Quote from: agent eight seven O on August 24, 2016, 05:04:46 PM
Clark, thanks in advance for any tips. The range is 100' and most guys just shoot full chokes. Nothing serious. I am trying to get more interested in the shot shoots. Scoring is the "lucky X" or closest to the center of the X. There are no restrictions on choke size or anything.
The gun I am using is an 870 with 26"barrel. And this is only for the "turkey shoots" as I have many other chokes for hunting.
Also, so far the best combination I have came across so far for this is an SSX in an 835.
Thanks. Those shoots can be a lot of fun. Normally, those inexpensive loads of small shot respond very well to chokes with relatively tight exit diameters, especially at 90'-100'. The SSX is often a very good choice for that as you've seen. The exit diameter of the SSX in your 835 is .670 and
the SSX for you 870 would be .643. That should work pretty well for you.
I have shot chokes as tight as .640 in my 835 with those 2.75" shells loaded with #7.5 and #8 shot at those events with good results as well.
The "old guys" that I shot with put a lot of importance on knowing their guns. They'd practice and find out how often the bore needed to be cleaned to make it shoot tight patterns. Many of them would use "Goof Off" and cotton patches to clean the bores of their guns between shots or after every other shot, whatever they'd learned made them shoot best. I noticed they tended to win their share or maybe even more than their share. That's probably the best advice that I can give on those or frankly any other shooting events.
I hope you have a lot of fun at those shoots and win more than your share as well.
Thanks,
Clark