10ga. coach gun
- Thread starter Russ
- Start date
TheCoachZed
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I have one that could be a candidate ...
Lots of room to play. It's still 37" overall.
I could actually make it a pistol grip and still be 27" overall. I belive 26.5 is the legal cutoff
I fooled with shortening the barrels on shotguns, and some shortening of the stocks as well.
IMO there comes a point at which the gun gets a bit barky, and patterns really start to open up at about the 21" barrel length. If you add a screw in choke to the equation, it changes the equation. A short barrel responds well to choking, seems to have more of an effect on the shorter barrels. I also tried to choke a barrel, the old fashioned way, with some positive results.
I quote a paragraph from the 1971 Gun Digest: “Another method of achieving tighter patterns in this period was to bore the barrel to as a true cylinder to the muzzle and then, starting back about an inch, bore the barrel out a few thousands for a distance of about 3 inches, This “recess” or “jug” choke system was especially popular at that time for it could be applied to existing cylinder bored barrels of guns already in use.”
I like that the front bead is fairly high, shortening the barrel and just adding a bead will usually make the gun shoot high. The shorter the barrel, the more this becomes a factor. You have left the center bead in, which is good, and if you moved it back a bit more, it would help to correct the tendency to shoot high. I usually replace the front bead with a large one, 0.175" dia brass. A short barrel shotgun is meant for closer range, 20 yards max, unless choked.
I've found that if I have a shotgun that is hard to sell, shortening somewhat, around a 21" barrel on average, will increase the sale-ability.
Shortening the stock, may make it look more gangster, add some street creed, but didn't do anything for the shootability, IMO.
The 2 short barreled beasts I own now came that way, I did not cut them down. Both have screw in chokes. I use the Chinese 97 for CAS, and I have a skeet choke in it. Skeet is just enough choke for the target ammo I use. The mod choke was shooting too small a pattern, and was hitting too hard. (shooting steel). The 870 is sporting a trap mid, but I have a rifled and other chokes that get installed depending on my whim of the day.
A 10 ga has been on my bucket list for a while, configured much the same as you have. My intention was to load BP in brass for it. Black Powder has the added BOOM! needed to sound powerful. Unfortunately I find it harder to run a double than a pump for Cowboy Action Shooting, so on the back burner this project stays. My other idea was to sleeve the chambers for 12 ga, which would really add to the scatter. Most of the 10 ga SxS that I come across are 2 7/8", which makes ammo strictly a handload proposition.
I once cut a barrel off in 2" increments, testing patterns and penetration at each length. Interestingly ammo preference changed as well, some wads worked better than others at different lengths. I found that 21" was a sweet spot in the 12. I would think that the 10 may want it shorter, depending on the ammo. Interestingly I think the British liked a 23" on their flushing bird guns, and longer for pass shooting.
IMO there comes a point at which the gun gets a bit barky, and patterns really start to open up at about the 21" barrel length. If you add a screw in choke to the equation, it changes the equation. A short barrel responds well to choking, seems to have more of an effect on the shorter barrels. I also tried to choke a barrel, the old fashioned way, with some positive results.
I quote a paragraph from the 1971 Gun Digest: “Another method of achieving tighter patterns in this period was to bore the barrel to as a true cylinder to the muzzle and then, starting back about an inch, bore the barrel out a few thousands for a distance of about 3 inches, This “recess” or “jug” choke system was especially popular at that time for it could be applied to existing cylinder bored barrels of guns already in use.”
I like that the front bead is fairly high, shortening the barrel and just adding a bead will usually make the gun shoot high. The shorter the barrel, the more this becomes a factor. You have left the center bead in, which is good, and if you moved it back a bit more, it would help to correct the tendency to shoot high. I usually replace the front bead with a large one, 0.175" dia brass. A short barrel shotgun is meant for closer range, 20 yards max, unless choked.
I've found that if I have a shotgun that is hard to sell, shortening somewhat, around a 21" barrel on average, will increase the sale-ability.
Shortening the stock, may make it look more gangster, add some street creed, but didn't do anything for the shootability, IMO.
The 2 short barreled beasts I own now came that way, I did not cut them down. Both have screw in chokes. I use the Chinese 97 for CAS, and I have a skeet choke in it. Skeet is just enough choke for the target ammo I use. The mod choke was shooting too small a pattern, and was hitting too hard. (shooting steel). The 870 is sporting a trap mid, but I have a rifled and other chokes that get installed depending on my whim of the day.
A 10 ga has been on my bucket list for a while, configured much the same as you have. My intention was to load BP in brass for it. Black Powder has the added BOOM! needed to sound powerful. Unfortunately I find it harder to run a double than a pump for Cowboy Action Shooting, so on the back burner this project stays. My other idea was to sleeve the chambers for 12 ga, which would really add to the scatter. Most of the 10 ga SxS that I come across are 2 7/8", which makes ammo strictly a handload proposition.
I once cut a barrel off in 2" increments, testing patterns and penetration at each length. Interestingly ammo preference changed as well, some wads worked better than others at different lengths. I found that 21" was a sweet spot in the 12. I would think that the 10 may want it shorter, depending on the ammo. Interestingly I think the British liked a 23" on their flushing bird guns, and longer for pass shooting.
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Trade you for that jp royal ☺
TheCoachZed
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I considered trimming mine down just a couple inches--I had a spanish 10 with 32-inch barrels and it was tooooo long. Then it was destroyed through a series of unfortunate circumstances. Sure wish I had another.
