Why no short (18-20"), choked barrels?

[Sergeant Sabre]

Why aren't there more 18-20" barrels with chokes? The vast majority of barrels in this range are cylinder bore. Why?

It's obvious to me that there is a demand for chokes in these short barrels. Take the various buckshot patterning tests posted here and elsewhere. We are always happy to see a nice, tight pattern and spend money trying to find a load that will pattern tightly for us in our cylinder barrels.

I recently had a lead on an 18.5" barrel for my Mossberg 500 from Havlin Sales (www.havlinsales.com) that was threaded for accu-chokes. They had a number of them from a police production over-run and were selling them for under $70. I called today and the guy on the phone said that they are all gone. "They went like dynamite!!" were his exact words.

Mossberg makes a 20" accu-choke barrel. No surprise, everywhere I look they are sold out.

Why doesn't some manufacturer catch on and make a 18-20" barrel with screw-in chokes? There is clearly a demand since every time a few show up they fly out the door. What's the deal?

 

[Sir Aardvark]

Why aren't there more 18-20" barrels with chokes?

Remington sells 18" barrels with Improved Cylinder and Modified chokes in addition to their Cylinder ones.

Brownell's currently carries the Improved Cylinder ones. You would have to call the Remington factory to check on availability of the Modified chokes, but Lee Lapin reported a while back that he was able to get one.

As for Screw-in chokes - I couldn't tell you why... all of what I see are fixed-choke in this size barrel range.

 

[EHCRain10]

Sounds like its time to start writing letters to some of these manufacturers, the firearms industry is great because almost all of the companies are willing to listen to suggestions like this.

Id buy at least one.

 

[jakemccoy]

I have a 18.1", fixed choke, parkerized barrel with rifle sights on my 870 Police. I actually don't want this size barrel to have a removable choke. I have other barrels for the versatility.

 

[2sigs]

I have a mossy 500 heavy wall constructed 18" factory accu-choke

Very handy for those speedy grouse upnorth by sven n ole's shack

-2sigs

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

I have a mossy 500 heavy wall constructed 18" factory accu-choke

That's exactly the barrel I want. Havlin Sales had some, but as I said before they "went like dynamite" and were sold out before I called them. If you know where to get one (or even one of the Mossberg 20" accu-chokes), please PM me.

I'm glad to hear that Remington has a few offerings in this category. Perhaps I shall write a letter to Mossberg about it.

 

[BBroadside]

Stoeger has a variant of their Coach Gun (20" SxS) with screw-in chokes. Sounds like a pretty versatile gun.

There's also the Remington 870 Express Turkey only 1" beyond your specification, even cheaper than the above. (It really does seem like there's some secret rule that says 20" and below, fixed open chokes or fully rifled only; above that, screw-in chokes. Odd.) That one has a vent rib, which I think makes it easier to attach some sights, but maybe harder to attach others.

On the whole, though, I agree with the OP - the gunmakers need to put an ear to the ground and hear the demand for these things. When I was looking around at this kind of thing in the early 1990s, the advice was, find an 870 Brushmaster, or just get an aftermarket choke installation.

Speaking of weird marketing choices ... take a look at all the tactical-style shotguns Remington is offering these days. Folding stocks, speedfeed stocks, extended magazines, desert camo ... not a one with anything but a bead sight. (They do have a fully-rifle Synthetic Deer gun with rifle sights, though.)

 

[Husker1911]

Original poster Sergeant Sabre, great question! It's time to let the manufacturers know we want 18"-20" barrels with choke tubes. Another suggestion is to write to gun publication's letters sections.

 

[jmr40]

Remington sells, or at least used to sell a 20" barrel with rifle sights and interchangeable tubes for the 870. My brother has one. Came with a rifled tube and IC tube.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

jmr, I looked up that barrel at MidwayUSA. I was not surprised to find that it was out of stock. The comparable Mossberg barrel (20" with tubes) is out of stock at MidwayUSA, Cabelas, and Brownells.

If the companies aren't going to keep their distributors stocked, they might as well not list the barrel. In fact, I'd be less frustrated if they just didn't list it at all.

Who else online sells shotgun barrels? Maybe I can still find one.

 

[ugaarguy]

Interesting coincidence. I'm got a 21" 11-87 rifle sight RemChoke bbl. tonight.

 

[jakemccoy]

I bought a 20" choke tube barrel directly from Remington Parts (page 30+)...

http://www.remington.com/pdfs/rempartslist.pdf

There are so many variations that the phone reps aren't even fully aware of what they sell. Yes, you pay a premium by going straight through Remington. However, at least, you know it's factory, and you eliminate any non-factory uncertainty if there are problems; that's worth an extra $100+ to me.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I agree - it would sell.

Stoeger has a variant of their Coach Gun (20" SxS) with screw-in chokes. Sounds like a pretty versatile gun.

And also, my most recent purchase was/is the CZ/Huglu Durango, a 20" bbl'ed gun with interchangeable chokes (comes with 5 chokes):

http://www.cz-usa.com/product_detail.php?id=59

 

[rantingredneck]

Sargeant Sabre:

Sorry to hear that havlin was sold out of those. I've been wondering how much longer they'd last. I got mine several months back and have been consistently surprised everytime I check their site and still see them listed.

I've got a 20" RS IC barrel on one of my 870's and have been heavily considering picking up one of the 20" RS Remchoke barrels to replace it with.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

I used to wonder about this too, back when I shot skeet. I would think, "why do I need those last six inches of this 26-inch barrel?"

 

[Leadhead]

Pretty easy to get a barrel threaded for chokes...

 

[jmr40]

Another option, Remington used to offer an 870 Express Turkey gun that came with a 21" vent rib barrel that was threaded for tubes. Georgia DNR issued this gun to their officers a few years ago instead of police type shotguns because they got a good deal on them and they were cheaper.

Winchester made a lot of their 1300's with threaded 22" barrels right before they went under. I see alot of these for sale used.

 

[Gary A]

I used to wonder about this too, back when I shot skeet. I would think, "why do I need those last six inches of this 26-inch barrel?"

IMO, because short barrels are loud, mainly. I have hunted with an 870 Police with 18.5 in barrel. Quick and handy for heavy cover...but loud.

 

[Leadhead]

.....and for some they just aint got that swing!

 

[XDKingslayer]

Pretty easy to get a barrel threaded for chokes...

Not necessarily.

Your everyday Mossberg 18.5" barrel isn't thick enough to thread for chokes. You have to get the thick walled barrel which is just this side of impossible to find.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

Your everyday Mossberg 18.5" barrel isn't thick enough to thread for chokes. You have to get the thick walled barrel which is just this side of impossible to find.

I am finding out now how hard this barrel is to find. I've looked everywhere I can think of on the 'net, and called a few places. Nobody has the 18.5" heavy wall, and nobody has the 20" accu-choke barrel that Mossberg lists on their website. Mossberg's site says the barrel is available for $155, compared to their distributors that list them for $127. So I guess I need to decide how much it's worth to me.

I think that having a barrel threaded for chokes is largely an empty promise, too. When I worked at Gander Mountain people would come in all the time wanting barrels threaded. Every single time the answer from the gunsmith was "too thin". On some of the websites I've seen advertising choke installation there are sometimes caveats like "no steel or lead magnum loads". Well, if it's not durable enough to put any factory 12ga load through, I don't want it.

.....and for some they just aint got that swing!

That might have a lot to do with it. I have a 28" barrel for my Mossberg and a 28" Browning Gold that swings just fine. I've fallen in love with the short, light, handy package that my Mossberg becomes with an 18.5" barrel, though.

We don't have dogs to rabbit hunt with, so each of us has to take turns crashing through the thick brush and thorn bushes. I think that short barrel would shine in that thick stuff, and would be a dream to carry all day. It would be wonderful in a blind for turkey, too.

It's beginning to look like I have only two options:

1) Buy the 20" direct from Mossberg and get reamed on the price when money is tight

or

2) have my 28" barrel cut down and bored for chokes, and spend as much or more than the $155 that Mossberg wants for the 20", plus I lose the 28" barrel that patterns like a dream with Hevi-Shot waterfowl loads.

*Sigh*...

 

[XDKingslayer]

I'm in the same boat you are. I'm trying to build a turkey gun and I want an 18.5" choked barrel. I think the only way I'm going to get it is to have my spare 24" barrel cut down and choked.

 

[Jim Watson]

A dealer here once got in a batch of police tradein riot guns.
Model 12 20" full chokes sold in a hurry, the cylinder bore guns lingered a while.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

A dealer here once got in a batch of police tradein riot guns.
Model 12 20" full chokes sold in a hurry, the cylinder bore guns lingered a while.

Exactly my point. Every time I've heard of a supply of short, choked barrels surfacing somewhere they go in a big, big hurry. There is clearly a demand for these barrels, yet there is little supply. Instead, we're forced to struggle with pattern-testing loads to see what will hold a tight pattern out of our cylinder barrels.

Just called Mossberg, by the way. They said they have the 20" accu-choke barrel in stock and will honor a discounted price of $130 (rather than $155) since all of the retailers are out of them. Decent, I suppose.

Now I wonder how much that extra 1.5" of barrel would bug me, knowing that there are 18.5" accu-choke barrels floating around somewhere...

What sayeth the mob? 20" vent-rib accu-choke barrel, $130 + $10.98 shipping. Go or no go?

 

[rcmodel]

I have said for years that they should all have choke tubes in the riot-gun barrel lengths.

But then the manufactures couldn't sell us as many extra barrels and Turkey guns, now could they?

On the otherhand, it has been pointed out that if a cop-car shotgun had a removable choke tube to play with, nobody could find the choke tube when the shooting started!

Probably a lot of truth to that right there!

rcmodel