Okay. It didn’t work quite as well as I wanted to. It was a relatively short trip and I only brought the Winchester Super Speed Xtra game loads. At 16 yards, I couldn’t hit anything. I should have brought the Federal and Remington variety to try those out. Maybe the choke on this barrel is lacking? Perhaps the barrel is simply too short… For those folks out there with scatter gun knowledge, are there loads with controlled shot spread?
In other news, I got a chance to shoot an old gun that I’ve been afraid to shoot due to age. Since it’s chambered for 3″ shells, I figured, “why not?” It’s an old Sears-Roebuck single shot, bolt action .410. The choke is relatively small which seemed to destroy clays out to 25 yards.
EDIT: I just found this and I thought it might come in handy:
http://www.cylindersmith.com/M6.html
Yeah, I’d say go do some pattern board work first so you know what you’ve got. That link looks like this can turn out to be a really useful gun with slug loads and the right hold.
D’oh! Didn’t see that you’d already done pattern work in your (excellent as always, btw) review below.
Is it maybe just a problem with the sight picture? Do you know what the sight picture was when shooting the patterns? I’ve only ever shot clays with rifle sights, and I’m assuming it’s different than with just a bead.
You may have something there – I think it might be a sight picture problem. I did notice that many of the loads I attempted to pattern did come out low. I was a bit in a rush and actually shooting on someone else’s dime, so I didn’t want to shoot too many clays with this rifle. I never did get to see where my wads were going either – maybe I’ll go out tomorrow morning since it’s bugging me a bit.
Edited above, I did find another shooter with a similar gun who seems to have a much more solid understanding of this rifle. Based on his notes, I’m going to see if I can replicate his results.