Shotguns

I don’t think anyone could say that U.S. shotgunners suffer these days from a lack of factory shotshell loads. There are now no less than six major shotshell ammunition plants in the U.S. plus a specialty one. As recently as ten years ago there were only three, with no specialty load manufacturers. Additionally, there is at least one company involved full-time in importing and shipping direct to U.S. shooters an Italian-made line of shotshell ammunition. Lastly, there are currently at least three or four shooter groups – mainly in Texas – importing container loads of still more lines of Italian and Spanish-made shotshell ammunition which they then sell direct.

Whenever shotgun barrels suffer internal damage, the gun’s owner almost immediately leaps to the conclusion that there was something faulty about the ammunition. It is true that certain forms of barrel damage can indeed be caused by faulty ammunition (see this column January and February 2014). However, as we examined in last month’s Part 1 of this series, certain forms of barrel damage can occur from shoddy barrel modifications through no fault of the ammunition whatsoever. Part 1 covered faulty chamber and forcing cone lengthening. In Part 2 here we’ll examine damage that can occur from faulty backboring, porting, and screw-in choke installation.

Whenever shotgun barrels suffer internal damage, the gun’s owner almost immediately leaps to the conclusion that there was something faulty about the ammunition. It is true that certain forms of barrel damage can indeed be caused by faulty ammunition (see this column January and February 2014). However, as we examined in last month’s Part 1 of this series, certain forms of barrel damage can occur from shoddy barrel modifications through no fault of the ammunition whatsoever. Part 1 covered faulty chamber and forcing cone lengthening. In Part 2 here we’ll examine damage that can occur from faulty backboring, porting, and screw-in choke installation.

In my last two columns we examined damage to shotguns that can occur from shooting excess pressure loads (January 2014) and from barrel obstructions (February 2014).  In this installment let’s begin looking at barrel damage that can occur from improperly performed barrel modifications.