shooting skeet with walmart 100 bulk rounds

[DVIII]

I've been shooting clays with the 12ga 100 round packs at Walmart.

I patterned them today at the range at 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards.

This was through my Mossberg 500 with the skeet barrel.

I haven't broken out a ruler and measured the spread, but anything after 15 yds was just spray which is helping me understand why i cant hit anything after 15 yds.

Is there something better to shoot with?

[kel-tec-innovations]

Adjust the choke? I can shoot Skeet fine with NO choke using my mossberg 500 18.5 inch barrel, Mossberg 590 20inch barrel and Mossberg 930 SPX

[DVIII]

choke is not adjustable. But you are saying it's not the ammo

[bjl333]

I use the Wally 100 pack all the time, both the Winchester and Federal stuff. I've competed with them a few times also. I think the spray you are referring to is part of the normal pattern. The skeet barrel pattern out at 30 yards will be about 30" give or take.

Are you in Socal or Norcal?

[DVIII]

San Diego

[antonio]

That Ammo is garbage just my experience

[hcbr]

All the wally world ammo is fine what you're doing, i'd just get better at shooting skeet and practicing more. I mean you can dive into the expensive stuff like the winchester target load stuff, remy sts's , etc. but hey ive met some trap guys who shoot these crappy reloaded stuff and they shoot at tournaments like it was nobody's business.

[Chasgee]

Are you shooting skeet? If so, where are you doing that in San Diego? The skeet barrel will give you a pretty wide pattern so you're numbers are not suprising. I don't think changing ammo will help you. Skeet is a close game and the wider spread helps.

The Walmart bulkpacks are good, especially the Federal. I reload them not to improve pattern, but to reduce kick and to get the shot size/load I want. The barrel restriction is the bigger issue. If you're trying to shoot trap with Skeet or Cyl barrels, you'll have to be quick on the shot to hit targets consistently.

I have one of the 28 inch Mossberg 500 barrels with a Mod choke if you'd like to put it on your gun and try it. I'm in Carlsbad, but make it to most of the shotgun fields in town every once in a while. Let me know.

Chuck

[maxicon]

Assuming the 500 fits you well and isn't the problem, you can get screw-in chokes installed, which would allow you to fine-tune your patterns for different loads.

Rose Action Sports (http://roseactionsports.com/default.aspx) is popular with the folks at shotgunworld.com as being reliable and not too expensive.

Here's a thread where someone had their 18.5" 590 barrel threaded for chokes. It cost them $140, including 4 chokes, which sounds pretty reasonable.

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=229510&p=1920000

There's a mod there who does barrel work as well and is very reasonably priced and well regarded:

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=36237

[Marlin Hunter]

I've been shooting clays with the 12ga 100 round packs at Walmart.

I patterned them today at the range at 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards.

This was through my Mossberg 500 with the skeet barrel.

I haven't broken out a ruler and measured the spread, but anything after 15 yds was just spray which is helping me understand why i cant hit anything after 15 yds.

Is there something better to shoot with?
~~~~~~~~
choke is not adjustable. But you are saying it's not the ammo

A 500 barrel without a screw-in choke??? How old is this gun? How long is the barrel? Skeet is usually close range, and the choke is just slightly smaller than cylinder size. I think it is 0.005 under cylinder. A real skeet gun probably wont pattern good past 20 yards.

The only thing I can say is find/buy a 26"+ barrel with screw-in choke. You should be patterning good out to 30 yards with just an Improved Cylinder and Federal cheapo shells from Walmart. You shouldn't need a choke tighter than Modified for general clay shooting.

[DVIII]

A 500 barrel without a screw-in choke??? How old is this gun? How long is the barrel? Skeet is usually close range, and the choke is just slightly smaller than cylinder size. I think it is 0.005 under cylinder. A real skeet gun probably wont pattern good past 20 yards.

The only thing I can say is find/buy a 26"+ barrel with screw-in choke. You should be patterning good out to 30 yards with just an Improved Cylinder and Federal cheapo shells from Walmart. You shouldn't need a choke tighter than Modified for general clay shooting.

The shotgun is only two years old. Big 5 combo deal. had the maverick forend and has no screw-in choke ability. 28"

[ysr_racer]

News flash. It's not the chokes, the gun, or the ammo.

Truat me on this one.

[kablooie]

The big5 combo with a 28" barrel is not a skeet barrel. it is a "modified choke" barrel. according to mossberg's website, the modified barrel is effective 30-45 yards.

http://www.mossberg.com/content.asp?id=499

hth,
louie

[DVIII]

That is some real good info. thank you.

I guess i am left wondering what that means to me though. My barrel is good for targets 30 to 45 yds out yet i cant break birds at >20 yds...

The big5 combo with a 28" barrel is not a skeet barrel. it is a "modified choke" barrel. according to mossberg's website, the modified barrel is effective 30-45 yards.

http://www.mossberg.com/content.asp?id=499

hth,
louie

[TheKlawMan]

The shotgun is only two years old. Big 5 combo deal. had the maverick forend and has no screw-in choke ability. 28"

I believe the 28" barrel has a fixed modified choke, unless it isn't what Big 5 currently sells with the combination set.