I have a LC Smith Grade 2 with 30" chain Damascus barrels which have open chokes. It is a great gun for our local sporting clays courses. For this gun I also have a set of 32" fluid steel barrels with the typical LC chokes of .040" which I occasionally use for TRAP. Since I shoot LC Smiths perhaps a little better than Parkers I use this gun when I want to post a good score.
As collectors having a multi-barreled set may not be practical since we can always select a different gun from our collection. Competitive shooters seem to like multi-barreled sets perhaps due to price but maybe more so due to their brain's muscle memory. The fit of the stock and trigger functioning would be exactly the same regardless of barrel length. A different set of barrels would probably change the balance point and swing of the gun. For switching from shooting skeet to trap a different but correct balance point should be a good thing.
Another aspect of this is those Canadians and Brits who have to register and perhaps pay a fee to do so for each gun, multi barreled sets is very practical. Germans favored Drillings and other combination guns because they could own only one gun.
Finally, I have a friend who is trying to convince his wife of 20+ years to allow him to purchase a shotgun for shooting clays. If he is ever allowed (please no comments) to own but one gun, a second barrel set may be practical for him.
So for us collectors multi-barreled gun are perhaps only a novelity. For others they are very practical.
Most respectfully,
Mark
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