• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

BARF Militia

Roman, I think it'd be hilarious if for a single day you turned your shop into a giant ball pit (still with everything available for sale as normal behind the counters though). Big kid playground! Shiny! :teeth
 
I never understood people who go around saying you can't (or shouldn't) shoot clays with an 18" barrel. I started when I was 19 with a Winchester Defender I bought from Outdoor World. It certainly didn't have any chokes for it.
 
Re-did the reloading bench and helped my dad run 220 to install the compressor. Also installed some outlets and 2 overhead LED can lights. When I say install I mean watch my dad wire them while he insulted me in the process.

Ks98Mrkl.png
 
afmotorsports said:
You can, it's just not the ideal tool for the job. If that's all you got, then go have a blast with it.
Click to expand...

But that's just it. It's not all I've got.

I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but how is it "not ideal" ? For me the entire point is to shoot the clays into as many small pieces as possible in the fastest time possible as many times as possible starting from a neutral (muzzle at the ground) shooting position. I kill them as if they were trying to kill me first.

It requires a less precise shot to do this with a short, unchoked 18" barrel compared to say a 24" or 28" barrel so how is doing it with the smaller barrel less ideal if I get better results?

The bottom line for me is with a shorter shotgun barrel I get more hits and more thorough hits. I have a Mossberg 930SPX that comes standard with an 18" barrel. I also have a JM pro 24" barrel I bought just to appease the new Los Altos rules. I shoot it set up both ways and the 18" unchoked SPX variant gets me more hits than the 24" choked JM pro barreled variant. I have tried both barrels with and without the choate pistol grip as well. I also have a 28" 870 Wingmaster Magnum pump and I don't get good (comparatively) results with that either.
 
goose said:
But that's just it. It's not all I've got.

I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but how is it "not ideal" ? For me the entire point is to shoot the clays into as many small pieces as possible in the fastest time possible as many times as possible starting from a neutral (muzzle at the ground) shooting position. I kill them as if they were trying to kill me first.

It requires a less precise shot to do this with a short, unchoked 18" barrel compared to say a 24" or 28" barrel so how is doing it with the smaller barrel less ideal if I get better results?

The bottom line for me is with a shorter shotgun barrel I get more hits and more thorough hits. I have a Mossberg 930SPX that comes standard with an 18" barrel. I also have a JM pro 24" barrel I bought just to appease the new Los Altos rules. I shoot it set up both ways and the 18" unchoked SPX variant gets me more hits than the 24" choked JM pro barreled variant. I have tried both barrels with and without the choate pistol grip as well. I also have a 28" 870 Wingmaster Magnum pump and I don't get good (comparatively) results with that either.
Click to expand...

Ok, you're being silly. I shoot in a skeet league every Monday night and if a 18" barrel was the hot ticket, I guarantee you we would all have one. Clay shooting is an olympic sport, there are hundreds of thousands of people who compete and not one of them would ever choose a tactical shotgun with a 18" barrel. Sure, it might be fun to do it once in a while just for shits and giggles, just like years ago I had one of my sponsored riders do a supermoto race (with dirt sections and jumps!) on a SV650. I can assure you supermoto racers didn't switch to SV650s just like clay shooters aren't switching to tactical shotguns.

The fact that you suck less with your Mossberg is irrelevant. If you ever decided to take clay shooting seriously, you would soon find the limitations of a tactical shotgun with a 18" barrel and replace it with a more appropriate 'tool'. fwiw, I shoot clays with a Beretta 390 ST (30" ported barrel) and it's a noticeable difference between that shotgun and my Beretta 390 field gun with a simple 28" barrel.

btw, shooting clays at Los Altos is a joke, the clays thrower is 2 feet in front of you so it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Go to Sunnyvale Rod & Gun for trap or to Metcalf for skeet and then you'll understand why you need a proper 'tool' for shooting clays. That doesn't mean you have to buy a competition gun, I actually did fairly well with my camo duck hunting shotgun (28" barrel) until I switched to a comp shotgun.
 
Last edited:
Meh, I take my 18" gun to the sporting clays range all the time to school everyone.

After I leave, all those guys are running to Walmart to trade in their Krieghoffs for Remy's like mine.

Lolz.
 
afmotorsports said:
Ok, you're being silly. I shoot in a skeet league every Monday night and if a 18" barrel was the hot ticket, I guarantee you we would all have one. Clay shooting is an olympic sport, there are hundreds of thousands of people who compete and not one of them would ever choose a tactical shotgun with a 18" barrel. Sure, it might be fun to do it once in a while just for shits and giggles, just like years ago I had one of my sponsored riders do a supermoto race (with dirt sections and jumps!) on a SV650. I can assure you supermoto racers didn't switch to SV650s just like clay shooters aren't switching to tactical shotguns.

The fact that you suck less with your Mossberg is irrelevant. If you ever decided to take clay shooting seriously, you would soon find the limitations of a tactical shotgun with a 18" barrel and replace it with a more appropriate 'tool'. fwiw, I shoot clays with a Beretta 390 ST (30" ported barrel) and it's a noticeable difference between that shotgun and my Beretta 390 field gun with a simple 28" barrel.

btw, shooting clays at Los Altos is a joke, the clays thrower is 2 feet in front of you so it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Go to Sunnyvale Rod & Gun for trap or to Metcalf for skeet and then you'll understand why you need a proper 'tool' for shooting clays. That doesn't mean you have to buy a competition gun, I actually did fairly well with my camo duck hunting shotgun (28" barrel) until I switched to a comp shotgun.
Click to expand...

You still haven't answered why a longer barrel is better.

The fact that I suck less with the Mossberg with a short barrel as opposed to a longer barrel is not irrelevant. It was the entire point of my question.



BTW this is for you..... :laughing


 
If the thrower was farther away the short barrel might not work as well, and I think he was saying it should be farther away.
 
It doesn't seem to matter where I shoot or how far away the throwers are (Coyote Valley for instance) I seem to consistently shoot better with a shorter barrel is all. Lots of folks shoot just as well or better with an 18" as the guy next to them with the $5000 Italian gun. I politely asked a simple question. Why is it not "ideal"? What makes a longer barrel "better" and how?
 
With a longer barrel it keeps the pattern tighter longer and with the right choke you can optimize the pattern for that particular event. In other words, at competing level it is the right tool for the job.

or what Alex said.
 
goose said:
You still haven't answered why a longer barrel is better.

The fact that I suck less with the Mossberg with a short barrel as opposed to a longer barrel is not irrelevant. It was the entire point of my question.

BTW this is for you..... :laughing
Click to expand...

Oh geez, you really need a hug, dontcha? :laughing

Sweetheart, a longer barrel with a tighter choke will keep the pattern tighter for a longer distance. Depending on how far you are from a target, you often screw in different chokes. I have a Mossy just like yours (except it's a Mariner) and if you're blasting soda cans at 20 yards, it's badass. If you're on a sporting clays field and need to make a 45+ yard shot, the shot from the 18" barrel with open choke will spread the pellets too far apart and you are unlikely to break the clay.

If you're breaking more clays with your Mossy than your 870, you should spend more quality time with the 870 and you will eventually suck less. :twofinger (don't worry, even the top shooters in our league would have a tough time with your Mossy :teeth)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top