Please don't brush a rifle barrel.

Nice purchase Evo! I like to shoot my semi-auto shotgun's on the "dry-side". Clean with Shooter's Choice (Gawd awful smellin' [Bleeeeep!], de-grease with brake cleaner BTW), and very light lube with Rem-oil. Choke tube grease...I just use motor oil or axle grease..clean a few times a year. Extended/ported chokes...good way to separate your money from your wallet with minimal to zero overall improvements to your shooting (makes you look cooler at the gun club tho).

Sorry, I didn't respond sooner, but I've been off the grid. Kid and I just rolled in from a 7-day round trip deer hunt to New Mexico that he won from SCI. He was informed that he was chosen for the out of state deer tag/license last Wednesday. SO the CHITSHOW ensued and we left Thursday evening as he and I drove straight through, trading off the driving duties (25hrs) to the SW corner of the State. The season opened Saturday for a forked Coues or Mule deer (NEVER been in the state before, NON-guided).

We hunted 3 days of his 5 day season and saw 1 buck at the end of the 3rd day. Decent amount of Mule Deer up high, as we would start in the desert in the morning for Coues and see does/fawns. During the 3rd day, he'd decided that he'd better capitalize on whatever opportunity presents itself. This was enough for the kid at the end of Day 3 when he turned out the lights on his first out-of-state mule deer buck at 120 yards. Tuff shot honestly; deer was trotting off as we'd just jumped it below the snow line in the pines (blizzard for 2 days in a row-on/off), and the kid had to shoot off-hand, and he anchored the buck in one shot with a high shoulder shot (decent 2x3). It even ended up being on the right side of the ridge, and close to the rig too! After skinning/bagging we packed up and long-hauled back home another 25-straight hours, trading off the driving duties between the 2 of us. Who'd think hanging out with a 16yo can be this fun, especially when he pulled the final 8hrs in the driver's seat (Idaho and Eastern Oregon were a phuggin mess today) and let the Old Man sleep lol?

Breach plug grease for me!

Keith

oddly enough, i was just done cleaning the choke tube threads again, and every time i do that, its loose... not hanging out the barrel loose, but a half a turn or so maybe... this is after 280-300 shells, is that normal?

i still havent hit 25... tons of 23-24s, couple 22's, when i was told to wear a mask (was the only one there) i dropped to 21 because i started coughing like hell... have not shot under 21 with this gun...

i ran some Winchester AA SC's that were 1300 FPS, and everything was going well, until the 24th bird, and i missed it, relatively easy shot so i dont know honestly what happened, drilled the 25th.. those are 11 dollars a box tho and im not trying to spend that much for trap shells really..

one thing i do know after shooting 35 or so rounds of trap the last few weeks... its kinda like golf... the older ones that think they are good with their 10-25k dollar shotguns, really arent that good...

they are a tad arrogant tho, and kinda scoff at my lowely Beretta which is fvckin funny because not one of them has beat me... matter of fact, the only person that has beat me so far, was a guy with 1 eye and the Browing Sporting Clays, and he was cool as all hell to shoot with...

i bought a fat bead sight, and havent put it on because some say that they can actually cause you to focus on the bead vs the actual bird, which is what you should be focusing on... its a screw in which is why i havent, i guess ill see if i can find a clip on to try first, i had some around here but not sure where they went...

so now on to tubes, i have been told by multiple people to use an Improved Modified (the people with the expensive guns, and a couple RSO's), im using a modified, now while my numbers are good, what if that choke puts me in consistant 24's with possible 25's?

i feel its worth a shot as they are under 50 bucks, i can get a ported one (probably wont make any difference) but i will be able to tighten it by hand to make sure its not backing out..

stupid idea? or should i take a swing as its not that expensive?

i will use the modified for hunting as i know for certain any actual live bird will die if i pull the trigger with this gun, they arent flying a 40+ mph either...

I did competitive trap in high school.....used my Wingmaster 870...because I couldn't afford anything else...and did quite all right. Still my most favorite scatter gun to shoot. Don't let the snobs with the bazillion dollar over/unders rattle you!

It's all fun and games to talk about all the 25's you have (or almost have) until you get a handicap.

You'd be surprised at how even moving a stupid yard back messes you up your shooting, let alone multiple yards.

Man, I wonder how many thousands of lead #8 AA shells I reloaded in my MEC 600 Jr. single stage reloader!?!

I pretty much stopped when we were forced to go to steel on the range.

that was a question i had asked and no one can give me a definitive answer...

is reloading shot shells the same as reloading rifle or pistol rounds? any increase in accuracy or a tighter pattern?

i havent moved back yet, but plan to at some point, still just getting used to trap again...

at TSC, they have games on Tuesday night i was told, bunch of people show up and do things like "chippers" and whatnot, sounded fun...

so i showed up at basically dark last night, and NOT A FVCKING PERSON WAS THERE smh...

so i shot 3 rounds and left...

one thing i have been doing, if i get to 15 or so consecutive hits, and miss the 16th, i will load 3 shells, and go pull, bang, pull, bang, pull, bang as fast as i can... been doing relatively well doing that, and it puts a little bit of pressure on you as well...

steel? they wont let us shoot steel there...

matter of fact, no 3 inch, no steel, nothing under 7 1/2 either..

The only reason to reload for trap is a cost issue. The more you buy power/lead/cases/wads/primers in bulk, the cheaper the per-round costs becomes.

An improvied-mod choke is pretty common/standard in the clay games.

If you're going to continue to blast clay for fun, I'd get an imp-mod if I were you.

Can't hurt to shoot it and see if you like it.

alright, ill grab one...

one thing thats weird tho, is Carlsons .700 IM choke says you can shoot steel, lead, copper, and heavy, but the Beretta .700 IM choke is NO steel... why is that?

i wont be shooting steel out of it likely, but why would that be?

The .700 must be made with some soft(er) type materials. Steel would probably chew it up and destroy it.

Lead is pretty damn soft.

....only a guess.

so recoil isnt much of an issue, i guess i dont "need" a ported one...

so i ordered this one, it will be here tomorrow, weird thing, the blued one would have been here on the 8th...


https://www.amazon.com/Carlsons-Beretta-Sporting-Choke-Tubes/dp/B000GDFWTU?th=1

Sorry, didn't see the new activity. Parker is correct as usual though!

I agree, the I/M can't hurt at all. CT's are like fishing plugs though, get a couple and unless something is terribly wrong (you'll know right away) you don't need to buy/try but a couple. Set it and forget it. There are reasons and excuses for failure in every hobby and guys selling products/gimmicks to cure those excuses to make a living. Remember, it's a simple game man! After a couple of rounds, you've seen every possible angle. After that, it's just concentration and gun fit. (easier said than done)

"I did competitive trap in high school.....used my Wingmaster 870...because I couldn't afford anything else...and did quite all right. Still my most favorite scatter gun to shoot. Don't let the snobs with the bazillion dollar over/unders rattle you!

It's all fun and games to talk about all the 25's you have (or almost have) until you get a handicap.

You'd be surprised at how even moving a stupid yard back messes you up your shooting, let alone multiple yards.

Man, I wonder how many thousands of lead #8 AA shells I reloaded in my MEC 600 Jr. single stage reloader!?!"

I too started out with a field model 870 (20 ga), then 12ga 870 field, then a 870 Trap for a couple years. Along with a 600JR my dad had, I can't believe we didn't wear that thing out! 100 shells an hr, and that was flat-out MOVIN! I saved up and bought a worn-out progressive P/W, for $250, and I could do 400/hr then.

Yes, reloading was all about lowering the overall cost to shoot. We had a shot maker as well, I'd like to know how many tons I made over 15 years.. Now that I'm "back into it" (barely) most guys are just buying new shells in bulk, as the cost of components are so expensive. I'm still reloading, but I've got alot of components, or I find people selling off their old stuff. Plus I enjoy it. "Adding accuracy"..a little, but more so finding a load that's quick but doesn't build pressure and kick so much, and shoots well in your gun. Especially for long handicap, which I shoot (where the money was).

got the choke a couple days ago, went and shot 8 rounds in about an hour or so yesterday...

it didnt do anything numbers wise, im still in the 22-24 range (generally upper end) consistantly, but i did notice that the clays are exploding alot more violently when hit, so that is a good thing..

it also comes loose easily, im checking it every 5 shells now and its a tad loose, i guess my version of "hand tight" might not be what everyone elses is, or, its normal, or as 1 person pointed out yesterday i might be using too much grease...

yesterday was a bit different than most days, i shot my first 4 rounds just plain old trap, till this really cool guy with a 4k dollar Benelli came and shot with me and talked me into shooting Skeet, which ive never done before...

while it was fun, it was incredibly difficult, but, it was my first time so im not beating on myself too much...

then we went back to the trap house, and he suggested we shoot Continental, which i also have never done before... did OK, hit 22 of 25 and only fired 1 round per clay...

then went back to trap for the last round, and this really cool older guy (competition shooter) came and asked to shoot with me, not a problem at all...

he was looking for his ear plugs, and i offered him a fresh pair but he said he had some in his car, and was about to set his shotgun down on the table, so i said i can hold that for you sir, and he handed it to me...

it was a 31k dollar Kreighoff, and damn was that thing nice.. the detail in the engraving, the balance, the weight, incredible, way out of my price range tho...

he was a very polite and respectful guy, we were BS'ing and i had mentioned that i havent hit the 25th yet (came close), and have shot for a long time...

his response, kinda flipped a switch, and hes right, because i do it every. single. time...

"stop counting"

i dont nessecarily "count" but i keep repeating in my head, "you have hit every one, its gonna happen", and i end up rushing myself and missing by very small margins.. its gonna take a while for me to adjust that tho as i have always done it... what i need to be doing is SLOW DOWN and just have fun, stop trying to push myself and compete with myself in every aspect of everything i do for the most part.. because thats when i make mistakes..

i really pushed myself further than i normally do yesterday, as instead of 6 rounds i planned on shooting 10, so i shot the first 4 very very quickly (like 15 or 20 minutes quick), and on the 4th round i was kinda fatigued in my arms, and on 1 of them, i called pull, bird came out, locked on, went to pull the trigger, and nothing happened...

meaning my finger didnt move... my brain told it to move, but nothing happened... never experienced something like that before... think it was just lactic acid buildup from pushing myself too fast...

another thing that is weird is the DRAM allowance, we can only go to 3 and i was running a couple boxes of 3 1/4 and Ed the RSO came and told me that it was 3 max, he let me run the rest but i have to stick with 3 i guess... odd thing tho, is they are 1 OZ loads at 1290 FPS and the AA shells were 1 oz at 1300, which is 100 FPS higher than standard Win SS 1200 1 1/8th loads... he said it was because of distance and houses back behind the burm..

but how is 90-100 FPS going to carry a tiny ass bb 500 plus yards further?

and what about reload guys that dont even crono their sh!t, they just know what works for them?

he agreed, but as of right now, rules are rules so i have to go by them... weird thing, i do better actually with those higher FPS and DRAM loads even if they do recoil a tad bit more...

Appears your shooting is consistent.

Now you need to work on concentration and focus to move up to getting them all. Best way to do that, is just as you were advised; "stop counting them". Stop thinking about "25-straight". Ultimately you don't want to miss all day, so just focus on breaking each bird... "individually". You can only break one at a time, so each time you mount the gun, only focus on breaking that bird...not the next ones, etc.

As to your flinch, something wasn't right in your sequence. Probably lifted your head a tad, or just your eyes even and that short-circuited your system. Some people are more sensitive to this than others, and it appears you may be more apt than others. I went 20+ years until I experienced these phenomena. I knew right away what happened, as I "peeked" (raised my head) on a straightway, and the gun wouldn't go off. So, I make sure my set-up is solid every time.

Most clubs have a shot weight (and size of shot) and velocity restriction. Dram Equ is actually a irrevelant number that's outdated since switching away from blackpowder. If you shoot better with faster shells at 16yd, that tells me you're shooting behind the target generally. No need to shoot a shell faster than 1150fps, at 16yds. 1oz #8 has more pellets than 1-1/8 of 7.5's with less recoil (generally).

i shouldnt say "better" with higher velocity shells, what i mean to say, is that they explode a lot more violently than with 1200's, but, i can see why that would be as they are an increase in velocity...

for the most part, i havent found a brand or FPS or even shot size that ive done better than others with..

Federal, WInchester, Remington, Estate, game loads, target loads, 7 1/2, 8 shot, my numbers are always generally the same...

5 dollar boxes, to 12 dollar boxes, nothing changes..

the guy yesterday said trap is a 90/10 game, 90 percent mental, 10 percent skill, and im kinda seeing what he was meaning...

its whats going on in my head that is causing me to make mistakes..

and as you said, i should just focus on the target on hand, not the next 5 or 10 coming up, which is what im doing... thinking about keeping the progression going, instead of thinking about breaking the one right then...

the lowest ive shot in the last 30-40 rounds is 21, and that was because i got a bit irritated and didnt really care and was shooting really fast... if i slow down, im generally 23-24 all day long, but even then, im still rushing myself..

i actually kinda enjoy shooting with other people vs myself, because i tend to be much more quicker doing it when im alone, and fast is making me do the thinking thing after hitting 17-20 in a row...

i know im not "bad" at it, i have multiple people telling me how well im doing, or that im "making them look bad (sarcasticly)", and i also shouldnt be getting upset either, because trap is supposed to be fun, and when you get upset you will make mistakes...

that damn number 25 is just like a fish that keeps smacking your bait and you cant hook the fvckin thing, and it irritates the hell out of me

something i gotta work on i guess...

It's the indian, not the arrow... Let that sink in a little...

Keith

well, it finally happened, after something bad happened...

i shoot with an older gentlemen on Saturdays a lot, and am usually right next to him or 1 lane away... today another shooter asked me to come look at one of his guns before the round started, so i sat it out...

we were about 100 feet away, and KABOOM... shotgun exploded, the barrel was still flipping in the air when we turned around...

the chamber of the shotgun was 60 feet behind him and 60 to the left... the shell was 60 to the right... handguard was busted into tiny little pieces, barrel bent, stock cracked, reciever bent outwards... he got hit in the head by the barrel and it caused a nasty bump on his forehead..

THANKFULLY he is alright...

after that, still shaking, i managed to shoot 25 of 25 for the first time...

wierd day...

Never a good thing when a cartridge detonates within a firearm and the path of the projectile(s) is somehow blocked. That's what I surmise transpired during this incident.

I have witnessed 3 similar incidents where the shotgun had a massive come-apart, and the non-official conclusion was the reloads were lacking a wad. How the reloading process was manipulated to allow a bogus shell to pass "inspection" is beyond me? Possibly a double charge of shot/powder to fill the void? Either way, barring the possibility of a smaller gauge shell being inserted into the chamber, then a full-size shell backing it up, which would cause this kind of catastrophic failure. A live shell lacking a wad will allow the lead shot to liquefy, also allowing pressures to climb well beyond anything the guns are designed for. The end result is as you witnessed.

All 3 incidents I witnessed were people shooting reloads they had purchased from someone else. One little fella had the most beautiful Belgium Browning Diana Grade O/U. He'd just purchased it NIB, yet it was over 20 years old. He drove a new Mercedes, and he was at a registered competition. Yet he found some local-yocal to purchase reloads from at the shoot!!! We were standing back under the shade trees, just hanging out, and KA-BOOM! I happened to be looking "at him", but not watching him shooting. Upon hearing/seeing the incident I watched in s-u-p-e-r s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n the forearm explode in 3 pieces and he got the [Bleeeeep!] kicked out of him!! He then slowly turned around (gun still shouldered) and was close to pointing it at the crowd of spectators, as he was honestly in shock, and another shooter came out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground!! The event was 16yd singles, so he only should of had one shell in the gun (which he did-but this dude seemed like a pretty new shooter, was hard to understand with his thick accent, and overall was just kinda goofy..as I saw him several times that summer).

I reload on a couple of Ponsness/Warrens and you can get a double charge of shot/powder. If you do, you have a double charge of each though, and the manual spells this out MULTIPLE TIMES! Shot spills all over the table, and that shell is phuckin' useless. Now the shell with the double charge of powder..I guess if you're an absolute IDIOT, you could forget to put a wad in it and then add shot and see what it looks like?? IDK, (knocking on wood)..I've loaded A BUNCH, and screwed up plenty, and haven't gone there yet.

I don't recognize the gun in the picture...trigger looks kinda different too? Were the shells reloads? Congrats on your first 25! I remember mine, 1986. Borrowed BT-99, Federal Paper reloads, reclaimed shot, 18.5 grains Red Dot, Fed Primer, Win AA12 Reclaimed Wads (yes, I picked up wads & recycled them). 4th-week shooting trap, man I was hooked!

I shot at Evergreen gun club in Littlerock every Thursday night around 1980 to 1983.
Great fun and some good stuff.
Floyd, Jerry and Karl were good dudes to hang out with.

I knew Jerry. That 40 yard game trap was a hoot!