Hunting with an 18.5" shotgun?

gmazza2

gmazza2

New member
I'm going to purchase a Rem. 870 express W/18.5" barrel for HD. Does anyone use an 18.5" shotgun on their predator stands? If so, have you had any success with it? What ranges? What loads? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
You will need screw in chokes. Short barrels are loud, and I mean LOUD!!!!

I like a 26"-28" shot gun barrel, then again, I killed a goo gob of them with a 30" barrel.
 
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubb...page=0#52640363

I have the same shotgun, the 870hd with hte ext tube?

In the thread above i posted some results, some good some bad as you may expect. I had mine set up with the win choke, the gunsmith said it was a better fit due to the band holding the ext mag tube.

So far havent shot a coyote but at 40-50 yds it rolls porkypines over a few times over, and for skunks, just make sure your lookin em in the eyes when you pull the trigger /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

other than that its super handy, shoots nice, overall im pretty happy with it. My go to is the HD BB, so far has had the best patterns I think.

good luck with yours.
 
gmazza2,
Your Remington HD has a fixed cylinder bore barrel with zero choke constriction. That will limit your range considerably. I just sold one I had done some work with on the pattern range and it takes a lot of patterning with various loads to get a usable 20 yard load from that unrestricted barrel. If you expect all high flyers and hard chargers under 25 yards, then you might make it work. Otherwise, look for a barrel you can screw a choke into.
 
Right now I am useing an old SXS for nighttime yotes it has an imp and mod choke 20" barrels and I am getting great patterns out to fifty yards with #4 remington buckshot
 
I had the gunsmith add a choke to mine, think total cost was in the 65.00 price range, more if I wanted to buy a choke from him.

I decided to get it choked for the reason if I ever did want to use it for something different ie coyotes, skunks etc. I at least had that option rather than just the fixed cyl. heck Ive even shot clays with it, did pretty well with the ol red dot on it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Dave
 
i hunt with a 18.5" chocked barrel, i have only had it for a few months but the longest shot so far was 67yrds on a Grey fox. and it dropped hard. i was using the dead coyote loads.
 
Quote:
...Short barrels are loud, and I mean LOUD!!!!
...



Heard that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif... even a light field load barks with authority. Nice flame at night /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 
I built a "cat gun" for shooting feral cats from a vehicle 40 years ago. It had an 18.25" barrel with a poly choke and was 26.25" overall length. It worked great, very handy inside a vehicle and patterned well. I figure it saved thousands of game birds from feral cats.

Jack
 
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