When did shotguns get bulky?

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JKosprey
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When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by JKosprey »

So, good news- I finally got a decent job! I'm doing wildlife control at a landfill, with lots of potential for moving up. The job involves the use of a variety of methods, including lethal management....primarily gulls. Which means that my work truck sports a Rem 870. I like it....I've got a Mossberg myself. Not a bad gun either. I think the 870 swings better, but I like the ergos on the Mossberg better.

I was thinking today though....both of these are seriously beefy guns...especially for guns that are meant to be swung at moving targets.

I also have a Stevens single shot and a Remington 31 at home. Both of those are fairly light, thin....even svelte, easy-swinging shotguns. They seem far more suited to the task of wingshooting. I also recently inherited a Marlin model 19-s...not a shooter, but thin and light. Almost all of the pump guns offered today remind me of the 870 or 500 though. They are thick and heavy. When did that become the norm? Why are modern shotguns so beefy? Is it the 3" chamber? is it really necessary to make the guns that much larger to handle it? And does the 3" really offer a significant benefit?
Langenator
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by Langenator »

Are they built to handle 3.5" magnums? That'll do it.

I recently bought a new barrel for my old Wingmaster. The new barrel, built for 3.5s, is definitely beefier than the original, made for 2.75s.
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Steamforger
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

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Right about here.
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First Shirt
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by First Shirt »

Built for high-brass loads.
Built for 3.5" cases.
Built for tacticool stuff.

One of my favorite shotguns is an Ithaca 12 gauge SxS double. Loaded, and dirty, it will just barely break 7 lbs. It has 2 3/4" chambers, and a recoil pad that is about as thick as a pencil eraser, so heavy loads are contra-indicated.

But it tracks like radar, and I've gone eight straight on doves over a beanfield.

Just depends on what you want a shotgun for, and what you're willing to give up to get it.

(For the record: Our closet HD shotgun, a Mossberg Youth model M-500, 20 gauge, with a 20-inch bbl, and no plug in the mag tube, weighs 7.2 lbs.)
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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evan price
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by evan price »

You want a repeater? Then you need repeating-parts, a magazine of some sort, and a means by which it is cycled. Presto, bulky.
Nothing more svelt and smooth than a hammerless double from around the first world war, with steel barrels of course. That tight waist, splinter fore-end, and narrow butt are just a beauty to look at. And the good thing is if you look around you can find them in many many brands with minor wear for a pittance. You can get a very shootable Stevens 311 for under $250 if you look.

And- despite internet hype about "the sound of shucking a 12-gauge scares off bad guys"- staring down the twin muzzles of a coach-length double-12-gauge has to be about as close a man can come to looking on the pearly gates.
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Aesop
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by Aesop »

JKosprey wrote:When did that become the norm? Why are modern shotguns so beefy? Is it the 3" chamber? is it really necessary to make the guns that much larger to handle it? And does the 3" really offer a significant benefit?
In the mid- to late 1980s, when some Birkenstock-wearing tofu-slurping bunny-hugger(s) [strike]scientifically determined[/strike] hypothesized after a plethora of bong hits that lead shot was responsible for global warming, cavities in children, and the smelly farts from old bulldogs, they chivvied governmental bodies, fish & game departments, &c., to force waterfowlers and hunters in general to switch to steel and other non-lead shot materials. :roll:

Steel shot, unlike lead shot
a) has no "give" as the herd of pellets carroms down the bore towards freedom
b) requires more of it in a given shell to get the same effectiveness and range as lead (hence the longer shells)
c) requires it be launched with more authority to achieve that same range, all of which
d) creates higher chamber and barrel pressures, necessitating heavier weaponry to accommodate this fresh abortion inflicted upon a mature weapon system.

With lead shot, other than for buckshot, the extra 1/4-3/4" for 3" and 3 1/2" would convey no advantage except heavier patterns, more felt recoil, and more shredded game. (With buckshot OTOH, e.g with 00B, you get 3-6 more .33 pellets flying downrange at bad people, which is a thing if you're actually trading lead with same.)
But with steel shot, absent the increase, you'd miss outright and/or wound more game, and lose the end of the effective range closer-in, which turns a 12 .ga into simply a loud noisemaker.

So an 870 Express and so on now is able to accommodate magnum shotshells of greater length than a classic 870 Wingmaster from before the Steel Age dawned. And after countless bulged barrels at the choke point from heavy steel shotshell use, other makers went the same way, making beefier guns with sturdier receivers and stouter barrels. And removable chokes.

It's also why shotguns intended for trap, skeet, and sporting clays, esp. from the better makers, point and track with more balance, grace, and fluidity than their counterparts more frequently found in police cruiser racks or behind bedroom doors; it's the shotgun equivalent of dumptrucks vs. two-seater sports cars.
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Denis
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Re: When did shotguns get bulky?

Post by Denis »

JKosprey wrote:So, good news- I finally got a decent job!
Congratulations!
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