Smoothbore handgun with shot....

[Malamute]

Curious about your thoughts on this. A longer barrel affords more sight radius. But, with a pistol grip, how effectively can you use that improvement? It should also yield improved groups and range.
But it seems to me these cutoff guns are what used to be called belly guns and that a longer barrel hampers that sort of functionality.

Stockless shotguns can be shot reasonably well if held out two handed to see the barrel/sights. Way back in the 1900s I had a break action 12 that was shortened to the legal limits of the day, it wasnt difficult to hit hand thrown objects in the air once the idea of using the sights/barrel to see where its going was utilized. Fast forward to current era, a shoulder injury makes shooting shotguns with stocks pretty much a no-go for me. A 14" gun with no stock is quite comfortable to shoot when extended forward to see the barrel/sight. No, its not optimal, but if the situation dictates something other than a full size and stocked gun, its a workable option.

I believe with any shotgun shooting shot, some load work can improve patterns, and what works with one gun may not always work the same in another. One has to try various things to see if theres improvement before pronouncing success or failure of a given gun or type.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Unless it's a new size? the primer is a 209, I could be wrong.

Yep, I was wrong!! Well, first times for everything, and I do wish this is my first time, but I believe the "first time" was more than a half century ago.

The primer number is 209, NOT 409. but still searching...