ORIGINAL: littlekid
I bouhgt my father a Remington 870 magnum with a 21" barrel mated with a extra full remington choke from Gander Mountain last week as an early birthday present(paid 299 plus tax). I bouhgt this gun b/c I liked the shorter length for him to use in his blind and ease of movement. The one thing I've noticed though its pattern is approx.1/2 the tightness as my 870 w/ a 28" barrel using a Rem. superful choke.
My gun with Rem. 4x6 and Win. Turkey load #5 I'm getting approx. 20-25 pellets in a 3" circle @ 30yrds; when we put my superful onto his barrel and shooting the same loads and distance he got approx. 10-15 pellets in the same circle. We also noticed that the wads from my gun were traveling 3' farther downrange than his. I want to be able to increase his pattern tightness some but am unsure what to do. In your experience, should I worry about this or is this patterning going to work fine?
You need to try a differnet choke tube and differnet shells. No two guns always work the same with each.
As to barrel length, historically it made a difference.... today it does not. Good article in Turkey Call magazine last month about that. A shot charge has reached its max velocity in 18"-19" of barrel. I have a 20" barrel on my turkey gun and it outshoots every 26"-28" barreled 12ga I've ever seen and shot or been in the prescense of when being patterned (save on other 835 with a 24" barrel....that gun is 1 in 1000).