Ultra short barrels, do they have a use ?

Again, these are strictly fun guns; they're not meant for serious competition, or even for traditional hunting purposes like waterfowl or most upland game. Certainly not for a one-shotgun-only type of deal. They're like motorcycles; not practical as a daily driver, but a ton of fun when used strictly for entertainment.

But...they are perfectly well-suited to some types of hunting like turkeys or rifled-slug-deer. A Challenger or Truball slug out of my little 14-inch Ricol O/U may have a bit less velocity, but it's still done the job for me on a couple of deer...and the same gun, with a couple of X-Full Turkey chokes in it, has worked on turkeys for me in the past and will be what I likely carry this year if I go at all. I won't be worried about how the gun swings or how well it tracks a moving bird; this is basically rifle-shooting with a shotgun, and this little guy fits just fine for that. It's great out to about 30 yards; any further than that, it isn't ideal...but that's okay, because any further than that and I am not interested in shooting a turkey. I've killed a few much further, with much more specialized hardware, and that itch has been sufficiently scratched. Nowadays, I measure success by how close I can get them to come, not how far away I can kill them.

As an aside: this gun came right out of the box with a cute little pair of front/rear fiber-optic sights installed on the rib...and they happen to be nicely sighted in for a tight turkey pattern...and are only slightly off for use with slugs. Nothing a little Kentucky windage...or, in this case, Manitoba elevation...can't easily handle.

Funny...if you go too traditional in your tastes, they call you a Fudd...but if you try something non-traditional, people mock you for that as well. What to do, what to do...? :)

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nowarningshot said:
Personally I don't need a 12" barrel to miss everything. I miss just fine with 28-30" actual waterfowl shotguns. That quaking sound is the ducks laughing.
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Me too! So, if we are planning on missing anyways...why carry all that extra weight and length? :)
 

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Haha, agreed^^^

I’ll always choose a short barrel pump 12g over a SxS or O/U with a longer barrel, they just don’t interest me or do anything for me better that a shorter barrel already does.
 
There was a phone in show on the radio yesterday, subject of the hour was encounters with wild animals and the audience was CBC listeners. Much mourning over a persistent black bear that the Ottawa Police had felt obliged to shoot the night before but then a woman called in who'd spent some time in a government base in the arctic (didn't get the particulars). She described how no one was allowed to go outside without a "short barrelled marine shotgun" on account of prowling polar bears and so she'd taken one out to the 'bog', the privy that had to be some distance away from the main buildings to avoid attracting bears in the first place (it was just an open hole on a cliff overhanging the sea and everything landed there). OK, so she was in the privy with what I assume was her 870 Marine Magnum when she hears a certain snuffling outside and sure enough when she peeps out there's a polar bear about 20 metres away but the problem was that even with the short barrels there was no way to bring her gun to bear to fire it, and she had to step outside, firing a slug in the air but from the hip to avoid the recoil. The bear just gave her a hurt look, she said, and moved off. And that right there is the best short barrel shotgun story I've heard in a while. I did love my 870 Marine Magnum when I was out in the boondocks....
 
in reference to slug velocity from a 14 inch barrel i have some figures. the 14 inch was1400 ft per second,18 inch was1425,20 inch was1200 and no this is not a mistake .22 inch was 1475,and 26 inch was 1600 ft per second. the 12 inch barrel was 1300 per second 10 inch was 1200 and 8 inch was 1050. these are figures i gleaned from the internet . the fourteen inch barrels as well as twelve hold there own and compete well and you have to get up to 22inches before seeing much velocity increase.
 
As for slug velocity vs barrel length there are so many variables it's hard to make solid conclusions. Bore diameter. Choke. Forcing cones shape and length and even chamber length all play a part in a smooth bore
I have a sxs that shoots truball slugs 100+ fps faster in the tighter choked barrel.
It's fun to play over a chronograph but it's a nightmare to try to draw hard lines
I find an accurate combination and ignore velocity now for the most part. My Canuck regulator shoots slugs faster with a 12.5" barrel than my Beretta a400 with a 28'. Both still put a big hole in what ever they hit. However the a400 is much nicer to shoot
 
For the vast majority of firearms owners, the super short barreled shotguns are a novelty, with no practical use. So most are used to shoot zombie targets, or cans or discarded appliances, and then sit unused after the novelty wears off. So if you don't mind having money tied up in novelty firearms, they aren't a bad investment. However, if you want a shotgun that will actually be suitable as an all around shotgun, the super short barreled shotguns are a poor choice. We see several people show up to try skeet with their one or two shotguns, which are super short barreled, and they do poorly and give up on wingshooting, because they don't want to buy any more shotguns, because they already have one or two.
 
stubblejumper said:
For the vast majority of firearms owners, the super short barreled shotguns are a novelty, with no practical use. So most are used to shoot zombie targets, or cans or discarded appliances, and then sit unused after the novelty wears off. So if you don't mind having money tied up in novelty firearms, they aren't a bad investment. However, if you want a shotgun that will actually be suitable as an all around shotgun, the super short barreled shotguns are a poor choice. We see several people show up to try skeet with their one or two shotguns, which are super short barreled, and they do poorly and give up on wingshooting, because they don't want to buy any more shotguns, because they already have one or two.
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Cool story bro, you guys just can’t wrap your heads around short barrels is all and the fact that us guys that use them successfully for hunting don’t really give a shít about shooting clays or wing shooting with them. If I want to do that I’ll grab one of my dust collecting 28” or longer barrels.
 
stubblejumper said:
... However, if you want a shotgun that will actually be suitable as an all around shotgun...
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That's the thing: I don't! Like a lot of CGN-ers, I have a number of "all-around" shotguns already; what is the point of having multiples of shotguns (or any type of firearms) and using "all-aroundness" as a criterion for choosing more still? Once you have an all-around-anything, buying another all-around gun of the same type is, IMHO, the definition of "tying up money".

The shortie I posted above is absolutely not an all-arounder...so what? I have others to do other tasks. It excels at turkeys and also at slug shooting, but even if it didn't...even if all I shot was icicles or pop cans or zombie targets...those are all practical uses, if that's what I want to shoot.

If I wanted to tie up my money in a useless-to-me shotgun, with no practical utility...I'd buy a sporting clays gun, or a trap gun. :)
 
stubblejumper said:
For the vast majority of firearms owners, the super short barreled shotguns are a novelty, with no practical use. So most are used to shoot zombie targets, or cans or discarded appliances, and then sit unused after the novelty wears off. So if you don't mind having money tied up in novelty firearms, they aren't a bad investment. However, if you want a shotgun that will actually be suitable as an all around shotgun, the super short barreled shotguns are a poor choice. We see several people show up to try skeet with their one or two shotguns, which are super short barreled, and they do poorly and give up on wingshooting, because they don't want to buy any more shotguns, because they already have one or two.
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Agree on all points. It seems to have escaped some people that the question of the thread is whether they have a use. The answer is not much of one and what uses they might be put to can be done better by shotguns with longer barrels. I own a 14" pump gun and the only advantage is offers is storage or transportation when space is at a premium. Hunting with a short hinge gun seems to be a good way to inadvertently blow off your forward hand. One slip in the field on a rainy day and your new nickname will be Stumpy.
 
Arietta said:
Agree on all points. It seems to have escaped some people that the question of the thread is whether they have a use. The answer is not much of one and what uses they might be put to can be done better by shotguns with longer barrels. I own a 14" pump gun and the only advantage is offers is storage or transportation when space is at a premium. Hunting with a short hinge gun seems to be a good way to inadvertently blow off your forward hand. One slip in the field on a rainy day and your new nickname will be Stumpy.
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Lol, there is a huge difference between "have a use" and "have a use to you". Several posters have outlined the uses to which they can and do put these guns. When I am snuggled into a patch of tall grass waiting for a gobbler to show up, a short barrel is infinitely more easily handled and brought to bear without being seen than any duck gun.

If your best argument for not having one is that you are afraid you will shoot yourself with it...I guess you are fortunate to live in Canada, where handguns are so limited in usefulness. I guess you will never compete in any kind of organized handgun matches, because you are worried about blowing holes in your anatomy while holstering or unholstering. Probably should avoid leverguns, because you might get a blood blister from the lever, or perhaps pinch the end of your finger in the loading gate. Muzzleloaders? Heavens! Sparks next to my face...external hammers...powder exposed to the elements instead of safely contained within metallic cartridges...what possible use could ever counterbalance all those horrible perils? Even standard bolt action rifles are dangerous; most of them wear scopes and when they go bang you're liable to put an eye out with that bulbous rear lens.

Silly? Of course it is. But so is deciding that you don't like something, and then telling me that I am wrong if I do like it...especially when you reach to such ridiculous lengths attempting to support your position.
 
Butcherbill said:
Cool story bro, you guys just can’t wrap your heads around short barrels is all and the fact that us guys that use them successfully for hunting don’t really give a shít about shooting clays or wing shooting with them. If I want to do that I’ll grab one of my dust collecting 28” or longer barrels.
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The point being, that some people don't have a shotgun with a 28" barrel, for their first and only shotgun, they bought a short barreled shotgun, and now they want to try sports that involve wing shooting, and are discovering how impractical their short barreled shotgun is. Because they already spent cash on one shotgun, they don't want to shell out more cash for another shotgun.
 
An 870 needs only a few moments to swap barrels, so for only the extra price of a barrel you've got long and short shotguns as needed.
 
stubblejumper said:
The point being, that some people don't have a shotgun with a 28" barrel, for their first and only shotgun, they bought a short barreled shotgun, and now they want to try sports that involve wing shooting, and are discovering how impractical their short barreled shotgun is. Because they already spent cash on one shotgun, they don't want to shell out more cash for another shotgun.
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No the point being is you’re trying to lump all of us that use them 95% of the time into the small group of shotgun newbs you encounter at the trap/skeet field that don’t know anything about shotguns. If that’s all you run into you should get off the trap field more often, there’s plenty of practical uses for short barrel shotguns regardless of if you want to admit it or not.
 
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