Home Defense

[Allen in MT]

Found this little beast of a shotgun. Looks like it was professionally refinished. It is a solid frame 97 Winchester 110 years old. It will set in a corner for a HDG if needed. #4 BK should do just fine.
I did take it out and shoot a round of trap with it. Great shooter.

 

[Riomouse911]

Nice find, those can be smooth shooters for sure!

And you’re right about the #4 Buck, for HD it can be very effective in such a shotgun.

Stay safe.

 

[mokin]

What a sweetie! I'd have a hard time relagating that gun to a corner for home defense. Not that I'd make it a regular trap gun, but I'd definitely give it some love.

 

[gyp_c2]

What could be more loving than fulfilling the need it's made for?

 

[bannockburn]

Aye tis a sweet beast of a shotgun you'd be talkin' about there! Would make for a fine home defense gun with some #4 Buck on hand as well!

 

[I6turbo]

What a sweetie! I'd have a hard time relagating that gun to a corner for home defense. Not that I'd make it a regular trap gun, but I'd definitely give it some love.

I'm the same way with my HD-style shotguns. I love to take them out and shoot them, and frankly, I enjoy shooting them more than I do my full-length shotguns. Both the Auto 5 and the Model 37 were little more than novelties before I shortened the barrels and had the sporting clays screw-in chokes installed. Afterwards, they are two of the guns that I just LOOK for something I can shoot with them, whether it be clay targets or whatever else. Pump or semi-auto shotguns (with their long receivers) shouldn't have barrels longer than 20".

 

[Paul R Zartman]

20 inch is way to long

 

[lemaymiami]

I've handled and carried every beaten up old riot gun my agency ever issued (at least that's how I remembered it since we had to draw a different one each shift - all those years ago, a mix of Remington and Mossbergs in basic riot configuration...). When I made sergeant, then lieutenant I was able to have a personal shotgun issued to me that stayed with me for the rest of my career - it was a Remington Wingmaster in excellent condition (and I kept it that way...) with a 20" barrel and simple bead sight. In my opinion it was an outstanding gun for the street. Most 20" barreled 870's that I've seen since then all have had rifle sights as opposed to that simple bead sight and I've rarely seen one with the 20" barrel and bead sights. Whenever I do it always catches my eye. And yes, to this day I still prefer a four shot tube when quickness is life itself...

 

[DustyGmt]

20 inch is way to long

How critical is barrel length with respect to trap shooting. Would you look like an idiot if you showed up with a 20" bbl to shoot a round of trap? Is there a significant advantage to every inch over 20" in terms of patterning, busting clays, etc....?

 

[Skeptic13]

20 inch is way to long

I have a Mossberg 590 that has a 20" barrel and holds 8+1. I like that length a lot and it will lay down a lot of lead in a short period of time.

 

[bannockburn]

Skeptic13

I think 20" barrels are fine as well but for some reason I have always liked the look of an 18" barrel on my HD shotgun.

 

[bannockburn]

I6turbo

Love the wood grain on both your shotguns; especially the Model 37!

 

[bigmike45]

The only shotguns that I have ever owned or Winchesters and they’ve all served me well. I still have the first one I bought when I was 18 years old and I also have the riot gun version of that same gun for home protection.

 

[dh1633pm]

I take my FN SLP to shoot sporting clays. Yeah, they look at me funny with their fancy over unders. I wish I could say I kick butt; I don’t. I did however get much better at handling my shotgun and learning how it shoots.

 

[I6turbo]

How critical is barrel length with respect to trap shooting.... Is there a significant advantage to every inch over 20" in terms of patterning, busting clays, etc....?

How well you do at trap shooting has a TON more to do with how good you are, not how long the barrel of your gun is. All else equal, and given a good and experienced shooter, longer barrels up to a point will improve your score a bit. But the improvement is all about swing and sighting radius and stuff like that. The pattern is determined by the choke and the details of the load that you're shooting (shot volume and size, muzzle velocity, and a most important factor IME - the wad), not the length of the barrel.

I wouldn't buy a short-barrel gun FOR shooting Trap, but I wouldn't hesitate to shoot some rounds with one either.

 

[bannockburn]

dh1633

I use to take my Mossberg Model 9200 trap shooting to help improve my shotgun shooting skills. Some guys were there with H&R single shot guns, Remington 870s, 1100s, and a couple of O/Us; pretty much for the same reason I was there for.

 

[kudu]

How critical is barrel length with respect to trap shooting.

Keep in mind that some trap and skeet ranges have a minimum barrel length for you to be able to play. I personally have never been to one that I know of that had that rule, but have heard people speak of it. I think it was 24".

It is more the experience of the shooter than the barrel length but at least a 26" barrel will help an inexperienced shooter be able to hit more than a 20" barrel. I once shot a 23 and a 24 on a skeet range with a Thompson Center Contender pistol with the 12" .410 barrel on it, just singles mind, couldn't reload a break action pistol fast enough for doubles.

Our club sees and influx of camo hunting shotguns in the fall as guys try to sharpen up before bird seasons, and there is the occasional riot type shotgun that shows up and we have to remind them that they can only load one shell at a time for trap and two on skeet doubles, sometimes it takes the wind out of their sails that they have a gun that will hold 8+ shells and club rules won't let them. We are strictly a trap, skeet, and sporting clay club, so no 3 gun and max shot size of 7.5 birdshot.

 

[DustyGmt]

We are strictly a trap, skeet, and sporting clay club, so no 3 gun and max shot size of 7.5 birdshot.

That's kind of a bummer, I wonder if my range has a 7.5 max shot. Most of all the bulk 12ga packs I see when I go out are #6 I believe.... I wonder if they would be inclined to make exceptions due to ammo scarcity. What is the max shot size rule in favor of, strictly for competition, environmental?

 

[kudu]

What is the max shot size rule in favor of, strictly for competition, environmental?

They have found anything bigger than #7.5 will carry too far downrange and might encroach on neighbors property and will also possibly drop onto the sporting clays course that wraps around the property and most of those shots face inwards to account for shot drop zone.