Right now, the only thing I've got to shoot birds (clay and feathered) is my 870 Express. It's got a 28" barrel and a Modified Remchoke installed. At the range today, I shot it at 35 yards to see what my patterns were like with several different shells. All patterned within a 30-ish" spread, and were centered on my point of aim, but in all cases, there were pretty big voids where no shot hit (easily big enough to fit a clay through).
I assume the pattern should ideally be spread evenly, with few voids, no? What's the source of the voids? Since I got them will a 3 loads tested, I assume the gun is the source. Is it the choke? Would a good quality choke get rid of them? Or maybe backboring the barrel or lengthening the forcing cone? Am I chasing the wind with this gun?
If I stick with shooting clays (Trap and/or SC), I'll likely get a decent O/U, but in the meantime, if some reasonable tuning of my 870 improves it, I'd certainly consider it.
I assume the pattern should ideally be spread evenly, with few voids, no? What's the source of the voids? Since I got them will a 3 loads tested, I assume the gun is the source. Is it the choke? Would a good quality choke get rid of them? Or maybe backboring the barrel or lengthening the forcing cone? Am I chasing the wind with this gun?
If I stick with shooting clays (Trap and/or SC), I'll likely get a decent O/U, but in the meantime, if some reasonable tuning of my 870 improves it, I'd certainly consider it.