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870 For Trap

PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:19 pm
by Scorpion8
So I joined a local trap gun club, and decided that I'd use my 870 Express Synthetic for trap, since it is the shotgun I intend to hunt with. The ventilated rib isn't all that tall, but I seem to be doing okay. I shoot 14/15 of 25 which I don't think is too bad for only 5 trips to the gun club (Same score as the guy next to me with a K-80). Besides chasing an 870 Custom Competition Trap or trap barrel, what else can I do? The adjustable Davis stocks are kind of spendy. I just want something to get my head up more instead of smushed down trying to get to this low rib. The Add-a-Rib guys don't make one for the 870. Should I just do the best I can in this configuration since it is the hunting configuration?

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:42 pm
by John A.
It's nice to see you on this forum too scorpion. I recognize you from the other one.

If you're just needing to get your cheek up a little higher off of the stock, you could try one of those cheek pads like this:
https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/pro ... ?sort=high

I have several of the camo ones. The thicker neoprene butt pad also helps the recoil department. And the part that wraps around the stock where the cheekpad is, is probably about an 8th of an inch thick and pretty comfortable there too.

Also, have you tried different shot size and chokes yet?

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:12 pm
by Scorpion8
The trouble with getting my head higher and more upright is the low rib height. You see these guys at the gun club with 2' tall ribs that they can shoot from the hip. Seems the key to getting the head up is a taller rib.

John A. wrote:Also, have you tried different shot size and chokes yet?


Speaking of.....my 870 has an Improved choke in it. I just got in, but have not shot or patterned yet, a RemChoke FULL TRAP. Supposedly that choke is the shintzu, the great equalizer. Currently I'm just shooting Estate Field and Target loads, usually 1-oz #8 shot. I haven't noticed any difference in 1-oz or 1-1/8-oz loads or #7-1/2 or #8 shot loadings. Thoughts?

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:34 am
by John A.
Sorry, I got your PM, but can't reply just yet.

My guns do really well for birds and stuff using 7-9 shot, although the 9 tends to reduce the effective range.

So, I usually tend to stick with nothing smaller than 7-1/2.

With that said, a clay isn't going to know the difference, so if you can find some 9 shot, that will put a little more material out there.

I would imagine the IC choke, while it spreads pretty good, is just spreading too much at longer distance.

So, a modified wouldn't hurt to try.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:32 am
by Scorpion8
John A. wrote:So, a modified wouldn't hurt to try.


I'll look for a MOD choke for this. The guys at the gun club were the ones who told me to stick to #8 shot, or #7-1/2 if I couldn't get shells in #8. Maybe that's just a local preference, but the local box store LGS sells Estate by the truckload at a pretty low cost.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:09 pm
by John A.
A mod choke wouldn't give you a wider spread. If anything, it'll be a little more tight especially up close.

But will give you a little longer range.

When you're shooting, and you know it should've been a good shot, notice about what distance that you're starting to get misses.

I don't think it has much to do with your shooting, as it is you're just reaching the limit of what the shells/choke will do. I may be wrong, but it's a good starting point.

And where the #9 shot is concerned, obviously, you can fit more #9 pellets in a wad as you can 7 1/2's.

The more pellets you are putting out there, the greater the odds of making contact.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:00 pm
by Scorpion8
John A. wrote:I may be wrong, but it's a good starting point.


No, I think so. I'm still progressing. I think someone said that #8's were a good compromise between #7-1/2's and the lightness of #9's. Seemed logical. And they stock a LOT of the 1-oz #8's.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:05 pm
by John A.
Nothing wrong with 8's.

But 1 oz of 9's have about 175 more pellets than 8's according to this chart ;)

http://shotshell.drundel.com/pelletcount.htm

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:44 pm
by Scorpion8
John A. wrote:But 1 oz of 9's have about 175 more pellets than 8's according to this chart...


And the lil' #9's don't ping off like gnats on a busy bird?

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:22 am
by John A.
An 8 shot is .08"
A 9 shot is .09"

I don't like using them for bird hunting, but a clay doesn't seem to mind.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:56 pm
by Scorpion8
John A. wrote:... but a clay doesn't seem to mind.


Well then, we'll have to see what the LGS has in stock until I get all my reloaders set up. The 870 really is perfectly fine for trap, since you're only shooting one shot at a time anyway.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:13 pm
by John A.
I agree.

A gun that shoots good, is a gun that shoots good. :D

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 4:15 pm
by Scorpion8
I found some Remington STS Light Target 2-3/4 shells with 1-1/8 oz of #9 shot. Will give them a try at the trap club tomorrow.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 5:04 pm
by John A.
Looking forward to hearing how it does.

I expect good things though.

You also picked some of the best hulls for reloading in my opinion. About the only thing I reload these days are Rem STS.

I have a ton of reload data for them if you want. From the most mild you've ever seen, leading up to some 1500+ hot ones that you better be wearing your big boy britches while shooting them.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 8:22 pm
by Scorpion8
I haven't actually started reload shot shell yet, but have been collecting gear, info, and as much knowledge as I can. I also have on hand the assorted Estate hulls that I've been shooting, some 250 AA-HS hulls (red) and 500 Gun Club 12-GA and 250 Gun Club 20-GA hulls. All for when I start. I've rebuilt two MEC 600 Jrs (12 & 20-GA) and have collected the aforementioned Pacific presses, a DL-266, DL-155 and two DL-105's. After I sort thru them the MECs may be my main machines. The STS hulls will be keepers for sure, based on what I've read.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 8:44 pm
by John A.
You are well under way.

Those are some nice loaders. The Mec has always been out of my price range so I have very little hands on with them.

Mine is the Lee Load-all. It's by far a top shelf press, but I have reloaded a lot of shells on it over the years. I'm not a high velocity loader, but I keep a decent little stash on hand.

Some powders don't do so well with Lee's charge bushings so I sometimes use my Hornady auto charge to throw some of those powder charges.

But, the Lee does do really well for most things.

I have the 12, 16, and 20 gauge kits with it.

I enjoy shooting all of them, but the 16 gauge stuff saves me the most money considering a box of factory shells are ~$15 or more for a box of 25.

Like I said, if you want any of my notes, I have a couple of pages that I could scan off for you. Some mirror factory loads, others don't. Especially my low recoil slug and buckshot loads. And with everything else these days comes the disclaimer, do not try this at home, use at your own risk, blah blah blah.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 9:33 pm
by Scorpion8
John A. wrote:Mine is the Lee Load-all. It's by far a top shelf press, but I have reloaded a lot of shells on it over the years.


I have one of those also, new-in-box never opened in 20-GA with a 12-GA conversion kits also. When I first started researching reloading, I watched all the YouTube videos and decided that was the way to go. My LGS close-out sale got me an even better price on one, so I grabbed it. Then I started noticing all these other old units. The MEC 600 Jrs are still in production with parts readily available, so at first I refurbished those two. Then as his shelves cleared he started bringing out all this old dusty stuff, and all the Pacific loaders were going to the landfill if someone didn't buy them. I know the guy really well and usually my offers got halved just to get the stuff out of the store. To me they are mechanical challenges, just simple machines and a project to rebuild. The two DL-105's are going to be paid-forward to some youngster who shoots and wants to get into the hobby some day. :mrgreen:

I will take you up on your offer. Mostly I intend to load the Gun Clubs with Remington TGT-8 wads and 700-X powder (it's what I have on hand). 1-oz or 1-1/8-oz loads. Primers seem to be in short supply here, but I have a good stock of Federal and a few Winchester or Remingtons.

And if you know any kids at your club that need a 20-GA reloader....

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 12:42 am
by Cmcdonald
I've used mine for trap quite a bit. Everything from casual hand throwing to more formal club shooting. At the club I have shot horribly and great and I think that's a lot more to do with the shooter than the gun. When I was shooting more regularly I could pretty consistently hit 20+ /25 and shot a number of perfect games. But I could shoot a good game and bomb the next...lol.

Not so successful shooting doubles with a pump...I think that would take more practice than I've got time for.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:02 pm
by Scorpion8
Cmcdonald wrote:At the club I have shot horribly and great and I think that's a lot more to do with the shooter than the gun.


Confucious said "it's the Indian, not the arrow". Well probably not, but am sure he said something like that. When I used mine I was getting better and better. For singles it's no different than any other sporter-configured shotgun, even my Beretta 682. On trap doubles or wobbles is where I fell behind. Takes a lot of practice to make racking that 2nd shell into 2nd nature. But look at old-timer trap pics of the 60's and 70's...lots of Champions used 870's and it was a regular at most trap squad lines.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:54 pm
by Cmcdonald
Scorpion8 wrote:
Cmcdonald wrote:At the club I have shot horribly and great and I think that's a lot more to do with the shooter than the gun.


Confucious said "it's the Indian, not the arrow". Well probably not, but am sure he said something like that. When I used mine I was getting better and better. For singles it's no different than any other sporter-configured shotgun, even my Beretta 682. On trap doubles or wobbles is where I fell behind. Takes a lot of practice to make racking that 2nd shell into 2nd nature. But look at old-timer trap pics of the 60's and 70's...lots of Champions used 870's and it was a regular at most trap squad lines.

Lol! I'm pretty sure you got that right...at least the gist of it anyway.

The club I shot at had quite a number of old timers that would bring their old trap guns (some 870's in there) for newbies to try out. Really nice bunch of people. But I hated it when I'd get picked as the last guy in a shooting squad made up of all old timers...gave me an inferiority complex! LOL! :lol:

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 12:09 pm
by Scorpion8
Cmcdonald wrote:But I hated it when I'd get picked as the last guy in a shooting squad made up of all old timers...gave me an inferiority complex! LOL! :lol:


Don't. Our club also has some great people, but the old timers can be cliquey if you're not in the old timers clique. There's guys there that I say "hi" to every day I see them, and they reply. But they'll also walk right past and ignore you if you don't initiate the exchange. We squad up on sign-up sheets and often you'll see these guys look the squad over, and sign up for the next squad after yours with their buddies. No problem to me. Just enjoy the sport, and be yourself.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:27 pm
by Cmcdonald
Definitely cliquey...but it was a small club so it forced a little more neighborly behavior. It wasn't really open to the public, so generally you had to know someone to get an invite. Which helps. I had a number of the old timers share some techniques which helped my game a lot.

A good friend of mine joined a pretty large, local club here and was a member for a number of years but was never able to make hardly one acquaintance...after about 4 years he gave up and let his membership lapse. He said it was so bad that he and his wife would sit alone at club dinners and fundraisers. Guys would just ignore him at the range. He was disappointed because he moved from a small town on Vancouver Island and was part of club there for many, many years and was a competitive trap shooter. He eventually sold or traded off all his trap guns. Too bad.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:38 pm
by Scorpion8
Cmcdonald wrote:I had a number of the old timers share some techniques which helped my game a lot.


Yea, the way of the world. I had some old timers help me greatly when I first started, especially if you asked. They were happy to share. Well, except for one old guy who kept bitching because I took his seat twice (I got there first). But you learn and adapt.

But later I also found out that a bunch of them got together on such-and-such a day for more shooting than the rest of us could do using only public days. No one invited me! :( At first I was miffed, then I realized that (a) they were all retired and had waaaaay more spare time than I did, and (b) man that would be a lotta extra shells to purchase. Three-to-four boxes each night on two nights a week is already close to budget limits.

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 12:50 am
by Cmcdonald
Yeah I hear ya. It would be nice to be included but your budget has other things to say about that!

I was invited to come on my own after coming with another member a few times. It took over a year of showing up to get asked inside for a beer after shooting. Before that all I got was water! LOL

That's not free beer or water either.... :o

Re: 870 For Trap

PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 8:02 pm
by Scorpion8
Cmcdonald wrote:That's not free beer or water either.... :o


I tried to tell one of the old guys that stuff like that would be the death of the club. Very few young men and women come out to shoot and even fewer can do a multiplex needed 12 boxes of shells in a single event. There's some serious zloty's tied up in this hobby. And if they don't endear the young'uns to the sport and figure out a cheaper way to participate....