Help me buy a new O/U!

[Potshot21]

I think I have settled on trying a Beretta Silver Pigeon I Sporting. Unfortunately I don't have access to a plethora of guns to try out at the moment, and all I have to go off of is my el cheapo Hatsan O/U. Worse comes to worse, if the Beretta doesn't like me, I'll sell it and grab a Browning.

Now here is another question to stir the pot! What barrel length to get? My Hatsan has 28" inch barrels and it feels good to me, but I'm hearing that 30" barrels give the shooter an advantage by way of smoothing out swing and extended sight plane. Might be getting in over my head, all the fine details are probably well above my shooting abilities anyhow. Any guidance is truly appreciated!

I should also mention, my intent with this gun to shoot trap and sporting clay mostly, but may try some skeet out. I'm going to say a little hunting, but in truth, my el cheapo Hatsan is more likely to take the field beating for the Beretta.

 

[Melvin]

For what it's worth. A sporting clays range I know wears out its Berettas that they have for rental guns but does not wear out the Brownings they rent out. Hence they have gone almost exclusively to Brownings. The average shooter wouldn't notice but they have with high volume little to no maintainable guns which hold up.

 

[Falconflyer]

Years ago, when the trend towards 32 inch barrels on sporting guns came about, I switched my 28 inch 682 for a 32 inch 682 and found that they worked very well on long crossing targets but not so well on close in fast moving targets and in those days, we didn't see a lot of long targets as a rule. After a few years I opted for a 30 inch gun and now I think that I have the best of both worlds. I can still do the long crosser's that we are seeing more of these days but the barrels are light enough to move quickly on the close ones too.
Balance depends on the individual gun, some woods are more dense than others and will give the barrels a lighter feel. Different makes of guns can have different weights of barrels, or a schnable fore end vs a beavertail fore end and it all affects balance. Some guns have lighter choke tubes than others and a couple of ounces makes a big difference out at the end of the barrels. A shooting buddy of mine got a Synergy with synthetic stocks when they first came out and the stock was so light that the balance point was about 3 inches ahead of the barrel hinge point, the gun felt like you were swinging a fence post! Some shooters are stronger than others too, it all plays a part in which length of barrels suits you best. There, now that I've muddied up the waters for you, just go out and get 30 inch barrels and see how you like them!

 

[Falconflyer]

For what it's worth. A sporting clays range I know wears out its Berettas that they have for rental guns but does not wear out the Brownings they rent out. Hence they have gone almost exclusively to Brownings. The average shooter wouldn't notice but they have with high volume little to no maintainable guns which hold up.

I wouldn't let that influence my decision. To start with, most ranges don't clean and lube their rental guns like an individual will and secondly, Beretta's are easy and cheap to rebuild. If you can't get well over 100k through your 68x before rebuilding it then your doing something wrong. Browning's and Beretta's are vastly different in ergonomics so I'd go with whichever one suits you.

 

[saskbooknut]

Been said before, but I'll say it again. Barrel length is a fad, and the current fad is longer. I can respect an individual's choice out of experience, but a lot of blather is noised about by those of limited experience. No disrespect meant to the posters on this topic.

I am old enough to have been around when the fad for fast moving targets in the thick brush or on the skeet range was 25 or 26 inch barrels, and they worked well for their proponents. I wanted a Churchill XXV, oh so badly, as a youth. I now think that 28 inch barrels are near ideal for hunting and sporting targets. I can say that having had many guns and currently have barrel lengths of 26, 27, 28 and 30 inches.

Like Falconflyer says, balance and proportion matters, and the OP as an individual will have to decide what feels best for him. Base your choice on experience in handling, rather than what some "expert" tells you that you "should have".

 

[Maritime Storm]

Saskbooknut; is right on this one. The current trend is toward longer barrel lengths. Through the mid-90's skeet guns were typically 26 or 28", trap guns 28" -30". I have 2 members both with 686 silver pigeons, one with 28" the other is a 30", occasionally they swap guns for a few stations, neither comment on a difference in handling. Where the trends can affect you is resale value, especially you have one at the extreme end of the spectrum and the pendulum swings, ie. try selling a 26" skeet gun these days without firesaling it.

The current trend in trap guns is 32-34" barrels, sporting is around 32", to answer your question, if you can find a 30" barrel SP1 Sporting that would probably be your ideal sweet spot, again assuming the gun fits you.

 

[stubblejumper]

Been said before, but I'll say it again. Barrel length is a fad, and the current fad is longer. I can respect an individual's choice out of experience, but a lot of blather is noised about by those of limited experience. No disrespect meant to the posters on this topic.

I am old enough to have been around when the fad for fast moving targets in the thick brush or on the skeet range was 25 or 26 inch barrels, and they worked well for their proponents. I wanted a Churchill XXV, oh so badly, as a youth. I now think that 28 inch barrels are near ideal for hunting and sporting targets. I can say that having had many guns and currently have barrel lengths of 26, 27, 28 and 30 inches.

Like Falconflyer says, balance and proportion matters, and the OP as an individual will have to decide what feels best for him. Base your choice on experience in handling, rather than what some "expert" tells you that you "should have".

And my old Citori Skeet with 28" barrels had heavy barrels, and a heavy beaver tail fore end, whereas my Blaser F-3 has much lighter barrels and a slim fore end. The result is that both guns balance and swing similarly, despite the 4" difference in barrel length.

 

[the spank]

And my old Citori Skeet with 28" barrels had heavy barrels, and a heavy beaver tail fore end, whereas my Blaser F-3 has much lighter barrels and a slim fore end. The result is that both guns balance and swing similarly, despite the 4" difference in barrel length.

The Grade VI 20ga I bought from you had 26” barrels. It was short in appearance but was smooth swinging and fast to target. Looking back I should have kept it.