Flatten Shotgun Barrel? Possible?

[Psychbiker]

My father has a couple mossberg 500s and keeps telling me he's going to flatten the barrel. Make it wider than it is tall. His thinking is this will make the bb's spread horizontally more and faster.

That possible? I see problems and barrel getting destroyed if buckshot is used.

The opening to a 12ga is 3/4". To flatten I see there being an issue with shooting any load aside from 8 birdshot.

He swears he saw thus on TV.

[Carsgunsandchics]

My father has a couple mossberg 500s and keeps telling me he's going to flatten the barrel. Make it wider than it is tall. His thinking is this will make the bb's spread horizontally more and faster.

That possible? I see problems and barrel getting destroyed if buckshot is used.

The opening to a 12ga is 3/4". To flatten I see there being an issue with shooting any load aside from 8 birdshot.

He swears he saw thus on TV.

Honestly I'd ask him what cartoon he was watching. And if it worked so well the manufacturers would offer it.

[TKM]

It's been done. Called the duckbill or something equally silly.

"The US Air Force Directorate of Security Police in the mid-1960s developed a requirement for a spreader choke that would produce a wide elliptical shot pattern. This horizontal pattern spread was supposed to increase the hit probability from a shotgun on a moving target......Spreaders in field testing produced patterns five feet high and twelve feet wide at 30 meters with #4 buckshot loads. At 40 meters, patterns were six feet high and sixteen feet wide. At 40 meters an average sized man would only be hit by a couple of pellets. But with a standard cylinder bored barrel shooting approximately a four- foot circular pattern at 40 meters, some 60% of the shot would strike an average man- sized target."

[Vertigofirearms]

Bad idea,

TKM has it right. The other names include A&W Divertor Choke (used by the infamous SPAS-12) or Inverter

The best approach is just using a duckbill, I am in the process of making a couple for my Shotguns... But of course this is useless for anything but a range toy

[toby]

My Dad did this to an old JC Higgins, it ruined it I ran it through my band saw and threw it away after he died.

[SonofWWIIDI]

It's been done. Called the duckbill or something equally silly.

"The US Air Force Directorate of Security Police in the mid-1960s developed a requirement for a spreader choke that would produce a wide elliptical shot pattern. This horizontal pattern spread was supposed to increase the hit probability from a shotgun on a moving target......Spreaders in field testing produced patterns five feet high and twelve feet wide at 30 meters with #4 buckshot loads. At 40 meters, patterns were six feet high and sixteen feet wide. At 40 meters an average sized man would only be hit by a couple of pellets. But with a standard cylinder bored barrel shooting approximately a four- foot circular pattern at 40 meters, some 60% of the shot would strike an average man- sized target."

And pics:






It did not have the barrel "flattened", but a specialized choke installed.

[bigbearbear]

Watch Sons of Guns season 3 episode 16 (available on Netflix streaming), it shows the duckbill and something call a Gator Brake, a screw in choke thing that does what you dad wants to do.

[williamcm]

"Just a range toy."

What about for home defense?

[Steve_In_29]

The spreaders ALL involve some type of an add-on device to the barrel that allows for the sides of the wad to start opening prior to the top/bottom of it. They do NOT involve restricting the bore via flattening the barrel.

Mossberg offers a version of this in their HD .410 shotgun. Though with .410 buckshot exiting the barrel one pellet behind the other instead of several pellets at a time as in a larger bore I really don't see the usefulness of it.

Flattening the actual barrel would be a VERY BAD IDEA.

[russ69]

"Just a range toy." What about for home defense?

Just make sure to give the guy a running start so the pattern is more effective...

[Tank 57]

Damaging a shotgun barrel is a bad idea.Could have bad results.

[Merc1138]

"Just a range toy."

What about for home defense?

Was pointing out that it's useless for anything but a range toy not clear enough? If you want your shot to have a tighter pattern, get a choke tube that shrinks the pattern. Making it into an oval shape doesn't accomplish anything.

Even using a spreader choke tube in this video it doesn't make any sense.


According to that, half of your pattern misses the target? Sure, you could hit 2 targets... as long as they're standing right next to eachother... with half of the pellets. The whole bit about rotating the shotgun 90 degrees to get a vertical spread for someone standing halfway in a doorway is just dumb.

[Black_Talon]

Info on the good 'ol A&W Diverter here:

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=156821