quick question here

[stillborn]

I picked up a Mossberg shotgun combo at a Big 5. You know... it came with the 18 inch home security barrel and a 26 inch vent rib barrel. No Choke though. Now that I finally got my hunters education out of the way Im wanting to do some hunting.

Will my shotty with the 26' vent rib barrel be good enough to hunt squirrels, rabbits.. dove... you know... small stuff? Will the lack of choke mess me up?


thanks,



still

[oneounceload]

Are you saying the 26" barrel has no choke, as in no choke tube, or no choke as in Cylinder, or is it a fixed choke barrel?? It should say on the barrel. Depending on that, it should be fine for any upland hunting

[stillborn]

sorry... its a 28' vent rib with modified choke. could that be a multitasker for small game and upland game?

[Scattergun Bob]

I prefer modified chokes for most of my upland game. I think it is a great choice for rabbits and squirrles.

My wish to you is as always with a new shotgun "that it will shoot to where you look every time you choose."

[hogdogs]

Pattern it with a few boxes of low cost field loads... Than if you want to shoot higher end ammo when hunting, pattern with that too... At some particular distance that barrel will be super....
I wouldn't hesitate to hunt any game with a modified choke but heck, after a few rounds practice I am ready to hunt any barrel Just may miss more...
Brent

[stillborn]

Is there any paticular shot size I need for the squirrel/ rabbit and the birdies? I see the remington "sport" loads on sale at walmart all the time... they have pictures of birds on the box. lol



still

[TxGun]

"its a 28' vent rib with modified choke. Could that be a multitasker for small game and upland game?"

Mod choke on a 28" barrel is a very good all-around choice and, along with the 18" barrel for HD, gives you a versatile set-up.

[mikenbarb]

Stillborn, That barrel and choke combo is proably the best to use for all around hunting. For general small game hunting use a good high brass #6 shot and you will be set. I prefer Federal Premium or Remington Premier #6 copperplated. Its a little more than Wally World shells but your not gonna burn thru shells hunting small game. The extra range and knockdown power is double of low brass sport loads.(approx). Dont forget, Waterfowl is steel or non-toxic shot only. Good luck and shoot straight.
PS- If your going to use for deer hunting, Invest in a good slug barrel or full choke tube for buckshot. If the 18" has rifle sights your set for slugs. If not you can get a saddlemount and a red dot.

[hogdogs]

For clay birds or real ones I use 7 1/2 or 8. I will even use those for a close in rabbit. For squirrel I use 71/2. For a rabbit hunt I prefer good quality #6 or so. Coons or dogs need #4. All these are just my preference. Those hunert count bricks at walmart are usually 7 1/2 and 8.
Brent

[Csspecs]

I have used that setup (different brand) for hunting since I was 13, worked great then and still works great today. Longest shot on a tree rat was about 50-60 yards and he was DRT.

Heck I use a 19 inch barreled saiga 12 or 20 when I trade guns with my brother (I tend to run low on ammo in the field ). With the short barreled guns you really need to know your ranges or you just wound everything, the longer barrels with modified chokes are pretty much a no-brainier hunting tool.

Edit:

I hunt birds in heavy cover and we pretty much switched to #6 shot for all of our hunting shells, shop around a bit and it's fairly cheap. #6 shot is a one size fits all for small game.

[hogdogs]

With the cylindrical 18.5 inch beaded barrel on my 20ga. I can tear a samich size hole out of a paper plate with 6-8 slugs from 55-60 yards.... Reckon that is deer medicine enuff? Practice, bud and you will love those barrels!
Brent

[mikenbarb]

You have to check your local gamelaws in regards to what they require for slug hunting. Alot of states wont allow you to use a bead sight with slugs anymore and you have to use adjustable rifle sights or a scope. For small birds like quail, 7 1/2 or 8's are fine. But for larger and tougher birds like pheasant and chukar you need a larger size shot like 4, 5, or 6's. The only shells I use for small game are 4,5 and 6 shot and most of the time its #6's. #6 shot is the best all around size and will kill any small game animal dead as a doornail. Just keep your shots within reason and you will do fine. Modified chokes are good for around 40 yards with the rite load. Go to the range with a few different types of shells and pattern your gun at different ranges with different loads so you know what your gun is capable of. If you dont want to spend the money for all kinds of ammo, Talk to your friends that hunt and ask for a few of theirs to try.

[T-Ray]

the wal-mart stuff is fine, ya you can buy the more expensive stuff but if you're off target, you're going to miss with either one and vise versa. All my family hunts dove off of the $3.00 or less boxes, we don't really check for what it is except for guage and price, for bird hunts. jk for those of yall that didn't pick up on that. We use .22 for rabbit and .30-30 for deer. But that's just a bunch of rednecks, you may prefer the expensive stuff.

[mikenbarb]

T-Ray, Bad advice. Wally world Target loads arent "fine" for bird hunting(pheasant). I would never try to shoot a pheasant or chuckar with #8 Sport loads(or any other game animal). And if you dont check what load it is, How do you know if its capable of taking the game animals your shooting? It has nothing to do with the price when your hunting with the ammo you buy. Good shells arent that much more and paying a little more is well worth it when your using them for hunting. The reason why the el'chepo boxes say target loads is because thats what their for,Targets. Im sure alot of game has been taken with them but why chance wounding an animal with something that you dont check except the price and what gauge its for?
Stillborn, Please check your ammo and make sure of what its good for. And dont just buy shells because their cheap. They have charts on the back of most boxes with the size shot recomended for animals your hunting. Im a Redneck also and hunt with a bunch of them and thats got nothing to do with it. We all use quality ammo for hunting and never have to guess at what we have in our guns because it was the cheapest we found that day.

[T-Ray]

I say get the cheap stuff because that's the dove loads. Here in texas, all the cheap stuff is for dove and/or small game. I was kidding on the whole "just price and guage" thing. I look at what brand it is, what size shot, what it says it's for. I just can't afford to spend $50 on a case of shells that won't kill any more birds than a $25 case of dove shot, 7 1/2, federal will.

I see the remington "sport" loads on sale at walmart all the time... they have pictures of birds on the box. lol

Note he says sport and not target loads and it has picturs of birds on the box, which means meant for hunting birds (dove).

Wally world Target loads arent "fine" for bird hunting(pheasant). I would never try to shoot a pheasant or chuckar with #8 Sport loads(or any other game animal). And if you dont check what load it is, How do you know if its capable of taking the game animals your shooting?

1. not target, sport (the ones with the birds on them)
2. Stillborn said dove, not pheasant
3. I do check the load, but even if i didn't, it has a picture of the animal (dove) i'm going after on it.

hunt squirrels, rabbits.. dove... you know... small stuff?

Walmart sport loads with bird pictures on them (in north texas where stillborn and I are both located) are for dove and other small game, which he was inquiring about.

[rem870hunter]

get a full and improved cylinder choke tube. pattern the shotgun with different loads at different distances. if you are only using it for birds, waterfowl and small game critters. the vent rib will be fine. do not use the target loads for anything other than dove, quail and clay targets, 7 1/2 size. for pheasant there is several brands that make a pheasant load. my father,grandfather and uncles used the remington express high brass in 7 1/2 for pheasant,ducks (before steel shot) and rabbits. low brass 7 1/2 for quail (olympic brand). for squirrel and turkey high brass 4 or 6.

as far as buckshot for deer pattern,pattern,pattern. be careful using the full choke with buckshot,even though the remington boxes have printed "for best results use full choke". winchester and federal don't have that marked on it.

it should work better with imp. cyl. or mod choke. my shotgun worked well with the mod tube. but that does'nt mean it will for yours. if you can use slugs there be sure to check the f&w regs on the sights required for the shotgun. you can't use a bead sight barrel only here in nj. unless you put a scope on the shotgun. it would be better to get a rifle sighted barrel for shooting slugs. better accuracy in my opinion.

[mikenbarb]

I have never seen or owned a shotgun that patterned better with an improved cyl choke with buckshot. Maybe at 10 yards but not 50. All buckshot can be shot out of a full choke and all the guys I hunt deer with use full chokes with buckshot on our deer drives. And im looking at a box of 3 1/2" Federal premium 0 buckshot rite now and it says for best results use full choke. My old OLIN Winchester 000 Buck boxes say it but I dont have any new ones to check. I dont shoot Remington Buckshot so I wouldnt know what they say.
T-Ray, My bad. I didnt realize just for doves. But where we are, We consider the sport loads for targets also.(sporting clays) Its a harder shot than game loads and the sport load boxes in NJ dont have a "birdy" on them. They have a picture of a shooter standing at a sporting clays station on both sides of box(got a box in my hand). I guess its whatever they have a pic of that day lol. I guess if just using for doves you would be good with them. It dont take alot to kill them things.

[rem870hunter]

i didn't say don't use full with buckshot. i merely stated that it may pattern better with a looser choke. my shotgun did not pattern well with full. for sizes #1,0,00 it did better with mod. i have shot #4, i did not like the pellet count. i did try imp. cyl. in my 28" vr barrel it was very iffy at 30 yards with #1 and 0. but the rifle sighted smoothbore (fixed imp. cyl choke) did better at 25 and 30 yards using win and rem #1 buck 2 3/4". the 3" win. and federal did great with the 28" vr barrel to 35 yards. at 40 it was good. each shotgun and barrel will pattern different. he can shoot buckshot with a full choke if he wants. its his shotgun. i am only offering my opinion.

[ebutler462]

Gentlemen, let me chime in here with a bit of advice that has proven to be good for me. I use #6 Walmart loads for squirrels early in the season. Late in the season when their hide is thick and tough, I change over to Remington ShurShot or Express loads. #7.5 and 8s jsut don't have the wherewithal to do the job on squrrels with just one shot. Plus, I don't like picking shot out of my teeth.

The deer hunters around my parts use modified choke with buckshot. However, there are a few die hard full choke fans that think that buckshot slung from a lesser choke will bounce of the deer. For some reason, evryone gets their share of game no matter what choke they choose. It is hard to get the old timer to change, mainly because the guns of their youth were old single barrreled full chokes and that is all they ever used until their children grew up and they could afford a different gun. Then by golly, most of them still swear by their full chokes.

For dove hunting, I like a modified or IC with 7.5 shot. I used 8s for years but got too many cripples and runners. Seems that 7.5 does a mite better at anchoringthem.

Good luck with your Mossberg. The barrel length is a non factor. I have used 24" barrels most of my 50+ years of hunting with pretty good results. For turkey, I like a 20" barrel. In a blind, the short gun is easy to handle. There is very little loss in velocity, if any, in a short barrel. Just more muzzle blast as the muzzle is closer to your ears.

[stillborn]

Thanks guys for all the advice. I will probably go and get some different shell flavors and try them out next week. I already managed to squeeze myself in on a dove hunt in a few months! But hopefully I can go squirrel hunting soon, since there is no closed season in my county.

any tips, or just walk and stop?


thanks,



still

[mikenbarb]

Early morning and late afternoon are best times for tree rat hunting. The walk and stop method works well. You should carry a pocket of rocks so when you see a squirrel go up a tree and play round and round with you, You just toss a couple rocks on the other side of the tree and they think its you again and scurry to the side you are waiting on. Another way is to hunt the buddy system(be very carefull) and one hunter walks in front 40-50 yds from the other taking turns every squirrel harvested. When the first hunter passes the tree the squirrel scurries to the backside and the #2 hunter gets a shot at it. WARNING, Be sure of your target and beyond at all times with this method. Both of these ways have paid off very well for me and another is to just find a nice spot with alot of nut trees and chewed shells and just grab a seat and quietly wait. Tree rats are smart after been hunted a few times and have a good set of ears. Good luck.

[.351winchester]

I just got some Federal Upland Load (7.5) to run thru my 590 SP I bought last week. Cheapest I found on the shelves of Gander Mtn., at 8.00 for 25. IIRC the Remington Game Load -black hull, low brass-was pretty cheap but didn't see any of those shopping. I'll be back for more of those Peters rifled slugs though, at 7 bucks for a box of ten. (also got some 4 and managed recoil 00 buck but plan to order some Fiocchi or Wolf, also got a box of Brenneke TKO. Recently found a 3 pack of Flechettes I bought years ago for some reason, also, so I got a pretty good variety of shotshells to play with. Would like some Quik-Shok non-Sabot and some AP slugs, and some hard cast that would work a bear, etc...JIC, just to have on hand.)
Hard to believe how much ammo has gone up since 5 years ago, last time I shot regularly.

Never tried clays before but a buddy has a thrower and land so I'll be using that birdshot trying my hand at it, maybe a trench gun is not the best choice but I'm looking forward to some fun shooting.

[WacosSon]

For practice I'd stick to Federal 7 or 8 shot - Wally worlds got it for about 22bucks per case - its a nice clean easy load

I've used Federal for squirrels too but I've found that Remington 6 or 7 heavy dove load do the trick as well. Little smellier and certainly dirtier round but feels a bit more powerful too - seems like they're a good thru and thru - don't screw up the meat too bad

that setup you got is a great all around. Choke is perfect for small game and shortys great for HD