Choosing trap ammo?

Don't clean your trap gun so often. Mine gets scrubbed at the end of league season.

I don't thing your current loads have damaged the gun. If its not a $10,000+ Perazzi, don't worry about it.

Most at my club have shot thousands of those "cheap" Game Loads with no complaints in everything from 870s, through Berretas to Perazzi.
 
straightshooter said:
I, too, have a hard time believing that firing a few target loads caused any kind of damage to your barrels.

Have you cleaned your gun since firing those shots? It only takes ONE shot to leave behind powder residue and plastic fouling. I could see normal fouling being mistaken for scratches because, especially after only a few shots, the fouling would be minor and may appear to be pits and scratches when actually it would clean out easily.

My advice is to clean the gun thoroughly with solvent and a brass brush. After wiping with several patches, with the last one lightly oiled, look again to see if those lines still appear. (NOTE: Make sure you go easy on the gun oil. Anything more than several drops on a patch is more than is required and can look streaky itself.)

If those lines/scratches are still there after cleaning, I'd have to agree with previous posters who think you're seeing the forcing cone. The only other possibility (very unlikely) is that there's a visible line where the barrels are joined to the monoblock (assuming monoblock construction). You'd be the first person I've ever known who could see the joint on the inside of the barrels, but I suppose it's still possible, if the barrels are defective.
Click to expand...

Wow did this ever get off topic, however it is quite entertaining!

I dont think it is the forcing cone, as my forcing cone is before the actual ring. I'm guessing it tapers out about an inch ahead of the ring. But I could be wrong. And I dont think it is the monoblock seam, as it appears to be a series of scratches in a 1/4 thick ring.

Here is a chronological description of what happened to my Rem870 SuperMag.

Bought it brand new, barrel was impeccable.
Cleaned it right out of the box with Remington Bright Bore, an expensive bristle tool, patches and used G96 all over it. Perfect barrel.
Fired about 40 rounds on a rainy day.
Cleaned it up with the same products, perfect barrel.
Fired 60 shells, and cleaned again with the same product. Perfect barrel.
Fired 5 shots just fooling around at the action range, got home and this ring existed.
Gave it a very thorough cleaning, the ring faded a bit but wouldn't go away.
Fired about 140 shells, gave it another very thorough cleaning, and the ring seems to have become permanent.

Any ideas? Why would it suddenly appear?
 
DanScarps said:
Wow did this ever get off topic, however it is quite entertaining!

I dont think it is the forcing cone, as my forcing cone is before the actual ring. I'm guessing it tapers out about an inch ahead of the ring. But I could be wrong. And I dont think it is the monoblock seam, as it appears to be a series of scratches in a 1/4 thick ring.

Here is a chronological description of what happened to my Rem870 SuperMag.

Bought it brand new, barrel was impeccable.
Cleaned it right out of the box with Remington Bright Bore, an expensive bristle tool, patches and used G96 all over it. Perfect barrel.
Fired about 40 rounds on a rainy day.
Cleaned it up with the same products, perfect barrel.
Fired 60 shells, and cleaned again with the same product. Perfect barrel.
Fired 5 shots just fooling around at the action range, got home and this ring existed.
Gave it a very thorough cleaning, the ring faded a bit but wouldn't go away.
Fired about 140 shells, gave it another very thorough cleaning, and the ring seems to have become permanent.

Any ideas? Why would it suddenly appear?
Click to expand...

Hmm... I do recall reading about a wad that was defective and could get stuck in the barrel. I don't recall the manufacturer or wad model. But if this was the case, the next round could cause damage. Maybe time to take it to a gunsmith?
 
BCP said:
Hmm... I do recall reading about a wad that was defective and could get stuck in the barrel. I don't recall the manufacturer or wad model. But if this was the case, the next round could cause damage. Maybe time to take it to a gunsmith?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure there's no wad in the barrel since he can look through it to see the "ring".

If scrubbing it causes the "ring" to fade a bit, then my guess is that its just some plastic fouling.
 
Personally I shoot the cheapest ammo I can buy as it allows me to shoot more often. The only time I buy a better grade of ammo is for competitions. I personally like Federal Top Guns so I usually shoot them most and go to Gold Medal Papers for serious shoots but I shoot other ammo when it is on at a real good price. As for reloading, I quit many years ago when it became cheaper to buy factory ammo. I dont know what it costs to load nowadays but I would imagine if there are any savings they are very slight. Would be ok if you are looking to add another element to your shooting hobby.
 
rem gun club loads are still once plastic piece, federal top gun shells have the paper basewad (not good for reloading), not sure about the cheap winchester (non AA) shells if they have a paper basewad

all shoot fine through my 870 and cooey 84
 
DanScarps said:
Plastic fouling eh? Is that anything to worry about, considering it wont go away?



Anything to support that comment? I'm trying to figure out what ammo actually is actually decent vs literally terrible.
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WIN/64 is rating those shells in terms of their suitability for reloading, mostly. Some of the cheapest loads on the market sometimes have substandard primers, resulting in 1 or 2 misfires in a box of 25. Those are crap - not because they'll harm a gun, but because they could cost you a bird.

If your gun truly has scratches beyond the forcing cones, such as you describe, they are a result of fouling. Or, someone inserted a metal object into the barrels and scratched them in the process (measuring chamber length with a screwdriver or similar nonsense). There is no "literally terrible" commercial shotgun ammunition available in Canada that will scratch your barrels by firing 5 (or 25) shells.

Over the years, some of the plastic wads were notorious for fouling barrels. This is a nuisance because barrels need cleaning far more often and getting them clean is more difficult as well. The task can be made easier by using a specialized solvent. Slips 2000, M-Pro-7, Hoppe's Elite Gun Cleaner, and Remington's Brite Bore Solvent/Cleaner are all good choices. Don't be afraid to use cleaning solvents liberally. (You don't want it pouring into crevices in the stocks or pooling in the receiver, but sometimes you need to soak the brush and run it through repeatedly to dissolve all the plastic and carbon.)

Scrubbing vigorously with a brass brush won't harm the barrels, either. However, be careful what kind of cleaning rod you use and how you use it. The rod and all it's fixtures should be made of a soft metal. Brass and aluminum are commonly used. Some rods have a cone-shaped slide that sits in the muzzle (or breech, if you're cleaning the barrels separate from the gun) and keeps the rod centered, so it doesn't contact the sides of the barrel during cleaning.

You may have put scratches in the barrels with your cleaning rod, if it's made of a harder metal, or it has fittings that are. It's easy to have the rod flopping around in terms of it's proximity to the barrel walls, while forcing the cleaning rod through and back. I'm not sure what, in that situation, would limit the scratches to the one area, but who knows, maybe thats where all the "flopping" occurred.:confused:
 
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Scouring pad wrapped around the brush is a great way to get rid of fouling. You should see little pieces of white plastic bits on the pad.
 
sherlockbonez said:
Scouring pad wrapped around the brush is a great way to get rid of fouling. You should see little pieces of white plastic bits on the pad.
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Sherlock is right. But, just for the sake of clarity, he's talking about plastic scouring pads, not SOS pads or other forms of steel wool.

Never stick anything into your barrels that is made of a harder or equally hard material as steel. This includes a steel screw or nut on the side of a brass brush.
 
So this all seems to come down to a couple factors... Cheap shells are made from recycled plastics, aka promo loads. They're no good for reloading, and the wads are not made of quality.

I'll stop by the gun shop today and get some plastic scouring pads, sounds like it is all i need. And while I'm there, I'll price out some more premium target loads.

Keep you all posted, thanks for the advice, again!
 
The scouring pads are from the supermarket, not the gun store. It's the green thing on the back of the sponge.

Just get the one without the sponge and cut it to size to fit your brush.
 
So I brought my shotgun to Le Baron today, and the group of life long shooters that work there all agreed that it was plastic fouling. But they were concerned that it was beyond the forcing cone.

I was given a bottle of foaming bore cleaner, that gets injected and left inside for 15 minutes and then cleaned out. Didn't do a darn thing. Barrel looks just as clean to me.

Off to the super market tomorrow to get those scouring pads...

Oh, and I decided to pick up some of those Xpert Target and Game loads. See how that turns out, with their "special wad that protects the barrel."
 
I would take what the people at LeMoron tells you with a grain of salt.

Last time I went in to buy my extrema I asked a simple question just to see what they'll say. I asked the guy what the mag cut-off is for, the guy told me "It's to make it into a single shot". I looked at him and ask why would I drop 1400 bucks on a semi auto single shot. The guy looked at me for a sec and have no answer. I just laughed and took my gun home.
 
BCP said:
Hmm... I do recall reading about a wad that was defective and could get stuck in the barrel. I don't recall the manufacturer or wad model. But if this was the case, the next round could cause damage. Maybe time to take it to a gunsmith?
Click to expand...

sherlockbonez said:
I'm pretty sure there's no wad in the barrel since he can look through it to see the "ring".

If scrubbing it causes the "ring" to fade a bit, then my guess is that its just some plastic fouling.
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sherlockbonez,

Well of course there wouldn't be a wad still in the barrel. :confused: The next round would push it out, but could cause damage to the barrel in the process. The damage could look like a ring.


DanScarps,

Keeps us updated on how you fixed it.
 
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