Should I use a tactical shotgun to shoot clays?

H

Hoss Delgado

New member
By tactical, in this case I mean 18 inch barrel and wide open choke. I realize that it's not ideal, but could I do it at all, or would it be an exercise in futility? I wouldn't be doing it competitively, but I'd still like to hit something once in a while. Here are my options.

First, a Benelli Supernova. It's the previously mentioned tactical gun, and the only 12 gauge that I personally own. I didn't buy it to shoot clays with, but I'm wondering if I could get away with it. A new barrel really isn't an option. For the price of Benelli barrels I might as well guy a new gun.

Second, my dad's old Remington 870 Wingmaster. I've been told this is an excellent gun for clays. It has a longer barrel, though I'm not sure about a choke. There are 2 problems with this.

A.) It belonged to his dad and he doesn't like it being shot much.
2.) I'm recoil sensitive. It has very strong recoil and absolutely kills me to shoot it. It was the first 12 I ever shot and it almost drove me away from the gauge forever. The Supernova is much, much gentler.

Finally, I could get a new gun. Given that I'm only mildly interested in clays, I can't really justify this. There are other guns with a lot higher priority to me. So I'd rather not do it.

The point is, how much of a disadvantage would it be for me to use the Supernova compared to a "real" clay gun?
 
I shoot clays with my mossberg 500 sometimes with a 18'' barrel, but its a lot harder because there is no choke and your range is a lot more limited. I would love to have my 18'' barrel with a choke, that would be ideal, but i usually shoot with the longer 26'' barrel because its alot more accurate.



If you know what you are doing, you are going to hit the clays and if your really good you could probably hit them almost every time, its just a lot harder.

Its a noticeable difference, but dont let that stop you from at least trying.
 
I shoot a remington 1100 tactical with the 22 inch barrel but it has screw in chokes and I love it. Its a blast to shoot but I can still hit more with my 870 Express, to each their own but a longer barrel is easier to hit stuff with...
 
I'm assuming you're talking about Sporting Clays - so it will depend on the course and how they set it - but you're at a big disadvantage.

You can shoot 1 1/8 oz loads - and tighten your pattern up a little - but any bird over 30 yards - you'll be at a big disadvantage and its probably a waste of money - and won't teach you much about how to shoot sporting clays targets ( hold point, break point, setting up for a 2nd target, follow-thru, etc .....

If you're talking about Trap - noone will want to stand on the station next to you shooting a short barrel / the muzzle blast is rude to the shooters next to you.

Maybe you should try and borrow a gun until you decide whether you want to participate in any of the clay target games. Recoil is an issue of fit primarily - and the weight of the gun and the velocity of the shell you shoot. An 870 Wingmaster is not a gun that should beat anybody up - unless it doesn't fit ( drop at comb and heel may be wrong for you ) - and shooting an older 870 shouldn't hurt it either - but then its not your gun ....
 
Frankly I'm not sure what the deal is with the Wingmaster. I've shot buckshot through the Supernova, and it's heavy but tolerable. With the Wingmaster I even have trouble with small birdshot. One thing I've notcied is that it has an extremely thin recoil pad compared to other shotguns I've seen. Based on pictures of newer Wingmasters on the internet, I think it's the age of the gun. Being a tall and skinny person I'd imagine I would do better with a much thicker pad. I know you can get recoil pads from Limbsaver and such, but again, I don't think my dad would let me do that to the gun. Between the two of us that and the Supernova are the only 12 gauges we own, and I don't have another immediate source to borrow something.

I may just try shooting something with the Supernova if it comes up and see how it goes.
 
Sounds like your Benelli fits you better than your 870 - THAT will result in a lot more recoil being poorly distributed and making the gun not feel as nice.....
 
I dont know Benelli's well but why dont you just buy a longer field barrel that can be fitted with chokes? Then you can screw that on for clays, and put the 18'' barrel on when youre at home.
 
It will work.

I went from a 1100 that didn't really fit me well to a 870 Tactical, and my skeet scores immediately came up by 3-4 birds/game. However, I also managed to max out my abilities with it relatively quickly. Again, there were fit issues with the Knoxx SpecOps stock (although the recoil was manageable), and it was kinda hard to get a good swing with it, not to mention the lack of a rib complicating the sight picture.

It comes down to whether you spend the time to shoot it well. As said, at longer shots for trap, 5 stand, and sporting clays you're likely to be at a bigger disadvantage due to the short barrel and open choke, but you've gotta start with something.
 
not to mention the lack of a rib complicating the sight picture.
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??? Rib shouldn't matter, as you shouldn't be looking at, or seeing, the rib. Your focus should be on the target, you shouldn't even see the bead. If you're seeing rib, you'll be shooting too high.
 
Why can't you get a set of choke tubes for the Benelli? I know it's only 18" but it *should* be threaded for choke tubes. They have the door breecher choke, and the compensated choke tube for the tactical guns, so I believe it's threaded. (Even my old benelli M1 18" tactical is threaded for choke tubes.)

The length of the barrel may be a handicap, but not nearly as much so since the advent of CHOKE TUBES. Get a set of tubes, and put in a modified or full choke and have at it. (I do with my Benelli M1, with surprisingly good results.)
 
I got 5 of 5 once at a shooting fair using an old mossberg bullpup but I was right on top of the thrower and I doubt I could do it again. Even the mossberg rep said he hadn't thought that it was possible.

Getting back to your question, there are a few options. You can get a shoulder pad to help a lot with the recoil. You can shoot ultra light target loads. You can install a modern recoil pad like a Limbsaver. You can do all of the above.

For a shotgun, if the Benelli fits you well I'd look for a longer barrel. Being it's for a Benelli I'll probably be pricey.
 
I've shot buckshot through the Supernova, and it's heavy but tolerable. With the Wingmaster I even have trouble with small birdshot.
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My son and I both agreed that there isn't much if any difference in recoil with #00 buckshot vs #7 bird shot from our 12-gauge Wingmaster (each was like getting punched pretty hard in the chest, we have the stock 40-year old recoil pad that might be petrified by now).

I'm not sure if there's *any* difference according to the laws of physics given the loads both weighed the same. Is there any other reason why they would differ?
 
Actually everyone should learn to hit moving small targets with some consistency... The clay bird is about the same size of space I wish to hit COM with my defensive arms...
Brent
 
I agree at the marksmanship comment. Marksmanship is the #2 biggest concern in the firearms ownership world (#1 is safety).

Since, in my experience 7/8ths of an oz will kill anything on the skeet field, I see no reason a shorter bbl with 1 1/8th shouldn't kill anything just fine. My local range has a 21" bbl restriction (none shorter than this are allowed), so check the regs at the range itself. Why this restriction is in place is beyond me but it's there.
 
Hoss Delgado said:
...I even have trouble with small birdshot. One thing I've notcied is that it has an extremely thin recoil pad compared to other shotguns I've seen.
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Is it a really a very thin "recoil pad" or an old school hard butt plate? Back in the day, firearms came with butt plates (metal, hard rubber, plastic etc.). Resilient "recoil pads" were something you ordered special from folks like Pachmayr's and had them installed on your new gun. They weren't available on most new guns.

The gun makers soon realized that more and more folks were paying extra for recoil pads and their installation. Consequently, they wanted a piece of the action and started putting recoil pads on their de luxe models, while the standard models retained the conventional hard butt plates. If you wanted to pamper your shoulder with a recoil pad, you were going to pay -- one way or another.

As the price of hardwoods escalated, there came time when the manufacturers figured out that it was cheaper to use shorter stock blanks and make up the difference with recoil pads. Subsequently recoil pads became standard for the majority of long arms. These days, it seems the choice is between the conventional Pachmayr style pad and the various new higher performance models. If you're accustomed to shooting a 12-ga with a resilient pad, then shooting an old school 12-ga with a hard butt plate is going to be an adventure. Add to the equation a gun that doesn't really fit you, and you'll feel like you went the full bout with an 800-lb gorilla.
 
I just got done shooting a sporting clays course with my Mossberg 500, 18.5" barrel. It was fun, a LOT of fun, but I would have been better off with a longer barreled gun. Still, it was fun getting out and shooting.
 
Yeah, you're probably right about shot sizes, so I went and checked them. The buckshot has a higher velocity than the birdshot we have, so I think that must be it. I never used any buckshot in the Wingmaster. On the Supernova, I could feel the difference between the buckshot and the birdshot, but it wasn't very much.

Now that you mention it, yes, the pad on the Wingmaster is more of a plate. The Wingmaster was first 12 gauge I shot, so at that time I wasn't used to a pad. And being a tall and lanky person, I do tend to have trouble with stocks being too short. Even with the Supernova, I plan to buy the extra long gel pad.

Also sorry about the original topic title, I didn't think the language was that severe.
 
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