12 Gauge Rem Choke for Trap/Skeet

[TheKlawMan]

I put up a WTB post on the accessories thread for a 12 gauge 28" barrel, but ideally what kind of choke or chokes should I try to get. I am just shooting single trap now and will eventually try skeet. Hopefully someday I will try some actually fowling. I plan to be reducing my loads to 7/8 ounce. For those that don't know what I shoot it's a Remington 870 pump.

[oneounceload]

For trap singles from the 16, a IC, LM, or M will work

For skeet, a C, SK or IC will work

C= .000
SK= .005
IC= .010
LM= .015
M= .020

Those are thousandths of an inch constrictions (sometimes called "points") at the muzzle

Most folks will use a M for trap, especially if they do not get on the bird quickly as it will hold a slightly tighter pattern at longer range. Remember that what the choke says is an indication of what it SHOULD be. What it ACTUALLY is will be determined by you at the pattern board

You might want to consider a barrel with choke tubes so you can easily shoot trap and skeet in one outing merely by changing chokes

[BigJimP]

For 16 yd Trap - I prefer a Modified choke. Skeet choke - for Skeet...

If you like the Remington - and are going to keep it ....I'd buy chokes in:

Cyclinder
Skeet
Improved Cyclinder
Modified
Improved Modified
Full

so I would have a complete set ....although you can add some others in between those as well. Most of the 870's came with 3 chokes I thought .... a Cycl, Mod and Full didn't they ?? So you could really just use those 3 - if you want to keep it on a budget.

[Dave McC]

Jim, just FYI.....

Remington's skeet choke is negative choke, about 2 POC larger than bore diameter. They also make a very useful Light Mod. Mine runs about 16 POC in the two barrels I had miked.

I have never seen a IM Remchoke. and I have looked some.

[joegator]

For my 870 I use a MOD for 16 yd trap and a SKEET choke for skeet.

[zippy13]

You can use any choke you have for Skeet, but your scores will probably be higher with a Skeet choke. If you don't have a Skeet choke, you might use a "spreader" wad in your reloads.

[BigJimP]

I did not know that Dave ...interesting ...

[TheKlawMan]

Interesting. Here I have only been shooting trap with my open cyllinder 18", becasue I thought it was easier on an open cyllinder but it looksl like it is best suited for skeet; not that it is really suited for either. I meant to indicate that I am looking for a long barrel that was threaded for choke tubes. what I offer will depend on it it has one or more tubes that I can use.

[oneounceload]

A friend of mine is a past skeet champ of P.R. - he has mentioned that SK1 is .002 -.003, SK is .005, and SK2 is .008. Many folks call .015, aka Light Modified, SK2 but according to him, that is incorrect. Briley's choke chart seems to substantiate his view as well. Perhaps Remington's .002 is that?

[mwar410]

That .015 is my favorite choke, It's become a permanent fixture in my duck gun. Which is usually the gun I now bring to the skeet and sporting fields. It will make you think more about those easy shots, and it will reach those further shots. There's a reason why alot of sporting clays (fixed choked) guns are Lt mod.
If you guys are all shooting up to mod in your trap guns, why are most trap guns full in the top barrel? Mine almost mics out to a 16 ga.

[pabuckslayer08]

I like the mod. choke for alot of different shooting, it fills alot of gaps. I actually bought a set at a gun show for like 50 bucks that included imp. cyl, mod. improved mod. full. and a extra full. These are all Rem. chokes and the only ones I use are the mod for basically everything and the extra full for turkey. If you decide to go hunting and use steel though you will want to get a steel choke as well.

[zippy13]

@ Big Jim and 1-oz

I was paging through some old copies of Skeet Shooting Review and ran across this graphic of Dave McC and his early Remington Skeet gun…
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2842/fromclipboard2.gif
Image: Public domain from Wikimedia Commons

[Dave McC]

I wonder who drew that and left my moustache off.....

That skeet gun certainly had negative choke. Not bad on singles but my doubles average reeked.

Seriously, the most used chokes here are LM. Works for trap singles, Wobble birds, SC and 5 stand.

[BigJimP]

Now that's funny .....:p

He looks serious ... but that head is way off the comb .... ( and no mustache, we should have known ...) .... Nice haircut too by the way ....(I'm just too old to make that look work ) ....

[BigJimP]

Klawman,

You're almost certainly losing targets with that Cyc choke ....at 16 yard Trap ...

( you might be putting out some 60" patterns / with all kinds of holes in them big enough, for a target to fly thru without breaking ) ....at the 35 yards you are probably breaking the targets at.... ( remember you're 16 yards behind the house / target goes down range and reaches its peak before it starts to fall at about 35 yards.) Remember on a Trap target ...you want to kill em when they're still rising / not when they flatten out / and especially not when they start to drop ...) ....

This game is not impossible to do with an 18" barrel and a cyl choke ...but you're making it a lot harder on yourself. You might be missing targets - and still executing a "good smooth shot" on the target...

[TheKlawMan]

DaDa. I hear you Big Jim and today I bought me a 28 " barrel, a modified and a skeet choke, plus the needed magazine cap and spring (all used) so I won't have to use the magazine extension with the field barrel Now I can sign up for a group skeet class at a local range called Triple B.

[rsnell]

Skeet: 26-28 inch barrel with skeet chock (constriction 0.002-0.006)
trap: 30-35 inch barrel with not less than an improved modified chock (constriction 0.024-0.031) back to the 23 yard line, full chock from the 24 yard line.

Bob

[TheKlawMan]

I shot two rounds of trap with my new used 28" barrrel and did it make a difference! With the 18" cyliinder bore I might hit 3 or 4 of 25. The first 25 I hit 5 and perhaps barely brushed another 2. The second 25 I squarely nailed about 14 with a run of 8 in a row as I got use to the entirely new picture down the long rib and began to figure out I was shooting low with my bead below the target. I was when I started to put the bead on the clay that I started breaking them. And no recoil problems with the WM Federal 1-1/8 oz bricks!
Now for my first skeet lesson next Sunday, a group lesson at Triple B for which I have a skeet choke. Also, now that I believe I am mounting the gun better, and the rib presents a different picture, I can now see the target and the bead through the top of my prescription glasses. This if fun. Thanks again all.

[oneounceload]

Great Klaw!-can now when you get tired of easy games like trap and skeet..............slide on down to the 5-stand and sporting fields.......the fun is just beginning!:D

[TheKlawMan]

I will get there eventualy oneounce, a bit at a time. What is weird is I can't even tell that I fired a gun today, and a month ago my shoulder was a wreck. Anyway it was fun before and I am certainly not lighting any fires, but it is kind of nice to be able to hit a few targets. The guy shooting with me had shot with me a couple of weeks ago and he was more excited then I was when I busted 8 in a row. Meanwhile, the guy with a fancy Italian semi on my other side, who was nice enough but kind of bragged about how it was tricked up, kept having FTFs. BigJim has been so great I will only refer to the FTF queen as an Italian semi.:D

[Dave McC]

Great news, Klaw. BTW, Benellis will do that when new and light loads are used. A few boxes of 3 1/4 dr eq 1 1/8 oz loads will fix that almost certainly..

You do need to see Mr Patterning Board ASAP. Only then can you be sure it's shooting where you need it to.

Most 870s with most shooters run a flat pattern, center of pattern is about on the bead. Any deviation low or right/left may call for some stock shimming or other corrective action..

[zippy13]

Now for my first skeet lesson next Sunday, a group lesson at Triple B for which I have a skeet choke.
A wise choice.
I noticed in Skeet Shooting Review, one of the members of the NSSA's Rookie All-American Team credited Ziggy (a Skeet instructor at Triple-B) for his success.

[TheKlawMan]

Dave McC: I hear you on the patterning board. As is, I am pretty much guessing where the gun shoots in relatiion to where I think it is pointed. Given the strained way I have to peer through or over the top of my glasses I may in fact be pointing high when I think I am aiming low.

The guy with the Benelli explained something to the effect that it was set up for three gun and it had too light a return spring. I know nothing about the weapon but I gather the bolt wasn't quite locking into battery. That or he may have meant a firing pin hammer/striker spring if it has such an animal.

All I know about semi automatics is the little I recall of my old M-14.

I am putting off messing with the stock until I settle in as to mounting the gun. Every time I shoot the standard synthetic stock seems smaller.

Zippy: You might already know this but the class is taught by Don Ziegler (I believe to be called Ziggy) and everyone thinks he is great. I am looking forward to a great time based on what everyone has said who attended past clinics.

[zippy13]

Don's an accomplished competitive Skeet shooter and has been instructing and coaching for many years (believe it, or not, he's even older than we are). I've watched him give group lessons and it can be very informative if you keep your ears and eyes open. In addition to the individual attention, you'll learn by watching him correct the mistakes of others. Here's a little tip: when the group squads-up to shoot, try to get the last position. That way you'll get to watch more targets (they look different from each station), and see more corrections before you shoot.

[BigJimP]

Thanks for the props ....and while I do think a Benelli semi-auto is a decent gun ...like any semi-auto it needs to be kept clean and well lubed in order to be reliable.

( I also don't buy the ....the recoil spring is too light for "Trap" because he set it up for 3 gun ...nonsense ...) ....

To my knowledge, Benelli doesn't offer different springs for their guns ...and I don't believe they recommend different spring tensions for different loads ...and I only have 2 Benelli's ( both Super Sport models, one in 12ga and one in 20ga ) and they've both been very good guns - must then again, I use the spring that came in the gun ...

I suspect the shooter with the issues - did not have a clean gun / and it probably wasn't lubed properly.

[zippy13]

I suspect the shooter with the issues - did not have a clean gun / and it probably wasn't lubed properly.With troublesome auto-loaders it's frequently an ammo problem, especially if it's a super lite or a re-load. Un-sized or mushroomed crimped reloads can raise havoc with almost any stick gun.

[TheKlawMan]

I like Zippy's tip on taking the last squad position and learning by watching the ohters. As for Ziggy be even older than us, from some pics i looked at of one of the recent groups Ii will feel old enough amongst the twenty somethings. At least my 870 with a field barrel will fit in with a group ranging from what looked like a 24" Mossberg semi to various pumps with long barrels to even a Citori.

I think Jim may be right about that Benelli simply needing a proper cleaning. It sure looked pretty but could have been filthy on the inside.

[TheKlawMan]

Zippy13: I did Don's introductory skeet clinic today at Triple B and he was great, and the club was very nice. I presented a real challenge, especially given I had the pump. I did get a double, but using his expensive Berreta O/U. My mount isn't that bad, my LOP is too long, I keep looking at the barrel, and he showed me how to pump and be able for a quick second shot. Of course he showed us a lot more of the essentials to shooting a shotgun. For a few bucks I sure got a lot of stuff to work on, while having a nice day.

[zippy13]

Glad to hear you had a good time. I was concerned that the place might have been underwater after the recent storm. The view of fresh snow on the San Gabriel Mtn's was probably a little distracting. After your time with Dan, now things like: stance, foot position, hold point, acquiring the target, swing, lead and follow through have a more precise meaning for you. Just out of curiosity, how large was the class?

[TheKlawMan]

Zippy. The class was 9. If you want to see some pics of the group they are at
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=402191 . You will ID the handsome young man holding the 870 with the LE forend, but yes that stuff means a lot more now. As for the view, I grew up with it but it was at its best and I have to say I miss it.