Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Waterfowl => Topic started by: singleshot12 on January 21, 2014, 06:54:42 PM
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For a Mossberg 500 20ga Bantom with an 22in barrel, Any suggestions? thanks
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Probably the modified choke it comes with. If you want to shorten the shot string you can get a Kicks or Patternmaster. Unfortunately the cost of one of those choke is half the cost of the gun. The chokes it comes with will work. A Carlsons is another option for about $39. They pattern well. Given the gun and possible skill set of younger shooters, it may be wise to keep the money and invest it into the next gun. They typically grow out of the Bantum series quickly.
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For a Mossberg 500 20ga Bantom with an 18in barrel, Any suggestions? thanks
If your intention is just to try it out for ducks, I'd go with a full choke since it's a 20ga. Personally I like a long barrel for sighting. Longer sight plain makes it easier to be accurate. I'd opt for a longer barreled gun if I had the choice.
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For a Mossberg 500 20ga Bantom with an 18in barrel, Any suggestions? thanks
If your intention is just to try it out for ducks, I'd go with a full choke since it's a 20ga. Personally I like a long barrel for sighting. Longer sight plain makes it easier to be accurate. I'd opt for a longer barreled gun if I had the choice.
It's a youth gun. They cut wait and help increase speed with the shorter barrel. Most of the Bantom's I have seen all have had at least a 21" barrel. After we papered a few of them for the club, the modified was a good option out to 30 yards. The full isn't the safest option if using steel shot, especially being only 18" from the front of a youths face.
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18" barrel for waterfowl? An 18 incher is good for home protection or very close range.
Shoot your 18" barrel into paper at measured distances and see what you get. You may see a big hole on the paper, my guess is that is the wad.
Since the barrel is short the pattern of the pellets are spread out to much to make a clean kill possibly beyond 30 feet.
Changed the barrel to a minimum of 26", 28" is better with a modified choke.
Depending on how you're hunting will determine the choke you need, hunting over deeks, then IC or skeet, shooting max distance then FUll, combo over deeks and distance then modified.
Info on chokes:
https://www.google.com/search?q=skeet+choke&client=firefox-a&hs=NUh&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=d-_fUo6tMtfYoATP3YHQBw&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=664 (https://www.google.com/search?q=skeet+choke&client=firefox-a&hs=NUh&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=d-_fUo6tMtfYoATP3YHQBw&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=664)
Ebay has some barrels for sale.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=mossberg+500+barrel&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R1.TR2.TRC1.A0.Xmossberg+500+barrel+20&_nkw=mossberg+500+barrel+20&_sacat=0 (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=mossberg+500+barrel&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R1.TR2.TRC1.A0.Xmossberg+500+barrel+20&_nkw=mossberg+500+barrel+20&_sacat=0)
Other forums where you can ask your question:
http://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=62 (http://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=62)
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Patterns have little to do with barrel length, for many years my saltwater waterfowl gun was a 870 Turkey Special with a 21" barrel and youth stock and it worked very well. You need to pattern the gun and in most cases IC or MOD will work very well with steel shot for waterfowl. Most Turkey guns have short barrels and are expected to shoot very tight patterns.
Learning to HUNT waterfowl, being on the "X" and not spooking them will eliminate the need for special chokes or extended range and heavily loaded shotshells. I shot a youth 20ga for a few years before going back to my beloved old hammer guns.
I wouldn't judge the abilities of a shooter by the gun they shoot. Rudy Etchen shot a plain barrel 870.
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Thanks guys and I rechecked the barrel length and it is 22in. and NOT 18,I also looked at the choke it came with and it appears to have an improved cyl. It's a great gun(turkey edition with fiber-optic sites) The kid likes it and seems to pattern well for ducks 25 yards and under. It's frustrating for him to hit birds at 30-40 yards and only hit them with a pellet or two.
The seasons winding down now so we have all year to get it resolved.
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Patterns have little to do with barrel length, for many years my saltwater waterfowl gun was a 870 Turkey Special with a 21" barrel and youth stock and it worked very well. You need to pattern the gun and in most cases IC or MOD will work very well with steel shot for waterfowl. Most Turkey guns have short barrels and are expected to shoot very tight patterns.
Learning to HUNT waterfowl, being on the "X" and not spooking them will eliminate the need for special chokes or extended range and heavily loaded shotshells. I shot a youth 20ga for a few years before going back to my beloved old hammer guns.
I wouldn't judge the abilities of a shooter by the gun they shoot. Rudy Etchen shot a plain barrel 870.
Oops you right I got carried away seeing the 18" thing for waterfowl.
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I orderd an extended Accu mod choke for it. hopefully that will tighten the pattern a bit more for him
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Thanks guys and I rechecked the barrel length and it is 22in. and NOT 18,I also looked at the choke it came with and it appears to have an improved cyl. It's a great gun(turkey edition with fiber-optic sites) The kid likes it and seems to pattern well for ducks 25 yards and under. It's frustrating for him to hit birds at 30-40 yards and only hit them with a pellet or two.
The seasons winding down now so we have all year to get it resolved.
This is why I suggested a full choke as a 20ga is going to have fewer pellets than a 12ga, all things being equal. There is no safety issues with a full choke, it simply shoots tight patterns but as I've already stated, that's usually what's needed on heavily feathered ducks and geese - lots of pellets on target.
I've hand loaded steel up to 2000 fps and shot it thru a .660 turkey choke to make an attempt at keeping the pattern together. No luck but it works.