Hello, I have a 26" 870 that i have tried all kinds of chokes and loads out of and continue to get very inconsistant patterns, 166 next shot 97 , thats just an example of the last two shots I took with it. I hate to keep wasting the expensive shells so I;m lookin for some direction . The chokes I have tried are: RSF.572 & .570, ssx, trulock .575, I have a good supply of FED. HW #7's so thats what i'll be shooting. I would like to here what chokes work with the longer barrels ie: 26" 870's Thank you for your help
I shoot the ssx out of my 870 28" barrel and federal 7's. I have posted my pattern pics on here before. I consistently get 180-200
Try a primos tightwad .570. For 20 bucks it's hard to beat,
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That's what I'm using in my 26" it seems pretty consistent with hevi#7. I'm gona try the fed hw 6 when this weather clears up.
Try to really clean and polish the barrel before spending more cash on chokes.
And make sure the magazine cap is tight. :OGturkeyhead:
I shoot the same gun and barrel length with Fed HW#7 and average 190 through a sumtoy 562-5 choke. I will echo the recommendation to clean the barrel very well before patterning.
It has amazed me how hard the 26" barrelled Remington's are to pattern. Its the hardest time I've had with any turkey shotgun. What's funny is the 21" are prolly the easiest. I have to admit I haven't tried a sumtoy which is prolly the best option but all the usuall suspects delivered dissapointing results. Little piece of advice if you see a non ported undertaker try that in a 26" rem with fed 7s. Outperformed jellyhead, ssx, Carlson, ic, by a long shot. Only choke that gave me what I was looking for with 2 different 26" 1187s.
Thank's for all the advice guys. I finally decided to order a sumtoy .562-5. If this don't get good consistent killing patterns I will buy a 21in barrel "which I'm leaning toward now anyway".
I will also add to my post above, that I dry brush my choke between shots. I don't know if it makes a differance, but I do it.
I'm currently experiencing the same issues with an 870 w/26" bbl. Last year I tried the Carlson's and got around 122 @ 40. Today, I tried an SSX and got around 220 @ 30 and 117@ 40. I must admit I was disappointed in the drop-off from 30 to 40. So I decided to try the Carlson's again and got 157 @ 40. I run a boresnake in between shots so it's somewhat clean each time I shoot. I'm gonna go with the Carlson's but don't understand the 40 pellet difference between this year and last.
have you guys polished your barrels?
Explain how you are doing your pattern testing.........meaning are you shooting at a large piece of paper and moving the 10" circle around until you find your best pattern? This gives the true pattern of the barrel. I can't tell you how many friends I've head set up in a stiff cross wind or 1/4 wind to have their pattern blown off target and think their gun was throwing terrible patterns between tests. Just a thought.
My 1187 and 870 both have 26" barrels... i've tested plenty of chokes with different constrictions. With my 26's .570 is the sweet spot. They shoot HW 7's the best with a primos tightwad, and shoot hevi 7's the best with a pure gold .570 hands down. If it get any tighter with those two loads, both guns will through a little tighter pattern, but its patchy and not even enough for me. I consistently get high 160's to 170 with tightwad and HW 7's and 170-180 with the pure gold .570 and hevi 7's.
Quote from: Sand Man on March 09, 2015, 12:28:13 PM
have you guys polished your barrels?
Explain how you are doing your pattern testing.........meaning are you shooting at a large piece of paper and moving the 10" circle around until you find your best pattern? This gives the true pattern of the barrel. I can't tell you how many friends I've head set up in a stiff cross wind or 1/4 wind to have their pattern blown off target and think their gun was throwing terrible patterns between tests. Just a thought.
Yes the barrel is polished and yes shooting at large 32x32 paper and yes the magazine cap is tight.
Quote from: Sand Man on March 09, 2015, 12:28:13 PM
have you guys polished your barrels?
Explain how you are doing your pattern testing.........meaning are you shooting at a large piece of paper and moving the 10" circle around until you find your best pattern? This gives the true pattern of the barrel. I can't tell you how many friends I've head set up in a stiff cross wind or 1/4 wind to have their pattern blown off target and think their gun was throwing terrible patterns between tests. Just a thought.
Yep, barrel is polished. I shoot on calm days with low humidity and temps in the 60's/70's. I shoot at an approx. 36"x36" piece of paper (lasered at 40 yds) with a dot for poa. I have a 10" dia. circle of clear plastic and move it over the densest part of the pattern before drawing my circle/counting. I also run a bore snake in between shots.
Quote from: JBIRD22 on March 12, 2015, 12:03:01 PM
Yep, barrel is polished. I shoot on calm days with low humidity and temps in the 60's/70's. I shoot at an approx. 36"x36" piece of paper (lasered at 40 yds) with a dot for poa. I have a 10" dia. circle of clear plastic and move it over the densest part of the pattern before drawing my circle/counting. I also run a bore snake in between shots.
Yep..this^^^^^^^^^
Exactly like I do other than I hand roll my own loads. I do take a wire brush and scrub my barrel after every shot then run a bore snake when I'm patterning, but I can't imagine it makes that much difference. The only other thing I can think of that would cause the drop in pattern would be variability in the ammo, but I can't imagine factory loads varying enough between loads for you to ever see it when patterning. I'm stumped.
Are these loads you are using to pattern from the same lot number?