I purchased this gun about a month ago. It has the fiber optic sights and the x-factor choke. I'm new to shotguns but wanted to try turkey hunting this year. I was thinking if I bought one setup for turkey hunting then I would be ready to go. I purchased some Winchester xx 3" No5's, federal 3" strut shock no5's and some federal premium flight control 3" No6's 1 1/4oz. I also have a box of 2 3/4" target loads. I shot all of these out of a gun rest and none of them had over 80 in a 10" at 30 yards. The flight control was the worst. The strut shock had the best pattern but it was high and to the right. The winchesters where all high and to the right. The target loads shoot more centered than the turkey loads. I'm just frustrated. I'm starting to think the factory choke sucks or I haven't wasted enough money on shells yet. I'm using a 40x40 target and drawing a 10" circle around the dense part of the pattern. Should I just purchase another choke or should I try a different shell? I can post pics of my patterns later this evening after work.
What size is your factory choke and go buy you some federal heavyweight #7's and you should be fine
It is an x-full turkey .584. The owners manual says to shoot lead only out of it.
First of all clean the barrel with a brass brush really good. Then run a alcohol soaked rag or patch through the barrel several times. Get all the oil and solvent out. Then use some dry patches to completley dry it all out. That can make some difference in your pattern. I would use the cheap shells to adjust the sights. Startting at about twenty yards then move to thirty. Thirty or thirty five is about the max for the shells you have. If you want a forty yard pattern buy the federal heavy weight number 7 shot. They are not cheap but will give you a much tighter pattern. Just don't give up on it. Cluck :turkey2:
P.S. You have a good choke. It's possible that if you can get the federal heavy weight 7 she'll with 1 1/2 ounce of shot, 3 inch, you will like it. It's the best shell out . Your set up will out shoot a lot of twelve gauge shotguns. Cluck
If the owners manual says lead only , then I would only shoot lead out of it , unless manufacturer tells me otherwise ! But that's me !
Fed HW 7s will be fine out of that choke.They put lead only on chokes so you don't shoot large steel shot waterfowl loads out of them. That said, I would probably try tighter choke,.562-.575 range, they usually do best with HW7s.
Federal premium mag shock 3 inch 1 5/16oz #6 @ 30 YARDS
Federal strut shok 3in 1 1/4oz 5 shot
estate 2 3/4in 7/8oz 7 1/2 shot @20 yards. I was just goofing off with these and didn't put up any large paper.
estate 2 3/4in 7/8oz 7 1/2 shot @30 yards.
All of these where shot from a rest. I can't seem to find my other patterns. The wife might have trashed them by now. I'll try cleaning the gun like suggested and see if that makes a difference. The winchester double x patterned almost identical to the fed strut shok. I would really like to use what I have but if I need to purchase another choke then so be it. All advice appreciated.
If you end up going down the new choke road I would suggest an Indian Creek with .555 constriction. Does especially well with Hevi 13 #7, and throws decent lead patterns too. It has been a couple years since I counted, but I want to say I was getting 150-160 hits in a 10 in circle at 40yds with the Indian Creek and Hevi #7. It was no less than 140 I am sure of that.
I have a Primos Tight Wad .570 and federal heavy weights I have been dying to try, but it has been to cold for good patterning.
My gun is a Mossberg 500 Youth Model 20ga
I have a Mossberg 20 ga turkey thug.
I bought mine used. First thing I did was deep clean the barrel using Clark Bush's method you can find on www.allaboutshooting.com.
After that, I bought a Truglo SSX .550 choke, grabbed some Federal Heviweight 3-1.5-7's, and went to the range.
My little gun turned 152 in the 10" circle at 40 yards.
The most important thing is to deep clean that barrel, and get a good turkey choke. Oftentimes, you will need to get either a red dot, or a set of clamp on adjustable sights to correct POA/POI.
Those are good guns, and with a little tinkering, they can be real shooters!
Quote from: chatterbox on March 28, 2016, 07:50:09 PM
Oftentimes, you will need to get either a red dot, or a set of clamp on adjustable sights to correct POA/POI.
Mine had poa/poi issues out of the box. Shot way too high.
This is a brand new gun straight from Mossberg. Does it still need to be deep cleaned? This is the first new gun that I have ever purchased. I just assumed it would be clean. All of my pattern as you can see is above the poa. Impact to me looks high and too the right. I can't correct the height adjustment cause my sight is already bottomed out. Its kinda looking like I might have to trash all the little extras that came on the gun for aftermarket sights. What type of count do I need to hunt with?
Quote from: jm_middleton07 on March 28, 2016, 08:39:42 PM
This is a brand new gun straight from Mossberg. Does it still need to be deep cleaned? This is the first new gun that I have ever purchased. I just assumed it would be clean. All of my pattern as you can see is above the poa. Impact to me looks high and too the right. I can't correct the height adjustment cause my sight is already bottomed out. Its kinda looking like I might have to trash all the little extras that came on the gun for aftermarket sights. What type of count do I need to hunt with?
All guns come from the factory with varying amounts of cosmoline in the barrel. This has to be cleaned out to get the most out of your gun. The best way to do this is to "deep clean" the barrel. Just go to www.allaboutshooting.com to get the directions.The factory sights on those guns are junk. Truglo clamp on sights are great if you prefer open sights. Red dots are also excellent options.
As far as counts go, it is a rule of thumb that 100 evenly spaced pellets at X yardage is the accepted number.
If you want to have 40 yards as your benchmark, you need an aftermarket choke (truglo SSX, trulock, Indian Creek, etc.). You also need the shoot either Hevi-13 #7's or Federal Heviweight #7 in a 3" shell.
These shells will give you the best numbers unless you want to handload your own TSS.
Good luck!
Have you adjusted the rear sight at all? There is a little screw head that can be turned . You need to turn so that it raises the rear sight. Also there are windage adjustments and it appears to need moving to the left that tiny little notch from center.
See your manual on this. And yes a new barrel is a dirty barrel. Sorry that you are frustrated but you have a good gun. For $30 or so I recommend a Carlson's 575 for the HW 7s to really improve your pattern.
I got it out yesterday and adjusted the sights on it. I got the pattern centered but it is still high. I'm going to pick up a gun cleaning kit this week and deep clean it. At 30 yards with the fed strut shok it did better than before. The fed mag shok at 20 was awesome but at 30 it dropped off horribly.
fed mag shok @20
fed mag shok @30.
Have you raised your rear sight as far up as it will go? You may also take a finer bead on the front sight so that you see only the very top of the bead and that will lower it considerably.
I deep cleaned the barrel and bought a new choke as well. I picked up a carlson .570 non ported. With the new choke the ammo I had did a lot better at 30 yards but was still not good at 40 yards. I can't say how much just cleaning the barrel helped because I added the new choke. The only thing my local gun shop had was the federal heavy weight #7 in a 2 3/4" shell. I picked those up just to see how much difference i would get. With the lead loads I was getting around 60 to 70 in a 10" @ 40 yards. With this load I get 100-110 in a 10 inch @ 40 yards. I was thinking about ordering the 3" shells but was unsure of how much that will add to my count. I'm guessing it could only go up due to the increase in shot. It also seems like the gun has less recoil now. Even with the 3" lead loads it seemed to have less felt recoil. Also my poa poi changed with the new choke. It is still a little bit high but it shoots dead on left and right. Turkey season opens this weekend so I hope all the cash I wasted pays off.
Quote from: RAJ on March 30, 2016, 09:24:21 AM
Have you adjusted the rear sight at all? There is a little screw head that can be turned . You need to turn so that it raises the rear sight. Also there are windage adjustments and it appears to need moving to the left that tiny little notch from center.
See your manual on this. And yes a new barrel is a dirty barrel. Sorry that you are frustrated but you have a good gun. For $30 or so I recommend a Carlson's 575 for the HW 7s to really improve your pattern.
Here is an old post of mine with some patterns you can compare. I'm satisfied with my set up but will continue to tweet things. You will be good when you get her diald in. You've had good advice here.
:anim_25:
http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,60209.0.html