20 Gauge barrel honing

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  • Kaneda13

    Adeptus Mechanicus
    Rating - 100%
    13   0   0
    Aug 13, 2013
    311
    18
    Indianapolis
    My son and I went out today for our first try ever at trap, had a blast, only hit 5 of 54 (I hit 4, and he hit 1). I picked up a second hand 20G a few 1500's ago, just for this purpose. I knew it had a full choke in it, but didn't want to invest to much into it if it ended up being something we didn't enjoy. Now with our first time behind us, we would like to get this set up better. Can anyone recommend (or perform) a barrel honing to remove the fixed full choke in this 20G? It's a mossberg 500CR with a 28" ribbed barrel. I know I could get a new barrel for it, but I'd like to keep it original, just because it's a personal choice.
     

    CountryBoy19

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 91.7%
    11   1   0
    Nov 10, 2008
    8,412
    63
    Bedford, IN
    I know I could get a new barrel for it, but I'd like to keep it original, just because it's a personal choice.
    If you truly want to keep it original then don't bore the choke out.

    If you just want the option to return it to original, park the original barrel in the safe when you get the replacement. You're going to spend 70% of the cost of a new barrel getting the choke opened up. Just buy a new barrel and you can use whatever choke you please. Trust me, if you're just getting into shooting clays you're soon going to find out that you want to shoot more than just trap. And shooting skeet takes a totally different choke, sporting clays as well, heck, even handicapped trap takes different chokes. IMHO, pump shotgun with interchangeable chokes is the absolutely minimum for shooting clays. Better yet is interchangeable barrels with fixed chokes, multi-barrel guns, etc.
     

    SteelDude91

    Plinker
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Feb 5, 2018
    52
    6
    NWI
    What CountryBoy said. Getting that professionally done will not be cheap and the results may or may not be what you're expecting. Save yourself some time and frustration and replace the barrel
     

    bobjones223

    Master
    Rating - 98.2%
    55   1   0
    Mar 3, 2011
    1,780
    47
    Noblesville, IN
    Ok I am just going to throw this out there.

    When I shoot trap in use a full choke...the next time you go out there don't pull the trigger so fast.

    I have found if you wait till the bird hits the apex it is the perfect distance for a full choke...just my two cents.
     

    CountryBoy19

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 91.7%
    11   1   0
    Nov 10, 2008
    8,412
    63
    Bedford, IN
    Ok I am just going to throw this out there.

    When I shoot trap in use a full choke...the next time you go out there don't pull the trigger so fast.

    I have found if you wait till the bird hits the apex it is the perfect distance for a full choke...just my two cents.

    This is true for trap.

    Shooting clays is a delicate balance of taking your time to get on the bird, timing the shot properly to match the point at which there is a good compromise between your choke pattern being perfect, and bird moving as little as possible (or at least in a predictable manner).

    The problem comes in when you go to skeet or sporting clays where the bird is moving in ways that the point it is far away and yet at the crest/peak of motion aren't even close so you have to hit far out, moving fast, or close-in at a crest in it's motion, neither of which are ideal. Sporting clays really challenges this because some shots are ideal close-in and some are ideal far-out; this is why dual-gun, dual choke, with selectable barrels (most O/U shotguns) reign supreme.

    At minimum a single-barrel with interchangeable choke tubes is needed. I used to shoot local competition trap & sporting clays, took home some trophies with a single-barrel setup. The only time I ever shot with the same choke tube on sporting clays AND trap it was by mistake and I lost a competition I should've had in the bag because of it. I shot trap w/ improved modified (lands between modified and full choke) and I shot sporting clays with a skeet choke (1 very small step above a cylinder bore). The day I tried to shoot sporting clays with my improved modified didn't go so well; when I hit them I dusted 'em though. With the skeet choke there was only 1 or 2 birds that I struggled to hit because I couldn't let them get too far out; I had to hit 'em quick and it was a struggle to get on and hit them that fast.
     
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    AmmoManAaron

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    37   0   0
    Feb 20, 2015
    3,334
    83
    I-get-around
    I've shot trap with both modified and full choke in 12ga. My shooting is ok (17 to 20 out of 25 birds), but I couldn't tell a difference in performance. If you are missing that many with a full choke, I don't think you will hit many more with a modified choke. Since you are using a 20ga and have fewer pellets in the air, I would think a full choke would be better than a modified choke. You need the higher pattern density of a full choke to make up for having fewer pellets in the air. I agree with what bobjones223 posted, wait until the bird is near the apex of it's flight before pulling the trigger. Also, properly positioning the clay above the front sight bead will help. Don't put the bead right on the clay like you would with a rifle, if you do that you will shoot over the clay rather than busting it.
     
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