My recently acquired 11-87 Remington is turning out to be a peach of a shotgun. It has run with Federal or WW Universal field loads and now that I’ve got my favorite Limbsaver pad on it, it mounts as fast and sure as any single-barrel I ever owned.
One of its few gremlins was that when I mounted it and aligned the beads, it put most if the pattern below the bead. This was apparent on thrown clays because when I began instead of really hammering them, I would see good-sized pieces go spinning off. I'd also occasionally feel the stock give my cheek a bump. This is a subtle reminder that you’re not mounting the gun correctly and it was most apparent when I’d get on a roll. Essentially I had to drop the stock away from my face and stack the beads to hit. So off to the pattern board which confirmed via the full choke at 40 yards, the best part of the pattern was below the bead.
Why? Later Remingtons use a 6-48 thread version of the Marbles ‘Expert’ sight that has a substantial base under it. This elevates the bead about 0.030 above the rib, which is already an elevated plane.
This is the second ribbed Remington shotgun I’ve had this problem with. A basic understanding of sights tells us that if the front sight is too high, the point-of-impact is going to be low. The answer was to replace the OEM sight with a simple 6-48 bead sight- which has served its purpose perfectly since they’ve been putting ribs on shotguns.
And back at 40 yards with the same load, the pattern centered right where it should. Just to prove my point, I took it back to the clay thrower. I let the birds get out about 25 yards, then mounted the gun fast and hammered them. The gun mounted, aligned and tracked much easier and it powdered clay birds.
Is POI that important in a shotgun? The gentleman for whom this forum is named certainly thought so, and he summed it up well in a comment on my 870 Special Purpose post from 2009:
I miss you Dave
One of its few gremlins was that when I mounted it and aligned the beads, it put most if the pattern below the bead. This was apparent on thrown clays because when I began instead of really hammering them, I would see good-sized pieces go spinning off. I'd also occasionally feel the stock give my cheek a bump. This is a subtle reminder that you’re not mounting the gun correctly and it was most apparent when I’d get on a roll. Essentially I had to drop the stock away from my face and stack the beads to hit. So off to the pattern board which confirmed via the full choke at 40 yards, the best part of the pattern was below the bead.
Why? Later Remingtons use a 6-48 thread version of the Marbles ‘Expert’ sight that has a substantial base under it. This elevates the bead about 0.030 above the rib, which is already an elevated plane.
This is the second ribbed Remington shotgun I’ve had this problem with. A basic understanding of sights tells us that if the front sight is too high, the point-of-impact is going to be low. The answer was to replace the OEM sight with a simple 6-48 bead sight- which has served its purpose perfectly since they’ve been putting ribs on shotguns.
And back at 40 yards with the same load, the pattern centered right where it should. Just to prove my point, I took it back to the clay thrower. I let the birds get out about 25 yards, then mounted the gun fast and hammered them. The gun mounted, aligned and tracked much easier and it powdered clay birds.
Is POI that important in a shotgun? The gentleman for whom this forum is named certainly thought so, and he summed it up well in a comment on my 870 Special Purpose post from 2009:
Dave McC said:Good on you for patterning,Sarge. More of us should do more of that.
I'd go with a bigger piece of paper and check POI/POA. Make sure it shoots where you look. I posted a sticky over on THR's Shotgun BB a while back that may help you.
If you've access to a standard trap field, there's another way.
Stand at Post 3 with the trap locked down to only throw straightaways.
Use the Full tube at first.
Note how they break. If you powder them most of the time, great, but if a big piece consistently flies away in any direction, you've not centering them. Some judicious adjustment is in order.
Tweaking the POI will do wonders for your hunting and clay fun.
Enjoy....
I miss you Dave