Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
Dave,
If I can get a 00 or 000, 8 or 9 pellet reduced recoil load to pattern well at 25 yards (that being by my definition anything inside a foot or so) I will be happy with it. I hope the new Federal stuff will work out for that- we will see when it gets here. I'd not mind at all using the #1 load for indoor applications if necessary, but if the fight goes outside it would mean switching to slugs sooner than I had rather do so. I have to confess a decided bias in favor of the larger pellets for antipersonnel applications.
----
It seems to me that it's time to start adding some ballast to this beast. I wanted to work through a range of ammo before I got to this point, and I think I have done enough experimenting (that is to say, suffered enough) by now. I would HATE to have to take a two-day, 400 round/birdshot, 75 round buckshot, 50 round/slug type shotgun class with this thing in out-of--the-box configuration, it's too much of a bruiser due to its light weight. Dave has kindly offered to supply a couple of pounds of birdshot as ballast(I don't reload currently, and couldn't locate my leftover components while I was home for the holidays) to keep me from having to buy a whole bag.
I plan to fill that nice separate void under the pistol grip cap that I mentioned earlier with birdshot, seal it in place with silicone caulk and reinstall the grip cap for starters. There's not a lot of room in there but it should hold a quarter of a pound or so, and I can't see letting the space go to waste when it can serve perfectly well as a ballast compartment. Then there is the entire separate void in the stock itself for more, if needed.
I'm also going ahead with an order for a six round SideSaddle and a two round TacStar magazine extension for it too, while I'm at it. I don't see that anyone makes a parkerized finish extension for the Winchester 1300 at this time, and TacStar extensions offer good value for the money IMO. One of these days I'll get it parkerized to match, for the time being it doesn't really matter much whether it matches the finish perfectly- it will add the needed weight as well as allowing me room to load five rounds in the magazine with room for one more. That's how I prefer to keep a working shotgun in standby condition (some call it 'cruiser ready' or 'loader ready') anyway, with four or five rounds of buckshot in the magazine, hammer down on a (double checked) empty chamber and slugs in the SideSaddle. That leaves room in the magazine to insert a slug if needed for the first round up the spout, and keeps a bit of pressure off the magazine spring in the process as well.
A note about double checking the chamber before dropping the hammer- I make it a point/habit to perform both a visual and tactile chamber check on a shotgun before pulling the trigger. I suggest you always do the same, if you prefer to store a gun with the springs relaxed and the action unlocked. With the Winchester 1300/FNPS's rotating bolt design, the mouth of the chamber is a good bit further up the barrel than is the mouth of the 870's chamber. You have to look further up the bore to see it and stick your finger further in as well as you check the chamber on this one. It is a really good idea to be careful here, it seriously disturbs domestic tranquility to produce a BOOM when what you intended was a click.
My overall concern is keeping everything as well balanced as possible as I tack on weight and try to add to functionality at the same time. Any weight added 'between the hands' pretty well disappears into the overall weight of the gun, weight added at the muzzle or at the butt has a greater effect on the balance of the piece. The FNPS is perfectly serviceable right out of the box, but at just over 6 pounds it is too light by far for a steady diet of full house buckshot and slug loads, even for an experienced shooter. It needs to take on some weight and/or be fed only reduced recoil buck and slug loads if it is to be shot a good deal as it comes NIB.
Stay tuned...
lpl/nc
edited to add: Swapped choke tubes for the FNPS this PM, installed the ImpCyl and fired the last load of Remington Express #1 buck at the increasingly tattered pattern box. Again, no joy. Nine of 16 pellets on paper on a target 20" high by 11" wide, POA dead center on the target. Pattern was 14" tall by who knows how wide with very uneven distribution of pellets. It could be a tighter choke tube would give better results with these smaller pellets but none is available to me tighter than the factory-supplied Mod tube. I'm not willing to shoot rifled slugs through a tube tighter than that so I won't likely be looking for anything with more points. Peering across the low broomsedge to the berm, 25 yards doesn't LOOK very far at all, but from these patterns it must be a long way.
As I mentioned earlier, the "feature" of the 3" chamber on this gun is likely to langiush unused, as it does with most of my shotguns. Recoil out of full house 2 3/4" loads is punishing enough without being masochistic...
Happy New Year, all!
lpl/nc
If I can get a 00 or 000, 8 or 9 pellet reduced recoil load to pattern well at 25 yards (that being by my definition anything inside a foot or so) I will be happy with it. I hope the new Federal stuff will work out for that- we will see when it gets here. I'd not mind at all using the #1 load for indoor applications if necessary, but if the fight goes outside it would mean switching to slugs sooner than I had rather do so. I have to confess a decided bias in favor of the larger pellets for antipersonnel applications.
----
It seems to me that it's time to start adding some ballast to this beast. I wanted to work through a range of ammo before I got to this point, and I think I have done enough experimenting (that is to say, suffered enough) by now. I would HATE to have to take a two-day, 400 round/birdshot, 75 round buckshot, 50 round/slug type shotgun class with this thing in out-of--the-box configuration, it's too much of a bruiser due to its light weight. Dave has kindly offered to supply a couple of pounds of birdshot as ballast(I don't reload currently, and couldn't locate my leftover components while I was home for the holidays) to keep me from having to buy a whole bag.
I plan to fill that nice separate void under the pistol grip cap that I mentioned earlier with birdshot, seal it in place with silicone caulk and reinstall the grip cap for starters. There's not a lot of room in there but it should hold a quarter of a pound or so, and I can't see letting the space go to waste when it can serve perfectly well as a ballast compartment. Then there is the entire separate void in the stock itself for more, if needed.
I'm also going ahead with an order for a six round SideSaddle and a two round TacStar magazine extension for it too, while I'm at it. I don't see that anyone makes a parkerized finish extension for the Winchester 1300 at this time, and TacStar extensions offer good value for the money IMO. One of these days I'll get it parkerized to match, for the time being it doesn't really matter much whether it matches the finish perfectly- it will add the needed weight as well as allowing me room to load five rounds in the magazine with room for one more. That's how I prefer to keep a working shotgun in standby condition (some call it 'cruiser ready' or 'loader ready') anyway, with four or five rounds of buckshot in the magazine, hammer down on a (double checked) empty chamber and slugs in the SideSaddle. That leaves room in the magazine to insert a slug if needed for the first round up the spout, and keeps a bit of pressure off the magazine spring in the process as well.
A note about double checking the chamber before dropping the hammer- I make it a point/habit to perform both a visual and tactile chamber check on a shotgun before pulling the trigger. I suggest you always do the same, if you prefer to store a gun with the springs relaxed and the action unlocked. With the Winchester 1300/FNPS's rotating bolt design, the mouth of the chamber is a good bit further up the barrel than is the mouth of the 870's chamber. You have to look further up the bore to see it and stick your finger further in as well as you check the chamber on this one. It is a really good idea to be careful here, it seriously disturbs domestic tranquility to produce a BOOM when what you intended was a click.
My overall concern is keeping everything as well balanced as possible as I tack on weight and try to add to functionality at the same time. Any weight added 'between the hands' pretty well disappears into the overall weight of the gun, weight added at the muzzle or at the butt has a greater effect on the balance of the piece. The FNPS is perfectly serviceable right out of the box, but at just over 6 pounds it is too light by far for a steady diet of full house buckshot and slug loads, even for an experienced shooter. It needs to take on some weight and/or be fed only reduced recoil buck and slug loads if it is to be shot a good deal as it comes NIB.
Stay tuned...
lpl/nc
edited to add: Swapped choke tubes for the FNPS this PM, installed the ImpCyl and fired the last load of Remington Express #1 buck at the increasingly tattered pattern box. Again, no joy. Nine of 16 pellets on paper on a target 20" high by 11" wide, POA dead center on the target. Pattern was 14" tall by who knows how wide with very uneven distribution of pellets. It could be a tighter choke tube would give better results with these smaller pellets but none is available to me tighter than the factory-supplied Mod tube. I'm not willing to shoot rifled slugs through a tube tighter than that so I won't likely be looking for anything with more points. Peering across the low broomsedge to the berm, 25 yards doesn't LOOK very far at all, but from these patterns it must be a long way.
As I mentioned earlier, the "feature" of the 3" chamber on this gun is likely to langiush unused, as it does with most of my shotguns. Recoil out of full house 2 3/4" loads is punishing enough without being masochistic...
Happy New Year, all!
lpl/nc
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