Lengthening forcing cone

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Barbaroja

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Hello gang,
I will be sending a shotgun barrel to Mike Orlen to have it threaded for chokes. I was curious if anyone has experience with getting a forcing cone lengthened and if it had any noticeable improvement in your patterns.
Thanks!
 
I had Mike lengthen the forcing cone on 2 guns. One had a damaged forcing cone from steel shot and rust and it shot lousy patterns. Lengthening the cone made it shoot well again because it removed the damage. I found no stand out differences in pattern nor recoil of the gun that was not damaged that was lengthened. No disadvantage either. I did not shoot a lot of patterns and count pellets. Just looked at the pattern of a few shots. It was a full choked trap gun and shoots tight patterns.
 
I was curious if anyone has experience with getting a forcing cone lengthened. . .
I'm not a shotgunner. . .

But I have on good authority that lengthening the forcing cone will spread the recoil impulse, reducing felt recoil slightly.
 
I made a reamer thirty years ago to lengthen the forcing cone in 12 gauge barrels. I’ve done about a dozen, mostly my own, and can say that: maybe it improves patterns and maybe you will think it reduces recoil. I’m still shooting the first barrel I altered (1975 870TB full) and it inkballs birds at that 16 and crushes them from my current 25 handicap. It did that before, too.
Kind of like porting. If you believe it helps, it probably will.
 
I got between 1-1/2 and 3% pattern improvement from lengthened cones and the same from overboring. They were not straight additive.
In a blind test, my buddy and I were able to identify the lengthened cone with 94% accuracy - well beyond coincidence. Could not say it was less, but it was definitely different.
 
I believe that lengthening the forcing cones is one of the things that will give you slightly better patterns. Most forcing cones on older guns have about 3/4" cone that goes from chamber to barrel diameter, it is also where the petals of the shell open into and the shot has to transition to barrel diameter. Lengthening will usually extend the taper to at least 1.5". The smoother the transition the less the shot is deformed as it forces it's way into the barrel. Less shot deformation equals less flyers in the pattern. A longer tapered choke will also help transition the shot pattern into whatever constriction you choose.

Each shotgun barrel is unique as it is highly unlikely that any two barrels are identical so pattern boards are the only way to see what your individual barrel will do. It is also highly unlikely that any two brands of shotgun shells will perform identically in the same barrel either. One barrel may prefer Winchester AA, when another seemingly identical barrel may shoot a slightly better pattern (or worse) with Remington Premiers, or Federal Top Gun, or Fiochi.
 
I had the cone lengthened in a Mossberg 500 trying to reduce recoil with 3-1/2 inch turkey loads several years ago. Before the mod it would put 63 pellets of 3-1/2” Federal Premium 6 shot in a head and neck target at 40 yards . After the mod it would only do 39. This was an average of 5 shots.
I went back to the beginning and tested various other loads and settled on Federal Premium 3” 5 shot. It would do 59 pellets. So I guess it improved recoil and patterns, but with an entirely different load and a substantial cost to find that load.
 
I've had the forcing cones lengthened on two shotguns; a circa 1921 16ga Ithaca® LeFever Nitro Special™ SxS, and a 2000 Mossberg® Mdl 500 20ga pump. In both cases doing so reduced felt recoil and improved patterns. YMMV.

Regards...
 
Oh man I’ve got a nitro special in 20ga that belonged to my great grandfather I’m sure the 16 is a peach.


Thanks for all the input everyone
 
It must help or why would Beretta make such a big fuss about the really long one in their A400 series?
 
I wish I had either a “tongue in cheek” or a sarcasm emoji. Tired of lol.
 
I have two Beretta's, one with and one without. I can tell the difference. Recoil is obvious. Patterning is another animal. I've learned to live with the difference and use them for different purposes. I had the older one ported and playing with chokes and loads has also helped. Most people don't have the time, money or patience to figure that out. I like the newer one for most of my shooting, but the older one has 3x extra fancy French walnut. It's prettiest gun I've ever owned.
 
I have two Beretta's, one with and one without. I can tell the difference. Recoil is obvious. Patterning is another animal. I've learned to live with the difference and use them for different purposes. I had the older one ported and playing with chokes and loads has also helped. Most people don't have the time, money or patience to figure that out. I like the newer one for most of my shooting, but the older one has 3x extra fancy French walnut. It's prettiest gun I've ever owned.
So you have found. Noticeable difference in your pattern with the longer forcing cone?
I know it’s all anecdotal but I value the opinions of the members of THR.
 
I've lengthened a lot of forcing cones over the years and honestly can't tell that there is any real improvement in patterns or felt recoil in general. Now I do see a slight but notable improvement in patterns on SOME 3 1/2" chambers when firing 2 3/4" shells.
 
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