It was 65 degrees out today so I done some patterning with my 870 SM SPS with a polished barrel. I started out getting my Williams firesights set using 2.75 high brass #6s at 20yds. Then I moved back to 40yds. The Hevi-Shot Hevi 13 3.5" 2.25oz #7s gave me the best pattern which is what I was hoping for anyway. It's not as good as some I've seen on here but plenty good to kill a turkey at 40 or less. I am happy with the 7s. They shot dead on but everthing else was to the right. The black dot was the point of aim inside the original circle. I drew a second circle on the other shells to find out if it was worth resighting for them. I guess I'll be using #7s for the first time this year. I also posted up some 20ga patterns in that section if anyone is interested.
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All of them look good and will hunt!!
But those 7's do stand out from the rest!! :icon_thumright:
you do realize that today is the 17th :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny:
not a thing wrong with any of those patterns :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
woodschip,
There is nothing wrong with those patterns, but you can improve them substantially with a more open choke like .670 or .675. I can tell that .660 is too tight and is actually overchoking your loads. But it will work. Not trying to sound negative, just offering some advice if you are willing to take it. I would suggest trying a Indian Creek .670 in the future, and if that don't improve those numbers like I am almost positive that it will then try a .675. All you have to do when you buy a Indian Creek choke is keep trying constrictions until you get the one that works for you. I think a .670 ought to do very well for you. I hope that helps you.
Quote from: VAHUNTER on February 17, 2011, 05:55:06 AM
you do realize that today is the 17th :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny:
I guess I hit a 2 instead of a 1. Supposed to be 2-16-11
I agree with JD. I have the same setup and I'm getting right at 300 pellets in the 10 inch 40 yard circle with those Hevi #7's.
What John told you could very well be true about something not right with your barrel. I shot the Jelly Head .665 choke in my 28" Rem polished barrel and it barely broke 200 in the 10" at 40yds with the 3" Hevi-13 2oz #7 load. The same can be said for the Indian Creek .665 in my barrel. They both were about identical. I wasn't impressed with either in my barrel. But here is where it gets strange. I went to a .655 and my 10" numbers jumped up about 50 shot. But the overall pattern was still not what I wanted. I tried the .669 and my numbers jumped about 60 shot in the 10" with a great 20" pattern overall. I haven't shot the .660 Jelly Head, but I can tell you that the .655 Rem Ventilator choke if you are tight on money is the best choke I know of for less than $25 and that is shipped to your door for that price. Why that tight of choke shoots like it does is beyond me. Must be the design of the internals. I posted a link on here where you can get them for less than $25 if you are interested.
Not every choke design will work the same I guess is my point. That choke did not work well with his barrel. I can see the holes in the pattern. Now whether or not it's something wrong with his barrel I can't say. But I do think a more open choke will beat those numbers by a large margin. I know because I have seen it happen in my barrel is why I say that. But again every choke design can make a differnce and leave you thinking the opposite when you think you got it figured out what works and what doesn't. Those patterns you tested with the Rhino .660 are very good patterns. But just to prove what I said about going to a more open of a choke I can get those numbers and then some with my MAD Super Max .675 choke with only 2oz #7 loads. And that is .015 bigger than the .660. But again that may be my barrel or it may be the choke design who is to say. I just know that .670 and .675 will shoot extremely well in my barrel.
Those patterns will kill a turkey every time congrats
with that being said your numbers should be much higher
a .660 jellyhead should be putting over 250 with the 7s and over 200 with the 6s
but those patterns will get the job done every time
I dont believe this is too tight a choke. In my opinion the best patterns I have seen from remingtons come from the .660-.665 choke diameter range
And that is why we have forums like this because we all have our own thoughts to what works. In my 870 barrel. a .669 to .675 seems to be the ticket. But I have seen some good patterns with some .655 chokes. But the best overall 10" and 20" numbers come from the more open chokes has been my findings. I think I can screw these exact same chokes into my buddy's 870 barrel and they both will shoot about like mine. Why I say that is because I sold him that gun, so I know what it will do.
The 870 has a 26" barrel and we shot off of sand bags. I admit I am a bit disappointed. I was expecting somewhere around 250. The wind was blowing parrellel to the line of fire a bit but not bad. If I decide to go on and go with the #7 setup it will still be the best pattern I've packed to the woods. When I switched to Hevi-Shot from lead I patterned one of my old lead shells and couldn't believe the difference. It made me wonder how I'd killed all those birds. I didn't pattern a circle with lead back then but I think I was getting around 20 in the head at 40 and not too consistently. Appreciate all the help, I may decide to play with it.
Have to agree with some......open the choke up on the 26" at least to a .665... :icon_thumright:
Well let me know if I can help. I think what I told you is very much true in your barrel. I doubt very seriously if anything is wrong with your barrel either.
Temp plays a huge effect on patterns. The pattern I shot that gave me just a tad shy of 300 was shot on a 72 degree day. But remember too that your still talking about 1/4oz less of #7 shot which would be about 70 shot less approx vs the loads you were shooting. So that pretty much would offset the difference in my opinion.
Here's that pattern I was talking about. That was shot at a tape measured 40yds from tip of choke to target too. No stepping off the yardage or using a laser rangefinder that can give different readings. That's ringing out the 2oz load of 7's in my honest opinion. And that was shot with a MAD(Indian Creek) Super Max .675 choke with no wad stripper feature. I might add that I originally counted that pattern at 319 shot, but recently was convinced that some of the snowman pellets I counted as 2 shot, so I recounted just to be more accurate. But it could very well be that it was over 300 shot if some of them actually were 2 shots. Hard to say for sure. But I feel better about the count I now have on that pattern just so I am not misleading anyone.
(http://www.hunt101.com/data/526/DSCF00316.jpg)
And here's the 20" numbers.
There is 501 shot inside the 20" on this pattern. That's like 82% of the pattern. I had 613 total hits in that cardboard. But I could have had a few that missed the outer edge of it too. But I just divided the 501 by 613. But that's why I like the .675 choke that I have. The Indian Creek .669 shoots very well too. Not quite this good though.
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Thats a great pattern no doubt about it. Whats your barrel length?
Quote from: Gobble! on February 17, 2011, 04:17:03 PM
Thats a great pattern no doubt about it. Whats your barrel length?
28" buddy! I polished myself. I like the Indian Creek .669 because I think it shoots a little more dead center.
Check it out. Indian Creek .669. This choke has had only I think a couple shots through it. It will only get better in time from my findings with other chokes I have tested.
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Now I hope that explains why I like a choke around .670 to .675. You can still get great numbers sometimes with tighter chokes, but more times than not you will hurt your overall 10" and 20" numbers from what I have found. Your mileage may vary. Again this is not set in stone. It is just an example of what I believe will work in more Rem barrels shooting Hevi-Shot #7 loads. I would say that 6's would still be about the same in constriction size as well for what shot them the best.
That 28" barrel helped a lot also.
Using a .665 Indian Creek and the #7s I got 324 at 40 inside a 10" circle with the 3.5" shell. I wish I had the 20" numbers but I forget them. I know it was around 85% of the load inside a 20" circle.
The .665 Indian Creek didn't shoot very well at all in my barrel with the 7's. It barely broke 200 shot in the 10" as did the Jelly Head .665.
Quote from: Gobble! on February 17, 2011, 04:37:36 PM
That 28" barrel helped a lot also.
Using a .665 Indian Creek and the #7s I got 324 at 40 inside a 10" circle with the 3.5" shell. I wish I had the 20" numbers but I forget them. I know it was around 85% of the load inside a 20" circle.
Well if I did the math right and that there is in fact 613 shot in a 2oz load of 7's, adding 70 more shot on avg from size 7 shot to 7.5 shot then that would give you 683 shot in the 2 and 1/4oz #7 load. So that 324 is 44% of your pattern in the 10" and the one I shot above was 48%. Just to give you an idea and my 20" numbers were only around 82%.
Now if you figure some of those shot as #8's then that would only mean more shot yet on top of the 70 shot I was figuring for the 1/4oz difference.
(http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x343/bighooks1/IM000133.jpg) IlikeHevi-13 I shoot a 870 sps-t smag 23in. barrel I think that 28in. barrel helped alot if not it should have...
:icon_thumright::icon_thumright:Gotta love those 7s
BigHooks,
That is a very good pattern. What choke were you using if I may ask and constriction size? I like that. That is what I would call outstanding for a 23" barrel. :icon_thumright:
;D nice pattern
IC 665...
Nice Patterns guys. This may not be true but I heard the velocity increases when shot out of a tighter choke, say the .660 vs. the 670 . Has anyone cronographed the velocity of this load ? If so have you seen a increase out of a tighter choke ? I believe the velocity on the box says 1090fps. Just wondering.