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Old April 25, 2021, 04:22 PM   #1
stagpanther
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Winchester SXP question

Was out shooting with a friend today, he's getting ready for our turkey season and bought a brand new 26" win SXP (which I know nothing about) and he was shooting at "turkey distances" to get a workout, including trying out full and modified chokes. His patterns seemed rather poor, they looked like "O's" with the majority of the shot in circle around the point of aim, and for some reason a greater concentration to the right side, using either a full or modified choke. I'm a rifle guy, so I had no idea why a shotgun would do that--I even went home and got my nearly 20 year old 870 and shooting the same stuff the patterns were noticeably better. I use a Primos jelly head for hunting, even took it off and let him use it to see if there was any difference, there appeared to be a slight improved at the point of aim, but still a tendency to pattern most of the shot in an "O" pattern, regardless of distance (30 to 50 yards). Any ideas/suggestions?
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Old April 25, 2021, 05:43 PM   #2
stagpanther
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Upon some further research--the chokes my friend used were supplied with the gun as a matched set. Although my remmie jelly head fit his gun no problem, I realize now that it's not the same constriction size--so I guess my bad for that idea--though I was just trying to be helpful.
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Old April 25, 2021, 07:15 PM   #3
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Patterning a shotgun is more luck than science. Just like with rifles, some ammo shoots well, some not so well. He may need to try several brands and types, even different shot sizes to find something that works well enough for him.

I bought one of the 870 youth guns in 20 ga partly to turkey hunt with, partly so the grand kids would have something to learn on. I like the compact 21" barrel and featherlight weight for walking miles in the turkey woods. But initially I had trouble find ammo that would group tight enough even with the aftermarket extra full choke tube. I gave up on the gun and didn't hunt with it for several years.

Last year I decided to try again and bought 3 more types of ammo to experiment with. One of the 3 was SIGNIFICANTLY better than anything I'd previously tried. I used that gun all last season and so far this season.
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Old April 26, 2021, 05:30 AM   #4
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Thanks, that makes sense intuitively, I'll talk to my friend today, he's kinda freaked since all the reviews he read convinced him the SXP is one of the best value hunting shotguns available. I read that they are made in Turkey--I wonder by whom.
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Old April 26, 2021, 06:44 AM   #5
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One must find the shells and choke tubes that work best for their intended use. When reloading you have a much better chance. Some of Ballistic Products shot cups and plated shot gave significantly better/denser long range patterns than anything but Winchester Super XX. I was only able to very slightly improve on those. Very small changes in constriction can make a marked difference.
I can't help with the donut patterns as I NEVER encountered those.
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Old April 26, 2021, 08:03 AM   #6
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Good advice. BTW, he also had a old Mossberg 195 bolt action shotgun which he let me shoot, it was far more accurate with a good pattern than his new Winnie--so that didn't help.
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