The Long and Short Of Shotgun Chambers

I see a regular stream of older shotguns brought in for work. In many cases, they are suffering from what appears to be moderate abuse, with symptoms like loose lockup, worn hinge pins, and broken locking blocks. Many of the owners of these old shotguns are convinced that they are somehow inferior or defective, since they don't seem to hold up, even with relatively light loads. Others don't understand how their fathers and grandfathers fired these old scatterguns as much as they did, considering the recoil they produce. Well, in most cases, these old guns are finely made, and they definitely didn't beat up the user then as much as they do now.

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