Some of you may recall the things I was doing with weights and springs. Being a longtime tinkerer, and deeply committed to the concept that not all excess is wretched, I've thrown caution to the winds and went for broke.
My 870TB claycruncher now runs about 10 lbs. No, that's not a misprint. 10 lbs. Here's how and why...
First, you may also recall me mentioning that the earliest 870s came with a solid steel magazine plug. When it wasn't in the magazine, it fit neatly in the stock bolt hole. I still have mine, it's followed me around the country and unlike most things, has proven to be lost proof. Being nigh useless, it has remained in my possession.
I had the TB set up with a hull filled with shot set between springs in that stock hole, and two more in the magazine. The new setup has the one in the stock replaced with the steel plug, gain about 11 oz more.
Besides the two hulls in the magazine, I've added a weight to the cap. This one's a bow stabilizer, adding about 7 oz to the weight.Total added weight comes to 29 oz, plus a few for the Morgan pad.So, it weighs 10 lbs and a skosh.
For comparison's sake, the new Classic Trap 870 has a listed weight of 8 lbs. Most trap guns fall between 8 and 9.
Now to the gist. I've fired 6 or 7 rounds of trap with the thing, scores falling in the mid 20s. This is about what I was doing pre weight. The interesting part is that there's NO noticable kick. It makes noise, but no push or shove I can detect.
The load used was 1 1/8 oz, 1225 FPS. Not a hot load, but more than adequate for trap.Less felt recoil than a 1 oz, 1150 FPS load in this, unweighted.
And yes, it's heavy, but I've always had more uppper body strength than most folks, and even in my dotage this is workable. The swing is slower, all that inertia to overcome, but the difference is not great.
More later, duty calls...
My 870TB claycruncher now runs about 10 lbs. No, that's not a misprint. 10 lbs. Here's how and why...
First, you may also recall me mentioning that the earliest 870s came with a solid steel magazine plug. When it wasn't in the magazine, it fit neatly in the stock bolt hole. I still have mine, it's followed me around the country and unlike most things, has proven to be lost proof. Being nigh useless, it has remained in my possession.
I had the TB set up with a hull filled with shot set between springs in that stock hole, and two more in the magazine. The new setup has the one in the stock replaced with the steel plug, gain about 11 oz more.
Besides the two hulls in the magazine, I've added a weight to the cap. This one's a bow stabilizer, adding about 7 oz to the weight.Total added weight comes to 29 oz, plus a few for the Morgan pad.So, it weighs 10 lbs and a skosh.
For comparison's sake, the new Classic Trap 870 has a listed weight of 8 lbs. Most trap guns fall between 8 and 9.
Now to the gist. I've fired 6 or 7 rounds of trap with the thing, scores falling in the mid 20s. This is about what I was doing pre weight. The interesting part is that there's NO noticable kick. It makes noise, but no push or shove I can detect.
The load used was 1 1/8 oz, 1225 FPS. Not a hot load, but more than adequate for trap.Less felt recoil than a 1 oz, 1150 FPS load in this, unweighted.
And yes, it's heavy, but I've always had more uppper body strength than most folks, and even in my dotage this is workable. The swing is slower, all that inertia to overcome, but the difference is not great.
More later, duty calls...