[GardDog223]

I recently fell into the sweetest deal of my life and acquired a Ruger Red Label All Weather O/U 12 gauge. The only downfall is there was no box or accompanying paperwork with the gun (Yes, I bought it at a friend's gunshop where it was on consignment and verified that it wasn't stolen).

How do I determine the barrel length? When broken down into the three pieces (barrel / chamber, fore-end, and stock), the barrel / chamber portion measures 30 inches. When measured from the bore, down the barrel to where the chamber meets the barrels, it measures 26 1/2 inches.

I searched THR and the internets and came up with nuthin. I polled some of my gun toting friends and got differing opinions.


Anyone have a solid answer?

[riverdog]

the barrel / chamber portion measures 30 inchesSounds like a 30" barrel. You measure the barrel from the breach face to the muzzle.

[Fumbler]

Barrel length is measured from breech face on a closed action to the end of the muzzle (or begining of forcing cone on a revolver to the end of the muzzle).

To measure properly, close the action and make sure the firing pin isn't sticking out.
Take a dowel and drop it into the barrel til it stops on the breech.
Mark the dowel at the end of the muzzle.
Pull the dowel out and measure from the end you stuck into the barrel to your mark.

[rcmodel]

You can measure any O/U or S/S double gun easily without dowels rods, cleaning rods, or Chinese math.

Just measure the dang barrels with the action open, or the gun apart.

Yours has 30" barrels.

Measuring from the muzzle to the front of the chamber (26 1/2") is meaningless.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j219/rcmodel/KTOG/1224.gif
rcmodel

[GardDog223]

Thanks for the replies. What a bonus, the deal got sweeter... I got the Trap model at a great price.

[Pete409]

Anyone have a solid answer?


How about this answer? All the common gun types (rifles, shotguns, handguns, etc) of whatever type action include the length of the chamber in measuring the barrel length EXCEPT revolvers.

There may be some exception to that statement, but I can't think of any at the moment. Perhaps others reading this will point out the exceptions (if any) that I have overlooked.