A statistical analysis of the handling characteristics of certain sporting arms: frontier regression, the moment of inertia, and the radius of gyration

This article applies composed error frontier regression techniques to estimate the minimal moments of inertia and radii of gyration for a unique and varied sample of shotguns. We find that minimum inertia depends on weight, center of gravity, length of pull, and barrel length, but not on gauge, action type, or number of barrels. Curiously, minimal radii of gyration does not depend on barrel length, suggesting that the constraints on these two related but non-identical measures of handling are significantly different despite their high correlation. We also provide evidence in support of G. T. Garwood's claim that a lower inertia, other things equal, is a market-validated characteristic associated with quality.