Major shotgun preparedness faux pas

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
Through acts of streamlining, consolidating, poor planning and general stupidity, I find myself rapidly approaching dove season without an adequate shotgun.

I disposed of my field 12 gauges, so the one I had for general purpose is gone.

I got a fixed choke SxS, 20 gauge but its choked "almost improved" by "almost modified". Hell of a woodcock/close range gun but not a longer range dove knocker. One barrel is 3 thousandths shy of industry acceptable thickness to thread for truchokes, if I wanted to go that route. I've done stupider things, but not sure if I want to risk it.

I remember back to my infatuation with an old Franchi 48 that the a**hole store clerk kept telling me was on layaway because he wanted to buy it, essentially screwing me out of that deal.

So, with all the recent talk - I'm left with doing the unconscionable. Possibly buying a gun.

Never thought I'd say this, but I've got old guy laziness, so its going to be a semi auto or double.

Do I do another 20 or go with the 28?

And I'm a function over form guy, so it can be cheap and ugly, as long as it goes bang.

All this may be moot if nothing is in stock, but c'est la vie, which is French for "I just may not eat dove this year."
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Through acts of streamlining, consolidating, poor planning and general stupidity, I find myself rapidly approaching dove season without an adequate shotgun.

I disposed of my field 12 gauges, so the one I had for general purpose is gone.

I got a fixed choke SxS, 20 gauge but its choked "almost improved" by "almost modified". Hell of a woodcock/close range gun but not a longer range dove knocker. One barrel is 3 thousandths shy of industry acceptable thickness to thread for truchokes, if I wanted to go that route. I've done stupider things, but not sure if I want to risk it.

I remember back to my infatuation with an old Franchi 48 that the a**hole store clerk kept telling me was on layaway because he wanted to buy it, essentially screwing me out of that deal.

So, with all the recent talk - I'm left with doing the unconscionable. Possibly buying a gun.

Never thought I'd say this, but I've got old guy laziness, so its going to be a semi auto or double.

Do I do another 20 or go with the 28?

And I'm a function over form guy, so it can be cheap and ugly, as long as it goes bang.

All this may be moot if nothing is in stock, but c'est la vie, which is French for "I just may not eat dove this year."
Go with thinwall chokes.
 

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Through acts of streamlining, consolidating, poor planning and general stupidity, I find myself rapidly approaching dove season without an adequate shotgun.

I disposed of my field 12 gauges, so the one I had for general purpose is gone.

I got a fixed choke SxS, 20 gauge but its choked "almost improved" by "almost modified". Hell of a woodcock/close range gun but not a longer range dove knocker. One barrel is 3 thousandths shy of industry acceptable thickness to thread for truchokes, if I wanted to go that route. I've done stupider things, but not sure if I want to risk it.

I remember back to my infatuation with an old Franchi 48 that the a**hole store clerk kept telling me was on layaway because he wanted to buy it, essentially screwing me out of that deal.

So, with all the recent talk - I'm left with doing the unconscionable. Possibly buying a gun.

Never thought I'd say this, but I've got old guy laziness, so its going to be a semi auto or double.

Do I do another 20 or go with the 28?

And I'm a function over form guy, so it can be cheap and ugly, as long as it goes bang.

All this may be moot if nothing is in stock, but c'est la vie, which is French for "I just may not eat dove this year."
Just a thought...if it was me ( and I usually only went on a couple of "dove shoots" ) I wouldn't worry about the 20ga chokes and go enjoy...worse case use some magnum shells.

Also, IMHO, I doubt a choked 28ga with its smaller shot load would do any better than your 20ga with its larger shot loads.
Your mileage may vary...
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
Go with thinwall chokes.
Tru Chokes in 20 gauge via 4D rentals are thinner than Rem and Win.

4D recommends a resultant thickness after reaming of 0.015" and I have 0.012" in the right barrel of my 20.

May be picayune, but its a consideration.

Not sure if Brileys are thinner but I'd have to send it off and its $500 for fitting and 5 chokes. The question there is if the $$ is better spent on a second scattergun...
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Tru Chokes in 20 gauge via 4D rentals are thinner than Rem and Win.

4D recommends a resultant thickness after reaming of 0.015" and I have 0.012" in the right barrel of my 20.

May be picayune, but its a consideration.

Not sure if Brileys are thinner but I'd have to send it off and its $500 for fitting and 5 chokes. The question there is if the $$ is better spent on a second scattergun...
Yep truchoke is thinner than factory and thinwall are thinner yet, Briley is the last stop. When I was messing with shotguns all the time and had the real old Brownings with the paper thin barrels I had to send them to Briley. They actually had to make custom chokes for them. The barrels would wind up so thin they wouldn't ship a barrel without a choke in it once tapped for fear of it damaging it.

Briley has went up a little but I had my FFL at the time and it wasn't quite that expensive for me with a dealer acct.

Michael Orlene can install thinwall.
 

ABolt

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I got a fixed choke SxS, 20 gauge but its choked "almost improved" by "almost modified".
What you have is perfect for almost any dove scenario, short of skybusting. Use this setup, be selective on your shots, and you will drop doves while conserving valuable shells...

And I'm a function over form guy, so it can be cheap and ugly, as long as it goes bang.
And if this is the case, you can always get the Beretta that @Troutbum82 is selling. I've got one, and it's a perfect dove/duck setup...
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Most people's dove percentage would increase greatly if they used more open chokes. I have seen this proven many times, and my best results were with Skeet and IC in a 28" Citori. Try the more open chokes and you will be impressed with how many more you kill.
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
What you have is perfect for almost any dove scenario, short of skybusting. Use this setup, be selective on your shots, and you will drop doves while conserving valuable shells...
Most people's dove percentage would increase greatly if they used more open chokes. I have seen this proven many times, and my best results were with Skeet and IC in a 28" Citori. Try the more open chokes and you will be impressed with how many more you kill.

OK, my wife put you guys up to this, so I don't go out spending money.

But, you're probably right. I'm going out on a memory limb and saying I have yet to miss cock or quail with this gun, but I never had it out dove hunting, so I'll give it a twirl.
 

Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
most of my dove hunting has been with a modified choke but an "almost" improved, and "almost" modified double setup sounds like it would work great to me. those buggers are fast and agile. Improved Cyl is an underrated choke for wing shooting.
 

shurshot

Ten Pointer
I’m also of the opinion to shoot what you have instead of spending major money on chokes that you probably will only dove hunt with a few times a year. Your “almost” constrictions equate to basically skeet and light modified (but depends on gun manufacturers specs). Skeet will kill doves farther than you might think, LM is my favorite choke for almost any gun I shoot. $500 plus can get you a nice Tristar. For the money, they seem to have a very good track record and folks seem to like them a lot. Finding one might be a little difficult but I’m seeing more and more guns on dealer’s shelves.
 

dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
20 or 12 gauge?
either

Academy has their over/under for $429 I believe

plus there's other auto's out there for that

but, the most birds I ever killed in a day, Rem 1100 LT 20 with my smooth bore slug barrel. The birds were coming strong and a lot of close shots.

my boys are shooting a skeet 1 and a skeet 2 in the over/under that I mentioned above and are busting more clays than most the other kids in practice.

get a new gun if you want, or shoot what you have. I would go buy a new gun myself, cause I just like new guns.
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
I'll admit to carrying a lot of "growing up opinion of family" with regards to chokes. Some of that 40+ years old.

About the only chokes I've patterned were for turkey and some open chokes on trench guns I was issued for social work.

I guess I'm falling victim to what the old folks told me as a kid, and maybe I need to get some big white paper and run it out to 30 or 40 yards and see exactly what I got?
 

Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I'll admit to carrying a lot of "growing up opinion of family" with regards to chokes. Some of that 40+ years old.

About the only chokes I've patterned were for turkey and some open chokes on trench guns I was issued for social work.

I guess I'm falling victim to what the old folks told me as a kid, and maybe I need to get some big white paper and run it out to 30 or 40 yards and see exactly what I got?
Sounds like a good plan.

I suspect you'll find that all you need is a couple decoy doves, a power line, and some fishing line....

I joke....
 

bwfarms

Old Mossy Horns
Different shot size and brands will affect patterning.

Dad insisted he wanted full choke on his 20 ga. I told him to paper it in full and modified. Modified had the better pattern, full actually had multiple bald spots in the pattern along with a pronounced oval center.
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
Sounds like a good plan.

I suspect you'll find that all you need is a couple decoy doves, a power line, and some fishing line....

I joke....
I painstaking installed a 300' zip line for the kids years ago. As of this moment, all the children are either too young to use it, or too old to risk it.

I hang decoys on it. ;)
 

Dan in NC

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Do you have many doves around surveyor? Everything is still very green around here.
The decoys on power lines works very well. I would shoot that 20 with #8's and have fun.
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
Do you have many doves around surveyor? Everything is still very green around here.
The decoys on power lines works very well. I would shoot that 20 with #8's and have fun.
I have more than last year, for sure. I'm good for spooking up a half dozen on the half mile gravel drive when I get home.

It's making me regret not planting the back field, but I let it over grow with poke berries (because I haven't had time to bush hog lately) and the dove love them, it appears.

I sit on the back porch in the evening and watch pairs hauling ass to nest in the cedars, as well as watching one dick of a ruby throated hummingbird run off all comers to the feeder.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
I have a BPS 12 with a mod or ic or a Benelli Nova pump I'll let you borrow. Both I bought it a few years ago and havent seen the light of day since then. I'd let you borrow my Ithaca 37 but I'm afraid I wouldn't get it back lol.
 

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
I have a BPS 12 with a mod or ic or a Benelli Nova pump I'll let you borrow. Both I bought it a few years ago and havent seen the light of day since then. I'd let you borrow my Ithaca 37 but I'm afraid I wouldn't get it back lol.
I appreciate the offer. I actually sold a BPS 12 a while ago. While I never been afraid of recoil, enjoyed it in fact, I've been more conscious of the wear I put on my body in my young and single days. Kind of why I'm migrating to smaller gauges and calibers, with the exception of my muzzleloaders.
 

shurshot

Ten Pointer
It's making me regret not planting the back field, but I let it over grow with poke berries (because I haven't had time to bush hog lately) and the dove love them, it appears.

I’m a dove hunting nut. Not much better naturally when those poke berries hit the ground and show their seed. They absolutely love them. Even better if it’s in sandy soil or bare ground. And those cedars are a Mecca for roosting birds. I’d love to have your set up ….
 

Troutbum82

Twelve Pointer
If I did more duck hunting, I'd probably hit you up. For the foreseeable future, I'm probably only hunting what's on the acreage around me until family matters change, and I've got birds, but no ducks..

How is it on hawks?:stir:
Well hell if you got birds save your money and I’ll just bring it over and we can shoot them together hahaha
 
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