Barrel Length for Skeet

Michibay

Folks...I posted this on General Discussion...and just realized that my question should be here. I was a fairly active skeet shooter in the 50's,60's & 70's. During that time...most skeet shooters used 26" barrels with a 12ga. Today, I was just told that shooters are using 28",30" and even 32" barrels??? Is this correct??? THANKS!!!

fl23in

at my local range there are a few 28's but most are standard 26s or less

jonk

Never seen anyone shoot skeet with a goose gun.......just saying.

Mk 19

Most of the top shooter have moved to 30" or 32" tubes, a long tube swings nicer and has better follow through. These long tubes are used exclusively on O/U's so the overall length is not much longer than a 28" tube on a S/A

336marlin

I've seen the trend go to longer also; when I began the game the 28" barrels were the way to go. As Mk 19 says they aid in follow through which has been determined and is important to break more targets. As in bullets the only way to gain more weight in an object(which is the key to the follow thru) of a preset diameter is to add length. Those that determined their/there barrels were long enough though or maybe had barrel sets, which would make it very expensive to obtain longer barrels in all four gauges, found a way to achieve the same effect by adding barrel weights, either steel or mercuric. It's not a very good comparison though because having watched these top shooters (Mayes, Bender) over the years that began with 26" or 28" barrels then went with the trend to longer 30" & 32" barrels; their/there scores didn't change for the better. They still shoot 100's in both regulation and doubles and are the same great shooters in shootoffs. In the 70's & 80's Mayes 12ga gun was an old 1400 with a Cutts on it that he used a spreader tube in; it had a real light colored stock and he knicknamed it "Blondie". I'm sure it only had a 26" or 28" barrel. He was king then and everybody thought the way to stardom was with a Cutts and spreader tube just like him. Just practice a lot with what you have to get better at it. More practice is getting expensive what with the cost of shot and primers these days. Hope this helps.

RowdyDan

I shot skeet competitively for about 15 years. First gun was a Win 101 O/U in 12ga and a 3 barrel set in 20,28, and .410. The 12ga had a 26" barrel. Shooting the 3 barrel set was like shooting with a flyrod because of their light weights.

After a few years, I upgraded to a Krieghoff 32 Phantom (lightweight) with Briley tubes in a 28" barrel. When the tubes were not installed, I used a barrel weight for the 12ga events.

Over time, I saw many shooters switch to 30 and 32" barrels, usually after someone started winning with their long barrels. Then I saw many switch back when they figured out it wasn't the barrel length that counted.

The extra weight certainly helps one follow through but remember, there are 4 pairs of doubles in a round of skeet so you have to get the barrel moving back in the opposite direction at some point. It's that object in motion tends to stay in motion thing. In fact, I started using the 12ga without the barrel weight in the doubles events for that reason.

I could definitely see a big, and positive, difference in going longer than a 26" barrel. I never noticed much difference between the 28 and the 30 but I find 32" to be just a little too long for my preference.

Riomouse911

28" on a O/U or single barrel seems the best compromise between "swingability" and weight for follow through. I have one of each length on O/U guns, and the 26" (to me) is a bit more lively than the 28".

sportingclays

I shoot Skeet with a Thomas Bland SXS 30 in.It is as lively as you want. Main gun is a K-80 32 in. with Briley tube set. Enjoy the game shoot what you like and feels good to you.[8D]

rsnyder55

I switch between a 26" O/U Citori Skeet and a 28" Citori all guage skeet set. While being able to follow through is important on most of the stations, at station 8, I can see where trying to get a long heavy O/U barrel could be a challenge.