Sporting Clays with 18.5" HD barrel???

[mshill]

Sounds stupid, right?

Well I did it today. Just finished my Bullpups Unlimited build with the Big 5 Mossberg 500 18.5" barrel (5+1) and wanted to put some rounds through it so I shot sporting clays just for fun. Some old guys in front of us kind of looked at me sideways when I came strolling up with the beefy black bullpup.

I don't shoot a lot of shotgun and this was the first time shooting a pump (I usually shoot my fathers O/U or my side by side) and have never shot any type of clays with an offset sight let alone a circle/dot (Holosun).

At 50/100 it was not impressive at all, however, after a couple of short cycles on true pairs at the second/third stations it started to come a bit more natural. I had a lot of fun.

[teflondog]

I shoot clays with a 18.5" only when I'm on BLM. It's considered poor etiquette to use a short barrel on the range because of the sound. There's a big jump in volume when going from a 26" to a 18.5".

[ysr_racer]

OP, where were you at?

[mshill]

OP, where were you at?

Rocklin/Roseville, shot at Coon Creek this morning.

[mshill]

I shoot clays with a 18.5" only when I'm on BLM. It's considered poor etiquette to use a short barrel on the range because of the sound. There's a big jump in volume when going from a 26" to a 18.5".

Interesting. I frankly didn't notice a difference between mine and my buddies 28" O/U. The only other guys on the course were several stations ahead of us... probably never closer than 40 yards.

ETA: I asked the guy I was shooting with yesterday if he noticed a difference and he said yes it was louder.

[WMG]

I've shot it with a 22 inch Winchester turkey 1300 ... so why not.