Power of a sawed off?

[Earnhardtjr3829]

Speaking of a legal 18 inch barreled, sawn off shotgun, it obviously has certain level of convience for an up close self defense shot but is it more powerful? You always see movies play them out to be twice as strong, and my sawn off J.C. Higgins 12 Gauge seems to shoot more powerfully at a close range than my full Barreled Remington 870 Super Express Mag. Does anyone know if this is actually true, and if so what makes it more powerful? Just curious, thanks for any response.

[Northern Sod Breaker]

It's not more powerfull it just patterns different.

[kkb]

I'm guessing that when you drop a pound or two of barrel weight the felt recoil goes up.

[RoscoeC]

It will not be more powerful, but it will pattern differently, or maybe not. I just took a 3 day shotgun course where we spent a great deal of time patterning our guns. The instructor had a Greener in 12 ga. that he had shortened to 18". Suprisingly, it didn't change the pattern much, and it was extremely tight with Hornady TAP buck shot, and very accurate with slugs.

[Ruger4570]

The average shot shell develops its max power in about 16 to 18 inches, with a little gain beyond that, That being said, as far as "power" goes, a longer barrel will allow the total powder amount to be burned in its entirety and thus making the longer barrel more powerful.

[atlctyslkr]

It's certainly easier to aim in a close quarters situation. Under 25ft I doubt you would notice a patter difference with larger shot and slugs.

[Servo77]

I have always heard that barrel length has little to do with velocity in shotguns as most have burnt all or most of the powder by 10-12". It has to do with handling characteristics.....short equals quicker but less steady and long equals steady but not a squick handling.

[Throckmorton]

Shoot slugs out of your coach gun if yu want to feeel power!!!

ouch!!!!!

but no,sawed offs are only harder kicking,not harder hitting.

[Metaloy Industries]

I really feel the short barreled shotguns are more geared toward ease of use in buildings CQB and in and out of vehicles rather than any benefit of shot pattern. If you've never shot a shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18"...hang on. They really suck. Hard to control at best especially during rapid fire. I have fired both a 14" & 12". Worthless in my opinion. They look cool though!!

[Ruger4570]

You are right,, once you mentally get past the "cool" idea, they are pretty much useless and impossible to be effective with.

[Dave R]

You are right,, once you mentally get past the "cool" idea, they are pretty much useless and impossible to be effective with.

I dunno about that. Just for fun, I once shot a round of skeet with an 18" Win 1300 Defender. I broke about as many as I normally do. I keep wanting to take it dove hunting. Haven't done it yet. I keep taking my SXS.

[guntotin_fool]

Pattern is completely reliant on choke, not barrel length.


As long as the barrel is long enough to allow for sufficient velocity to reach the target, the pattern is purely set by the choke.


I have shot 30 inch barrels that have had the choke completely bored out of them that will shoot wide open patterns. I have a 18 inch barrel with tubes and it will shoot XXfull patterns with 90%+ patterns that I bought for turkey hunting.

Velocity in shotguns is based on loadings. Certain powders are meant for light loads like dove and quail loads. Some are made for super heavy goose and turkey loads. Slow powders tend to take longer length barrels to achieve full velocity.

As far as feeling like it is hitting harder, it is just recoil. The first factor in felt recoil is the weight of the firearm. A .458 is a [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color] cat in a 14 pound rifle. A 30-30 in a five pound rifle can be painful.

[Earnhardtjr3829]

Okay well thanks everyone for answering my question. Looks like the verdict of the jury is that its has some tactical motion advantages in smaller spaces, but besides that it is no more powerful.