Shot spread affected by barrel length?

Nightcrawler · October 3, 2001, 07:36 PM

Does your shot patterns at a given range get wider with shorter barrels?

If so, what would be the approximate disparity between the patten size of, say, a 20" barrel vs. a 14" one?

maxwayne · October 3, 2001, 08:11 PM

Yes. dont know.

HK1 · October 3, 2001, 08:47 PM

shorter barrels do not affect shot dispersion///shorter barrels affect velocity..shot pattern is dependent on the choke and to a certain degree the wad..also buffered loads will give a better shot pattern then non-buffered loads

Dave McC · October 4, 2001, 06:44 AM

There's theoretically more spread with the longer bbls, actually. More velocity gets built up and that spreads deformed shot faster. BUT.....

There's so many variables involved in shotgun ballistics that it may be impossible to isolate the effects of just shortening the bbl.

For practical purposes, nope for your first query, not much for your second....

KSFreeman · October 4, 2001, 09:50 AM

Only in Hollywood does this correlation matter!

maxwayne · October 4, 2001, 04:00 PM

As I understood the question, if the distance were the same and loads were fired from different barrel lengths would the pattern spread more from a shorter barrel? I still think that it would.

CWL · October 5, 2001, 07:04 PM

The major disparity is that the 14" barrel will land you some jailtime.

Ehornad · October 7, 2001, 02:39 PM

The shot pattern of the 14", 18" and 20" Vang Comp barrels are the same.

October 3, 2001, 07:36 PM	#1
Nightcrawler Senior Member Join Date: September 22, 2000 Location: Northern Michigan Posts: 2,945	Shot spread affected by barrel length? Does your shot patterns at a given range get wider with shorter barrels? If so, what would be the approximate disparity between the patten size of, say, a 20" barrel vs. a 14" one? __________________ Nightcrawler- TFL Alumnus

October 3, 2001, 08:11 PM	#2
maxwayne Senior Member Join Date: March 10, 2001 Posts: 402	Yes. dont know.

October 3, 2001, 08:47 PM	#3
HK1 Junior member Join Date: July 2, 2001 Posts: 160	shorter barrels do not affect shot dispersion///shorter barrels affect velocity..shot pattern is dependent on the choke and to a certain degree the wad..also buffered loads will give a better shot pattern then non-buffered loads

October 4, 2001, 06:44 AM	#4
Dave McC Staff In Memoriam Join Date: October 13, 1999 Location: Columbia, Md, USA Posts: 8,811	There's theoretically more spread with the longer bbls, actually. More velocity gets built up and that spreads deformed shot faster. BUT..... There's so many variables involved in shotgun ballistics that it may be impossible to isolate the effects of just shortening the bbl. For practical purposes, nope for your first query, not much for your second....

October 4, 2001, 09:50 AM	#5
KSFreeman Senior Member Join Date: June 9, 2001 Location: Lafayette, Indiana--American-occupied America Posts: 5,418	Only in Hollywood does this correlation matter!

October 4, 2001, 04:00 PM	#6
maxwayne Senior Member Join Date: March 10, 2001 Posts: 402	As I understood the question, if the distance were the same and loads were fired from different barrel lengths would the pattern spread more from a shorter barrel? I still think that it would.

October 5, 2001, 07:04 PM	#7
CWL Senior Member Join Date: May 23, 2001 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 1,576	The major disparity is that the 14" barrel will land you some jailtime.

October 7, 2001, 02:39 PM	#8
Ehornad Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 1999 Location: Nampa, ID Posts: 148	The shot pattern of the 14", 18" and 20" Vang Comp barrels are the same.