24" Barrell, Good Idea Or Not?

[Tyla 3,179]

I am just about to buy a Hatsan Escort and have been offered one with a 24" barrel. The gun shoulders lovely at this length but I am concerned about the short barrel. Will it affect range? The RFD says not but any first hand experience would be appreciated.

 

The gun will be mostly used rough shooting, mooching about and a bit of duck flighting.

[shropshire dan 467]

I use a old aya sbs with 24" barrels and its great. I use eley maximum 34g no.5 shot for everything except geese and fox. Have taken pigeon and rabbits out to 45yards with this gun and probably a little further on occasions. Ducks and pheasants out to 40yards no problem. Also great for walked up rough shooting and hide shooting.

[paulus 26]

i had an aya 25 very nice and extremely point able

[shropshire dan 467]

Mine was bought as a Yeoman, then found out its a possible No.4 but the serial number dates to 1930. Whatever it is its a lovely gun

[3175darren 1,102]

I have a 26 inch could not find a 24 at the time guns spot on,shot ducks geese fox all sorts of stuff never had range issues,

[shropshire dan 467]

Its all about getting the right cartridge, size, load etc for the gun. I've always found the eley maximums great and I always prefer to use plastic wad, unless theirs a problem with using it on some land, ill then use the same shell with fibre

[SportingShooter 0]

Using modern propellants then two or three inches off the barrel wont make any difference. Black powder is a different story.

 

The semi-auto will have a long action so in terms of pointability, it will feel like a 26" gun anyway.

 

I had a 24" Hatsan at one time, enjoyed using it for pigeons and Teal, quick gun to swing.

[charlie caller 3,654]

I am just about to buy a Hatsan Escort and have been offered one with a 24" barrel. The gun shoulders lovely at this length but I am concerned about the short barrel. Will it affect range? The RFD says not but any first hand experience would be appreciated.

 

The gun will be mostly used rough shooting, mooching about and a bit of duck flighting.

Oh dear a Hatstand, I dont want to piss on your bonfire mate but I hate to see people waste their money, dont do it you will regret it pal.

[3175darren 1,102]

 

I am just about to buy a Hatsan Escort and have been offered one with a 24" barrel. The gun shoulders lovely at this length but I am concerned about the short barrel. Will it affect range? The RFD says not but any first hand experience would be appreciated.

 

The gun will be mostly used rough shooting, mooching about and a bit of duck flighting.

Oh dear a Hatstand, I dont want to piss on your bonfire mate but I hate to see people waste their money, dont do it you will regret it pal.

 

I hear a lot about them, but I got mine to take abuse and it does its been good, I may be a lucky one I know,but up to now its done its job well and I am passed spending money on guns to lay them across a quad, and drag them through brambles and mud,so I keep a nice 20 bore for the pheasant shooting, and my hatsan gets everything else,if I knack it up I have lost nowt,in comparison to the 20 bore,

[fox digger 1,086]

i had a ruger with 26" barrels for a very brief period. we do alot of rough shooting and i found at distance it was lacking. birds taken with the 26" barrels were being hit but stayed going for a field or two before being retrieved. back to 28" very soon after and no issues, same cartridges, same chokes ect, right or wrong that is what i found and i was disgusted as i really liked the ruger, it was a peach of a gun. back to the good old beretta ultralight with 28" and happy again!!

[Tyla 3,179]

Thanks for the input. I have read all the reviews, good and bad, as far as I can understand they are ok if they are looked after and you stick to 70mm cartridges. I am buying new with a warranty so if I have problems I have options. My concern was with the length of barrel but it sounds like its not going to make much difference so the gun is ordered.

[Tyla 3,179]

Bugger. Simultaneous post.

 

Fox digger, that is exactly what I was worried about hearing. What kind of ranges are we talking about?

[fox digger 1,086]

its hard to say exactly what distances it was killing at and when it had reached its limits, thinking back and as a summary i suppose it was knocking birds upto 40yards ish... with the ultralight and express supreme game no. 6(same as used in the 26" barrels) i will pretty consistantly take birds beyond 40 yards with clean kills. just seemed that it didnt pack the same punch as the longer barrell, maybe dropping a shot size may have compensated i dont know, i just didnt have faith in it after several birds wobbled in the air, puff of feathers but bird still going!!!

[Tyla 3,179]

Hmmm ... 5's it is then.

 

Anyone else had similar experiences?

[SportingShooter 0]

All smokeless modern powder is totally burnt in about 12-14" of barrel so by the time it reaches the 24th inch it will have been burnt for twice the required time and will be at full pressure.

 

I would imagine the issues you had Fox Digger were down to bad choking on behalf of the Ruger rather than the gun's effective killing range. Every gun and every choke will pattern a cartridge differently, the same as a rifle with ammunition, some it shoots well, others it doesn't

 

If you patterned them, the two guns would throw different patterns even at the same distance with the same shell.

 

Once you lose confidence in a gun then you may as well get rid of it because you wont shoot well if you've always got that at the back of your mind.

 

Tyla, by upping the shot size to a 5 you're reducing the amount of pellets in the pattern. Personally, I wouldn't worry about the barrel length and I would buy a good few different cartridges by shot size, shot weight and manufacturer and see which ones perform the best for you.

 

SS