Ammo for range use???

[SSDSIGS]

Just bought a Remington 870 for HD. What is the best ammo/size for target practice at the range? without breaking the bank. I already have 00 Buck for would-be intruders.

[rips31]

i bought 100rd of federal birdshot. great for just blasting paper and getting the 'feel' of the shotgun.

best part was that it was only $22.

[HappyG]

Wal-Mart always has plenty of those 100 Shell value boxes...22.97 I think, give or take some cents.

Stock up on them as those prices may increase. 400 shells for about $100 ain't bad at all.

[sh0t1]

Practice with 00 some at least.

Practicing with bird shot and never shooting 00 may be a surprise when you do.

[atasty39]

IIRC, at P2K I was told that anything smaller than 7 1/2 oz shot(? on the name the size of the shot) would be ok. Heavy dove load was ok, as I remember. I know the 7 1/2 is correct, but don't know whether the shot is measured in oz or what. Hope this helps a little!

[Dark&Good]

While I understand the financial side to this, I'd suggest to look at WHY you go to the range. If it's just for fun and basic/general practice, get "range" ammo. But if you wanna prepare for a real life situation like HD or hunting (or SHTF), use the appropriate "not-just-range" ammo.

[maxicon]

Here's what I do with all weapons I think I may use for defense - handguns, shotguns, whatever.

I take some of my expensive defense rounds, and a lot more inexpensive range rounds. How many depends on how well tested a gun is.

For a gun I've already put a lot of ammo through, it'll be 10-20 rounds of the good stuff, and the rest range loads. My recent shotgun tests have been 10-15 rounds of LE 00 buck, and 2 25 round boxes of sport loads. My usual handgun outings are the same - 1 or 2 mags of defense loads, and a box of range rounds per gun.

This lets me get lots of practice, use multiple mags with the good stuff, find weak spots with the system, make sure it'll run the defense loads, and keeps the costs under control.

My belief is shooting more rounds is better than shooting fewer, and I just don't have the budget in these troubled times to feed every gun a steady diet of the good stuff.