I have a multifaceted post. First, I bought a Sx3 off GunBroker at what I thought was a really nice deal. It has a custom Cerakote job on it in what appears to be a olive drabish type camo. Looks nice to me but I am afraid it will get me busted when not in a blind. What do you guys think? Picture below.
Secondly, what chokes are being used by those with Invector Plus barrels? This gun is the 26'', 3.5'' variety. Thought about a Indian Creek or Sumtoy. Probably going to run the new LongBeard XR or a htl mag blend. Finally, has anyone drilled/tapped their SX3? Looking to put a Burris FastFire 3 but saw some post where they mentioned Winchester advised against it due to the receiver's alloy.
Picture of camo
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee452/jdaven22/sx3.jpg) (http://s1228.photobucket.com/user/jdaven22/media/sx3.jpg.html)
If its as white as it looks it might get you shot.
I would be looking into painting that gun. Anything white and turkey hunting don't go together very well.
ya to pale looking
I think SumToy would be a GREAT choice for your choke!!! As far as the camo pattern goes...I'm gonna have to agree with the others. I would personally change that camo pattern. If it were a plain black synthetic gun it wouldn't matter.....but that pattern looks kinda' bright white to me and like Longshanks said "Anything white and turkey hunting don't go together very well". Congrats on your new gun...I'm sure It'll shoot great!!!
You could easily mist over it with olive drab till you tone it down to what you are looking for.
Yeah I may just mist it to tone it down or have it dipped in something unique. I guess I am color blind because I thought it was way darker than what y'all are thinking. No big deal though, I'll fix her up to kill some birds.
JD, I shoot the same gun with Magblends and get great patterns with a Rob Roberts Final Strut .660 choke. I get around 190 in the ten at forty yards with a nice even pattern. I tried both the Indian creek .665 and .675 and like the RR patterns better. Also, the RR is much easier to clean than the IC.
I also contacted Winchester about drilling and tapping the SX3 and was told it is not recommended because shooting heavy turkey loads could cause the screws to loosen in the alloy receiver. You could go the Speedbead route.
Quote from: jdavenp3 on February 21, 2014, 12:45:49 AM
I have a multifaceted post. First, I bought a Sx3 off GunBroker at what I thought was a really nice deal. It has a custom Cerakote job on it in what appears to be a olive drabish type camo. Looks nice to me but I am afraid it will get me busted when not in a blind. What do you guys think? Picture below.
Secondly, what chokes are being used by those with Invector Plus barrels? This gun is the 26'', 3.5'' variety. Thought about a Indian Creek or Sumtoy. Probably going to run the new LongBeard XR or a htl mag blend. Finally, has anyone drilled/tapped their SX3? Looking to put a Burris FastFire 3 but saw some post where they mentioned Winchester advised against it due to the receiver's alloy.
Picture of camo
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee452/jdaven22/sx3.jpg) (http://s1228.photobucket.com/user/jdaven22/media/sx3.jpg.html)
It's always difficult to tell from a photograph, especially if you used a flash but that gun does look pretty white in the picture. There are lots of things you could easily do to darken it however.
My SX3 has the gray finish on the stock, receiver and barrel and blends very well into most environments.
I have not had mine drilled and tapped but a visit to my gunsmith and inspection of the receiver, inside and out, shows that it is possible. There is enough material there.
If you were to have it done however, you want to use a gunsmith with experience doing that to those guns. It's also important that you do not remove the receiver mounted base once it's been installed.
Screwing and unscrewing steel screws into and from an aluminum receiver is just not a good idea. If you wanted to use the gun without the scope, you can just remove it and leave the base in place.
(Whenever I put a base on a shotgun, I never intend to remove it and use J.B. Weld under the base as well as permanent thread sealer on the base screws. I understand that's not an option for everyone however.)
If I had that done, and did not go for the permanent installation that I use, I'd probably use a light "dot" type sight like the Burris FFIII on a receiver base or with the SpeedBead mount which would not require you to have the receiver drilled and tapped.
My gun shoots to point of aim but I do currently have a set of the Truglo Pro-Series rib mounted sights on it just to make it a bit more precise. That's another very good option.
I know you'll enjoy that gun and wish you all the best in the turkey woods this spring.
Thanks,
Clark
Thanks for all of the information guys. Does anyone have a reputable gunsmith in the NW Ga area, or that I could even ship to for that matter, that could do the drill/tap job. I plan on leaving the optic permanently. Just going to be used as a turkey specific gun.
If you don't go the SumToy route, which I think is a very good route to go with, then I'd go with an Indian Creek BDS SS .665 choke. I am seeing a lot of good results being posted from SumToy chokes. That's hard to argue with.
Indian Creek is 1a and Sumtoy is 1b if for no other reason than I have had an IC choke before and have never dealt with Sumtoy. Heard nothing but awesome things out of them but the familiarity with IC slightly trumps it right now.
As I had said in another post, don't over look the SSX. In my Invector plus barrel it is neck and neck with the IC. But for Invector plus as has already been stated above, my top three would be IC, Sumtoy, or SSX really in no particular order. I've never tried a Rob Robert's, so I can't speak for that. Polish and deep clean that barrel and I'm willing to bet with the right shells that you would be pleased with any of those.
That gun would be perfect for shooting snow geese! And I can't believe Winchester didn't drill and tap it from the factory? My SX2 was drilled and tapped from the factory with no issues.
I haven't even received the gun yet so it could very well be a snow goose gun. Bought it off Gunbroker for about $400 under MSRP for the model it is, minus the cerakote job. It is a Black Shadow and from what I understand they are not drilled or tapped. It is not ideal but for the money I saved on it I can drill/tap and buy a Burris FF3 for what I would be in it stock.
I will either just throw a wrap on it or have it dipped in my camo of preference.
Too bad it wasn't a darker color. The camo is a nice pattern. I think speadbead may be your best option.
Clark (allaboutshooting) will hook u up with a choke. Spray some olive drab on her and you,ll be fine.
Once I get it in I will take some more detailed pictures of it and see what everyone thinks. Right now I am leaning toward the Mossy Oak wrap kit that was posted in another thread here. It seems like it would be a cheap way to cover it for turkey and still be able to keep the Cerakote job. I'd like that because I really enjoy the blending that was done on that.
Maybe get it dipped in a Kryptek pattern. Or Optifade if I could ever find someone to do it.
Quote from: jdavenp3 on February 21, 2014, 08:59:56 PM
Once I get it in I will take some more detailed pictures of it and see what everyone thinks. Right now I am leaning toward the Mossy Oak wrap kit that was posted in another thread here. It seems like it would be a cheap way to cover it for turkey and still be able to keep the Cerakote job. I'd like that because I really enjoy the blending that was done on that.
Maybe get it dipped in a Kryptek pattern. Or Optifade if I could ever find someone to do it.
You have, arguably, the most durable finish available today on that gun. Some temporary finish, tape or even removable paint, will work for the turkey season. Your can purchase some dull paint just about anywhere that you can remove in a harmless way to the finish that's on it. Spray it lightly or create your own patten that will work as well as any other for a fraction of the cost of having it "dipped".
Your gun, is a state of the art shotgun. It just works, as well as anything on the market today. I'd recommend that you do your own thing with it, enjoy it and make it your own.
Thanks,
Clark
Thanks again Clark,
I believe I am going to go the route of the Mossy Oak Graphics as just a temporary fix for turkey season. At 30 bucks I really don't have much to lose. I've came to the conclusion that I would much rather have the custom job that is on it. Definitely excited to get it in my hands. I shot an SX3 a few years ago but did not have any extensive range time with it. Have heard nothing but good things about it. Gonna be like a kid in a candy store next week...
Quote from: jdavenp3 on February 21, 2014, 10:21:38 PM
Thanks again Clark,
I believe I am going to go the route of the Mossy Oak Graphics as just a temporary fix for turkey season. At 30 bucks I really don't have much to lose. I've came to the conclusion that I would much rather have the custom job that is on it. Definitely excited to get it in my hands. I shot an SX3 a few years ago but did not have any extensive range time with it. Have heard nothing but good things about it. Gonna be like a kid in a candy store next week...
That's a great decision. You can't lose with that decision. It's a great gun.
Thanks,
Clark
.670 rhino
.675 Indian Creek
.670 Sumtoy
Thanks for all of the choke recommendations. I believe I am going to play around with one that Clark recommended and an Indian Creek .665 and see what results I get. Plans for the gun will to wrap it in the Mossy Oaks graphics wrap kit in Bottomland and then send it off to get drilled and tapped for a Burris FastFire3. Should be an adequate gun that will far outshoot my abilities for many years.
Quote from: jdavenp3 on February 21, 2014, 12:45:49 AM
I have a multifaceted post. First, I bought a Sx3 off GunBroker at what I thought was a really nice deal. It has a custom Cerakote job on it in what appears to be a olive drabish type camo. Looks nice to me but I am afraid it will get me busted when not in a blind. What do you guys think? Picture below.
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee452/jdaven22/sx3.jpg) (http://s1228.photobucket.com/user/jdaven22/media/sx3.jpg.html)
It's hard to tell because the picture appears overexposed and lighter than reality. Note the Winchester box, which should be a solid red appears almost pink.
I jumped the gun and should have made this post when I received the gun. I am going to pick it up tomorrow and I will take some better pictures of it. I know whatever the color it is I want to keep it from the pictures I have of it. The blending on the Cerakote is nicely done. The gun shop that had it just raved about how cool of a gun it was and how much I was going to love it after I bought it (which I am sure is there job).
Cerakote is really good stuff. I have had several guns dipped, but from now on, I will be Cerakoting. It is tougher and thinner, so it works better on things with tight tolerances. I sent my Encore off to be dipped in Predator Deception and it came back "too white" for the turkey woods, IMO. So, now I just wrap it with McNett Camoform and it makes me feel better about not getting busted. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/25/8u5a7ypa.jpg)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have an SX3 and have a Kicks .675 on it. It will consistently put 250 hits in a 10" circle at 40 yds.
I have tried a .665 Indian Creek and a .670 Kicks but the .675 Kicks put up the best numbers and most even pattern. I shoot 3" MagBlends thru her.