Shotgun Barrels Guide: What to Consider

There is a phrase that I’ve always agreed with, and it’s largely due to nothing more than personal bias — “The shotgun is a thinking man’s weapon.”

Most people apply that to the type of shot used for a specific situation, but it goes beyond that.

When you have a problem that needs a shotgun to solve, you have to consider more than the cartridge you are firing.

One of those considerations is barrel choice, which can play a bigger role than you might realize.

The good news is we are here to guide you from tip to rear with shotgun barrels. We’ll talk lengths, sights, chokes, slugs, special-purpose barrels, and much more.

On top of that, we’ll give you a few suggestions for barrels based on use cases.

Shotgun Barrel Lengths

The first thing we should address is barrel length, which leads us to the legalities regarding barrel length.

In the United States, the minimum barrel length for a Title 1 firearm is 18 inches. A shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches falls under the purview of a short-barreled shotgun, thus requiring a special NFA tax stamp.

Guns like the Shockwave exist and certainly seem like shotguns, but legally they are “firearms” and, therefore, can have 14-inch barrels because they lacked stocks from the factory and are over 26 inches long.

With all the legalese out of the way, let’s continue…

Shotgun barrels wildly vary in length. I owned a Marlin Model 55 ‘Goose Gun’ in 10-gauge with a giant 36-inch barrel. Many shotguns come with barrels as short as 18.5 inches.

You can just about any barrel length between, and depending on your tax stamp status, even shorter ones from 7 to 14 inches or so.

But the big question is, why all the differences in lengths?

What’s the Best Shotgun Barrel Length?

Remember, this is a thinking man’s weapon, and there isn’t one barrel length that wins at everything. The right barrel length depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Longer barrels provide two benefits.

First, they are easier to swing. The word swing refers to how a shooter swings the shotgun through the air to find an aerial target. Longer barrels are heavier and swing smoother than shorter, lighter barrels.

The second reason is sight radius. Admittedly sight radius on a shotgun isn’t as important as the sight radius on a rifle or handgun. However, if you are using iron sights on a slug gun, then it does matter.

A rifle or pistol with a longer barrel often increases velocity, so much so that it will make a longer barrel desirable. Longer barrels will increase velocity a bit in a shotgun, but not necessarily enough to matter, especially when firing shot.

Shorter barrels make a gun lighter and more maneuverable. You’ll need to find the right length for your situation.

Many hunters prefer longer barrels, but if I’m hunting in heavy brush or thicket, I might opt for a 24-inch barrel over a 30-inch barrel.

On the flip side, if I want to build a combat shotgun, conventional wisdom says to use an 18.5-inch barrel, but maybe a 20-inch barrel allows my magazine tube to be a bit longer and hold an extra shell or three.

You have to find the right fit for your needs and purpose when it comes to length.

What Are Shotgun Chokes?

At the end of every shotgun barrel is a choke. Some are fixed, and others are adjustable.

A choke is a constriction of the bore at the end of the muzzle. The constriction varies from the cylinder bore, which is no constriction to turkey, which is the tightest choke possible.

There are exceptions and oddities out there, but here are the most common:

• Cylinder Bore
• Improved Cylinder Bore (Often Just Called Improved)
• Modified
• Improved Modified
• Full
• Turkey

Those are the common types, but less common choke types include various Skeet chokes, Extra Full, and even rifled chokes that provide a little extra stability to slugs. These might not be common, but they could be quite handy depending on your needs.

Fixed cylinder and improved chokes are common in tactical guns, but many modern guns have interchangeable chokes. Older guns may also have fixed chokes in other configurations.

We also need to mention steel shot. Steel shot is popular for bird hunting for numerous reasons, including better-shot patterns and even regulatory reasons banning lead shot. Steel shot is excellent, but it might not be great for your choke.

If you are using steel shot, be ready to fork over a little extra money for stainless steel chokes designed for steel shot. Anything less will wear away and break over time.

Also, you typically want to avoid the fixed chokes and heavily constricted chokes, like extra full, full, and improved modified with steel shot.

Certain rounds are designed with specific specialty purposes that can affect chokes negatively. Rounds like Federal FliteControl and Hornady Critical Defense use a special shot cup that can be impacted by the wad and negate their tight patterning potential.

A shotgunner should always pattern their load with their respective choke to ensure they are getting the desired performance.

Slug Barrels

Shotguns typically have a smooth bore that facilitates the shooting of shot. Shotguns can fire solid projectiles, and these are known as slugs.

Smoothbore shotguns can fire slugs, and they tend to be decently accurate out to 100 yards or so.

If you want to maximize your range and precision, then your shotgun needs a slug barrel, which is a rifled barrel. A rifled shotgun barrel is known as a slug barrel, and these work with sabot slugs.

A slug barrel and slug gun can expand your reach out to 150 yards and increase your overall accuracy significantly.

Slug barrels are typically much shorter than field barrels, typically around 20 to 24 inches. With a slug barrel, chokes aren’t present and don’t matter.

You can fire loads of shot through a slug barrel, but the rifling will cause the pattern to expand significantly and have a donut effect on the pattern. It’s not very useful to use shot through a rifled barrel.

Ventilated and Solid Ribs

You may see a barrel with a flat plane of metal going from one end to the other, and it may feature a series of gaps between the rib and the barrel. This is called a rib, and when it has a series of gaps, it’s called a ventilated rib.

These ribs serve a few purposes. They are primarily used for shooters who use their shotguns to shoot birds or clay pigeons.

These ribs help increase the accuracy of the shooter. They provide a straight line from the receiver to your sight and help you find the bead and aim the gun. They also reduce glare and keep your sight picture clear and present.

Vent ribs are much more common and also help the barrel cool and reduce mirage when the barrel gets hot. They can be quite handy on those long round count days in shooting trap and skeet.

Sighting Systems

With the exception of ghost rings, it’s not uncommon to find the entirety of your sights on the barrel.

Bead sights are the most common and are typically just a front dot mounted near the end of the barrel.

Another common type is rifle sights. Rifle sights are a rear open sight combined with a front post. These tend to be a great mix of precision and speed and can be found on both smoothbore and rifled barrels.

Another sighting option is a cantilever sight mount that attaches an optics mount to the barrel. The mount is pushed rearward over the barrel. These are very common for slug barrels and allow you to sight the optic to the barrel.

With cantilever barrels, the shooter can remove the barrel with the sight attached and swap to another barrel. This allows you to keep your zero since the barrel and sight are fixed to each other.

We have more info on sights at 12 Best Shotgun Sights!

Muzzle Devices

Shotguns can accept muzzle devices for better or worse.

There are a number of choke tubes that have advertised themselves as muzzle brakes, as well as attachable devices that advertise themselves as muzzle brakes to reduce recoil.

In my experience, they don’t work that well and typically are in the ‘it looks cool department.’

One muzzle device that does work is a suppressor.

SilencerCo makes the Salvo 12, which is the most popular suppressor option for shotguns. This is the only muzzle device I would suggest for your shotgun, as it’s the only one I know that works.

Breacher Barrels

Breacher barrels often feature a widened and opened muzzle design with slots.

These barrels are designed to be shoved against a door and used to defeat locks and hinges. The gaps at the end of the muzzle allow pressure to release so the barrel isn’t destroyed when pressed against a solid door or wall.

Best Shotgun Barrels

Hopefully, the intricacies of shotgun barrels make sense so far. However, I also wanted to give some straightforward barrel suggestions for various tasks.

As always, double-check that any barrels you purchase are the correct gauge for your shotgun and the correct chamber length!

Home Defense

Home defense means you are in close quarters, and in close quarters, you want a shorter gun.

If you can swing the NFA stamp, a 14-inch barrel is a great way to go, but for most of us, the old 18.5-inch barrel is best.

You can go up to 20 inches, but any longer, and you are getting into a fairly long platform. A simple bead sight is effective here, but rifle sights are probably my favorite sight arrangement.

As far as chokes, cylinder bore in conjunction with good ammunition is the way to go. A round of FliteControl from a cylinder bore will give you an ultra-tight pattern.

We have some recommendations on the best home defense shotgun if you need some suggestions.

Deer Hunting

When hunting deer, you likely want a moderate-length barrel if using iron sights other than a bead.

For a purpose-built deer barrel, anything from 20 to 26 inches will work. Shorter barrels will be lighter guns and easier to maneuver with.

If you are hunting in an area that’s fairly open, like maybe a pine plantation, then you might want to consider a slug barrel. You might want the extra range and precision these barrels provide.

A bead can work here, but I tend to favor a set of rifle sights. If using slugs, a lightly magnified optic can be wondrous to have on a cantilever scope mount.

I would want a three-inch chamber and interchangeable chokes to get exactly what I want and need out of the gun.

Bird Hunting

Bird hunting or clay pigeon shooting often demands a nice long barrel that helps with a smooth swing. A bead sight on a rib of some kind is fantastic to have and provides an excellent sightline for those small, fast-moving targets.

A smooth bore is best here, and you’ll most certainly want chokes to help maintain a greater degree of control over your pattern to get it just right.

Turkey Hunting

Turkeys might be birds, but as they are hunted on the ground, they require a nice heavy load with a dense pattern, preferably aimed at the head. Unlike other birds, you want precision here.

You likely want a shorter barrel, around 24 inches, since no swing is required. The barrel would preferably have some form of high-visibility precision sights. You also want a choke that creates very dense patterns for long-range headshots.

Final Thoughts

With shotguns, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. But hopefully, we’ve given you some things to think about and helped you with all your shotgun barrel questions.

What are your experiences with shotgun barrels? Let us know in the comments below! Don’t have a shotgun yet? Check out our articles on the Best Pump Action Shotguns and the Best Semi-Automatic Shotguns!