SwampCollie

What?

The length of the barrel has very little if anything to do with the pattern anymore... especially at longer ranges. The two best turkey guns (12gauges anyway) that I have ever seen have had 22" and 24" barrels respectively. With the advent of overboring, back borings, lengthened forcing cones and modern choke tubes, barrel length has largely become a subjective things... whatever floats your boat. Historically, longer barrels did shoot tighter patterns... most of that was because a 32" full choked barrel had was what amounted to a modern 26" barrel with 6" worth of choke tube on the end... a lengthened forcing cone leading to a longer choke. Modern barrels are not made that way.

The only thing that you are going to be giving up with a shorter barrel (that much shorter anyway) is some velocity. And acctually a slower shot charge should (in theory and often in practice) make your patterns more dense. If you understand how chokes and shot patterns go... you'll understand where I'm coming from. Shotguns vary greatly from piece to piece.... you can take two almost the same and one will be great and the other won't work out til you try something different with it.

kingvjack

I think it depends on a barrell, choke combo.....
There isn't anyway to tell whats gonna happen unless you force a load of projectiles down the barell into some paper material and judge it from there.

SwampCollie

BTW... the way it is done varies greatly... but I always start my patterning at 30 yards rather than 40 yards. Its where I like to shoot my birds anyway... but 30 yards allows you to let the choke start to open up a bit, and still easily capture the entire pattern on nothing larger than a 30x30 square of paper. You'll be able to tell if the load/choke combo is worth further testing or not... saves $ and wear and tear on the shoulder.

I'm in the process of an updated, pictured and everything article for a regional area magazine... I'll be sure to post a copy of it up here in another few weeks when I've got it finished. There is an industry standard way of patterning, but honestly I think I like my way better... I think with what the average shooter has to work with it is definately a bit more user friendly.

kingvjack

I belive you have arather kick ass thread on gun patterning dont you?

Strut&Rut

Jason,

Go shoot the short barrel. It may be a turkey package from Remington, which they sold with a few of the SP packages. You will probably need to purchase a few different ammos to find the load that patterns the best. I suggest trying Winchester supremes and the Federal flite-wad controls....

I've shot long barrels, and currently am shooting a 24" ported turkey barrel. Using the Winchester X-tended range #6 loads, I can get over 150 pellets in the turkey vitals at 40 yards. My last bird was harvested at about 55 yards, and truly ended up with a jellyhead...

On the other hand, what exactly did you mean when you said the gun had "regular shotgun sites"? Did you mean a fixed rear post and a front bead? If so, Tru-glo and Hi-Viz make fiber optic bead sets for that gun, and they are relatively cheap (~$10-15). They fit perfectly, and the fiber optic will greatly increase your accuracy during those early hours...

Jasonlester

I believe it is the turkey package Rememgton made. I got the gun from my father in law who got it in a trade. I've had it for years with the intentions of going for turkeys with it. I may have even patterned it years ago I cant remember. I know I did my other 870. But its setup for deer now.

As for the sights its just bead sights. I have a hi-viz front bead that I tried to put on. The problem is it doesn't seem to line up right. Meaning when tight the fiber optic is ofset to the barrel. I didn't want to over tighten it an strip the thread. Ithought about getting a really thin washer of some type to go under it. Should I even use the sight. Thepagage says Spark II FrontSight. and has the 6-48 (and other) thread for the remington. /it just doesn't line up. Any ideas howto fix this?

Born 2 Bow Hunt

The actual length of the barrel plays only a minor role in patterns. Several years ago full choke shotguns were made with longer barrels usually 30-32" and modified and lesser chokes were 26-28" in length. Long barrels....longer sighting plain and promotes a continued swing on passing shots. Short barrels easier to move in cover and lighter to carry. The taper of the barrel from the chamber and the choke at the end of the barrel are the two major factors.. The only item left is finding the load...shot size, drams of power and oz of shot that performs best in the barrel taper/choke combination.


Get some large cardboard 3'X3', 2-3 different loads, mount the new sights mentioned above, go to a range or a safe place to shoot with a backstop. Put a dot in the middle of the cardboard and shoot one round at each target with each gun, shell, combination at 30 yards. Circle the area with the most dense pattern. (It may not be centered on the dot....not important now..) You can do this with a pencil and a string. It is common to use a 10” circle and count the number of pellets in each setup and each load individually. Determine the gun/load/choke combination which provides the most dense pattern.


If the center of the pattern is not in centered on the dot you will need to make some sight adjustments to make them uniform. To determine max. range most people use the turkey head targets which are available at most places that sell shotgun shells. Start at 35 then 40 etc. when you can no longer be confident that you can put at least 5 or more pellets in at turkeys head and neck you have reached your max. range. Keep in mind it is easy to miss at close range with at tight pattern, so you might want to test a 15 yard shot also...Purchase extra of the best performing shells. They may not make them next year and you will need to start all over..This might sound like a little work, but it will give you the answers your questions.


Camo. gun nice...extra “Style Points”.... necessary no...keep the gun pointed in the direction of the turkey not much for him to see...you can purchase wraps etc. if you like....

Simp

Thank you! Finally an answer that is dead on. As you said, by shooting a shorter barrel you lose nothing except maybesome velocity and you'll have a shorter sight radius.

RemingtonDoesItAgain

I have heard both sides to barrel length preferences. I use a 28" on my 11-87 SPS Supermag which is in Mossy Oak. The advantage to a shorter barrel 20"-24" is the weight and the ability to move it around in brush. Many times turkey hunting you will be hid in the brush or around twigs, branches, or limbs of trees. It is much easier to move a short barrel around to get into a shooting position. With short barrels you will get higher velocities as it would do in a rifle or handgun. They generally shoot just as tight patterns when you pattern the gun with the right loads and choke. I use an extended turkey choke with a .660 constriction. .660 and .665 are the most common. The only thing with short barrels is the pattern may tend to disperse more quickly than a longer barrel. Its basically up to your preference. Using smaller shot sizes like #6 creates slightly better patterns as pellets dont make as much contact in the barrel and dont move each other. Larger shot sizes like #2 or #4 hold a slightly looser pattern but have more kinetic energy on impact. I shoot Hevi-13 #63 1/2" which matched with my Undertaker choke puts about 30 pellets in a 6" inch circle at 50 yards. I would shoot paper plates at 25, 35, 45, and 50 yards to see the progressive pattern expansion. Try diffferent loads and chokes. You want at least 20 pellets in the plate. Find your maximum effective range and dont shoot past that unless you feel confident and lethal at further ranges.

gmil6184

the shorter barrel should work just fine. The pattern is more about the choke then the barrel. I'd much rather have the convience of the shorter barrel then any slight gain in velocity/pattern you would get from carrying around a 28" barrel...but to each his own.