the shot cup, thus tightening pattern?