Austin, I think you will find the "theory" of short shells in slightly longer chambers in the Curtis articles. I haven't read them for a while, but I think you will find that the "theory" involves gas rather than pattern. On the other hand, in the 1916 article I mentioned earlier, Askins mentions the 80% patterns that were shot in Edwin Hedderly's little gun. I thought he was referring to a 20, but later I see that Hedderly claims 80% patterns in his 16. Now, 94 years later, we find that Hedderly's smallbores were chambered very short, 2 3/8" in the 20 and 2 1/2" in the 16 as I recall.
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