Shotgun Technology

[tightloop]

I shot IPSC in the old days and went through the equipment race till 1987 when dot dights and .38 super became the hot ticket. The gear and the guns have continued to improve to this day.

Wonder why shotguns have not kept up with the changes pistols have? Most do now come with screw chokes, but have crappy triggers, need to have the forcing cones lengthened, be back bored and if you shoot clays or something similar, you probably need to have the stock fitted. You cannot get that without spending 5K plus for the shotgun and then you have to send it out to have some of the work done. The most obvious thing is porting. It works, it is avaliable from 5 or 6 vendors, and is reasonably priced. Wonder why the shotgun manufacturers don't do this in house and offer it as standard stuff for the trap, skeet and clays shooters?

[ErikW]

All that stuff is pretty much standard on Sporting Clays models. Everybody offers a back-bored, ported, coned SC model. Well maybe not the forcing cones.

[EricW]

A substantial part of the delay probably comes from Europe. The European proof houses historically have refused to proof test any overbored barrel, hence getting overbored barrels from the Euros has been a slow coming. I'm guessing they're not any more fond of extended forcing cones and porting.

What I would like to see on a stock shotgun, is back-boring, ext. forcing cones, no porting, AND....a chrome-lined barrel. I do NOT miss scrubbing the crap out of my scattergun thanks to the chromed barrel on my 391. I love that little feature.

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Do you guys really think the porting matters? I have a tough time believing a 7000 psi load puts out enough gas to do squat after it's had 24" of gas expansion.

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I realize that Mossberg is not a tour de force in shotgunning, but what's people's vibe on their radical overboring? (They're running .835 ID on their new 12 ga. shotguns, I believe.)

[tightloop]

Yes I do think that porting matters. I know it isn't the same as an Open gun with a Shueman (sp) barrel and a 7 port comp, but it helps. Back in the '70's Stan Baker was boring out barrels to .825 for trap shooters and getting very mild recoil with 85% + patterns. I think it is the way to go. don't know about Mossberg.

I also like chrome lined barrels...

I just think there is much that could be improved about shotguns which isn 't being tapped at this time.

[ErikW]

O/U barrels should drop-in interchangeably to their receivers. (I.e., you buy a 20 ga barrel set off-the-shelf and assemble it on your receiver with no fitting required.)

Stocks should be fully adjustable.

Composite stocks should be offered on O/Us.

Unported versions of Sporting Clays models should be offered to those of us who don't like the noise and the mess.

[EricW]

Two things I hate about the modern auto shotguns:

1. Plastic-coated, wooden furniture (why bother?) I despise the feel of varathane. Ick! Wooden stocks should all be oil-finished so you can fix the scratches and dings with a Tibet Almond Stick.

2. Crossbolt triggerguard safeties. Tang-mounted is SOOOO much better, especially for hunting.

I can fix #1 for $400 from Cole's. I can't do a thing about #2.