Best all round shotgun barrel length and choke

[RC51kid]

I am new to shotguns for sporting uses. I have only owned them for HD. I came into a older Remington Model 11 that I am fixing up and would like to have it as an option to hunt with. It came with two barrels, a 19" and a 30" full choke. I will keep the shorter barrel for HD and times I need a short barrel. I am will to get them shortened and threaded for chokes if I need to. The 19" barrel will probably get threaded since it was cut down and is now cylinder bore.

I would like to use the longer one for a little of everything if possible. Some casual trap shooting, turkey, some small game like rabbit or squirrel and maybe a little pheasant or grouse. I would also like to be able to use the shotgun as an option for coyote if I call them in close. But I imagine that I could use the shorter 19" barrel for this if I get it threaded for chokes which I will probably do. I dont plan on shooting ducks at this time.

What would be the best barrel length and choke for the longer barrel to do all of that? I know this is the bird hunting forum and I am asking about hunting some "non birds". But I figure you guys know the most about shotguns.

 

[Slickhill]

I would leave the 30” full barrel alone and hunt birds with it. I would leave the cut barrel cylinder bored as well. You could buy a lot of shells to practice with or have the money towards a new shotgun for what it’s going to cost to have thinwall tubes put in the two barrels.

I don’t get overly worked up about choke in a bird gun. In the past week I’ve shot multiple limits of doves with a Mod choked Ithaca 37/16ga, a F/XF choked Merkel double, and a Cyl 20ga Win M50 that someone cut the choked section off the barrel somewhere back down the road. In all of that there could have maybe been a bird or two that I would have killed if I’d had a tighter choke, or maybe a bird I would have hit with a little more open choke, but not many. Practice until you can consistently center the bird/clay in the pattern and then you might want something with changeable chokes to fine tune things.

A couple generations of our ancestors hunted with fixed chokes and never gave it a thought. With the invention of the external adjustable chokes followed by screw ins it became a must have, mainly because the people selling them said so.

 

[BigDuckHunter]

I agree with the above. I’ve got a full selection of screw in chokes for my favorite hunting shotgun and I would choose either IM or Full for every use you listed (full disclosure I don’t hunt grouse). And really the difference between IM and Full is so small that I wouldn’t worry about that.

I grew up shooting a fixed full 12 gauge that my dad got when he was young. Never felt like I was limited from dove all the way to turkey.

I’d keep what you have and put the money into a lot of trap. That’ll make you better than interchangeable chokes.

If you decide to get into waterfowl, then I’d take a look at different chokes. Non-tox metals behave differently enough than lead that I think having chokes to change for the situation can definitely help increase your shooting success.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

 

[C Bow]

I have been bird hunting over 50 years and shoot a 21 inch barrel for ducks and a 18 inch barrel for quail, grouse, pheasants ,sharptails and huns

 

[StupidLightweight]

Cool score, OP. My father has the Browing-mader version of that exact shotgun, an Auto-5 in 12 gauge with a 30-inch Full choke barrel. He also has Auto-5s in 16 and 20 gauge, but the one he says he shoots the best is the 12 gauge with the Full choke barrel. He's killed a bunch of winged game with that gun over the past 50 or so years.

Choke constriction does matter. No way around that. For bird shot, I used Improved Cylinder because I'm not a great shot, but I read an article a few years ago where the author tested patterns at distance with all the common chokes. Overall, the best in his test was Modified. It produced a larger pattern up close like an IC yet didn't give up much to the Full choke at distance. If you have to choose just one, Modified seems to be the Goldilocks of chokes.

 

[ckleeves]

Just my .02 but your gonna spend more having those barrels cut/threaded then you could buy a decent new shotgun with interchangeable chokes and a 3” or 3.5” chamber for.

 

[RC51kid]

Thanks for the input guys. I think i probably paid mor than i should have for the old Remington but it has been a good project. Found some cracks in the wood so it was stripped and cracks fixed. I have short arms so i shorted lop 1" and refitted the recoil pad. Then the gun got fully stripped and cleaned. Waiting on a spring and bushing rebuild kit to show up. The metal finish is really thin but it should be a fun serviceable gun for a long time to come.

I belive Rose Action Sports can thread barrels for chokes pretty reasonably. Maybe i will just thread the shorter one since it is already cut down. That way i will have both a long and a short barrel depending what i am hunting.

 

[Blockcaver]

If buying new hunting shotgun I'd get a 28" barrel with screw in chokes. For close up thick stuff use a skeet choke, general all around an IC and late season open country a Mod or Full. If using a sub-gauge, tighten up at least one constriction to account for a less pellets down range.

I have quite a few fixed choked guns....SxSs and old Model 12 Winchesters. They all are choked IC or Mod or both (SxSs) if they are hunting shotguns.

I do have a couple old Winchester Trap guns choked full but never hunt with them.

 

[Deeker]

24 inch barrel and IM choke. That is the combo I swear by.

 

[Dan Carey]

I have a A400 with 28 inch barrel, I wish it was a 26". I have a Mossberg 940 Pro with 24" and a red dot pistol sight on it which has become my go to shotgun. Good extended chokes are worth the money

 

[rookieforever33]

Id shoot it on paper before deciding. Try shooting smaller size for prey shot in the long barrel. They will spread more while still getting more on target than larger shot. Try larger size shot for the short barrel. They are going to spread quick so you want each pellet to do a lot of damage. My .02 to start.

 

[Deeker]

Id shoot it on paper before deciding. Try shooting smaller size for prey shot in the long barrel. They will spread more while still getting more on target than larger shot. Try larger size shot for the short barrel. They are going to spread quick so you want each pellet to do a lot of damage. My .02 to start.

Choke restriction will have a much greater effect on spread than barrel length. Barrel length is almost negligible when it comes to spread, the shot cup plays a bigger part. Most people ( including myself) severely overestimate how fast shot spreads coming out of the barrel.

 

[Macintosh]

Agree 100% with post #2.

It makes very little sense to differentiate between “consecutive” chokes. There is almost no difference between skeet and IC for instance, or between IM and full, etc. If you have another shotgun then Id leave alone entirely. A cylinder choked short barrel is perfect for very close shooting (ie skeet, heavy-cover grouse, or your bedroom), and a long, full choke is fine-to-great for trap or anything at moderate to longer range. You can also buy “spreader” loads that will cause the pattern to open a bit more if you want to use the long barrel and dont want quite that much choke…they arent cheap and you probably wouldnt want to shoot clays with them, but for the first shot while bird hunting can work well. Only change those chokes after you demonstrate that they arent what you need.

Also be aware that steel shot or any hard shot (tss or similar) may bulge that full choked barrel, so you may need to splurge for bismuth if you want to waterfowl hunt.

 

[Deeker]

Thanks for the input guys. I think i probably paid mor than i should have for the old Remington but it has been a good project. Found some cracks in the wood so it was stripped and cracks fixed. I have short arms so i shorted lop 1" and refitted the recoil pad. Then the gun got fully stripped and cleaned. Waiting on a spring and bushing rebuild kit to show up. The metal finish is really thin but it should be a fun serviceable gun for a long time to come.

I belive Rose Action Sports can thread barrels for chokes pretty reasonably. Maybe i will just thread the shorter one since it is already cut down. That way i will have both a long and a short barrel depending what i am hunting.

Barrel length is not game specific. It is how the gun swings and where the weight is. A short barrel is faster swinging and “jerky”. Long barrel is slow and smooth. It is more of a preference and a shooting style thing. Do you track your targets or do you ambush shoot them? I personally ambush my first shot and then start tracking, so I go with mid length barrels. Fast enough to ambush first shot but long enough you can get a smooth swing.

 

[Dan Carey]

Barrel length in the old days was an asset to help in sighting the barrel to target. My Beretta Silver Pigeon has 32" barrels for shooting sporting clays. Way too slow for field use.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I prefer about a 26" with an IC or Mod choke..However I have killed a lotta birds, and shot a lot of skeet with a 28" barrel with a full choke. Somebody pointed out a while back, that the center of the pattern is in the same place regardless what choke you are using..

Keep an eye on ebay and numrich though. Barrels get sold often enough, sometimes for pretty cheap

 

[yfarm]

26” o/u or 21” semi auto, trigger to end of the barrel is the same length. Modified choke. Was pass shooting doves with a skeet/mod choke combo today and was surprised how well the skeet worked at the distances. When hunting flushing birds I shoot instinctively without being conscious of aiming, when shooting clays or pass shooting doves I aim and lead more deliberately and find I shoot the o/u better than the semiauto.

 

[Davyalabama]

I'm old school --- 30" full choke -- love the long sight picture on doves, ducks, turkey, etc.

 

[Steve300xcw]

aiming...sight radius...I thought we were shooting shotguns?

 

[Bluefish]

Barrel length in my opinion is more about use case and action type. For field use a 28” break action or 26 ish sa. Clay games can benefit from longer barrels, but they are not necessary. Swing tends to be smoother with longer barrels. I shoot a 32” break action for sporting and a longer unsingle for trap. Semi autos can be shorter barrels as the action makes them longer.