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Its taken me approximately two years of tinkering with this 1887 Winchester shotgun to work out issues with the shotgun itself, and develop the shot shell load to consistently knock down clays. I feel like I finally have it where I want it. I put together this video to document the changes I’ve made, along with a range trip to show its performance. I thought y’all might enjoy seeing it.
Regards,
littlef
Very nice. I enjoyed it. I’ve never fired my M1887, despite owning it a whole lot of years. This does provide some inspiration.
steve004 said
Very nice. I enjoyed it. I’ve never fired my M1887, despite owning it a whole lot of years. This does provide some inspiration.
Thank you very much. Its a lot of fun to shoot, and it always attracts a lot of attention at the range. It becomes show and tell almost every time.
Regards,
littlef
Fantastic work on the shotgun, the ammo and also on the filmmaking. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Mark
Mark Douglas said
Fantastic work on the shotgun, the ammo and also on the filmmaking. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Mark
You are welcome! glad you enjoyed it, Thanks.
Regards,
littlef
November 7, 2015
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Good job! Very interesting details on the load development. BP does draw a crowd, good to let the onlookers in on the fun.
Mike
TXGunNut said
Good job! Very interesting details on the load development. BP does draw a crowd, good to let the onlookers in on the fun.
Mike
Thank you sir, glad you enjoyed it. The show and tell aspect of firing these old guns is half the fun. If someone takes an interest, I normally let them take a shot. That did backfire on me once. There was a trap tournament going on, and I let one guy shoot it. Within minutes, 15 guys formed a line asking to shoot it. I had to turn them away, with arguments of “why did this guy get to shoot, but you won’t let us.” Sometimes you just can’t win, lol.
Regards,
littlef
I am Lucky enough to have a 1887 30” 1892. I shoot rst 1oz 7 1/2 sporting clay in fl. Smokes them
Nice video. Like Steve I have an 1887 that I have never shot. I do have all the components and a kit for loading 10 ga. brass shells. My gun is in very nice condition so all I need to do is learn the proper loading techniques. Is the book you show in the video available on line?
Littlef –
Let me add that I particularly appreciated how you addressed the pitted bore issue. The bore on mine is far from pristine also. Which, is certainly not uncommon on these Model 1887’s.
Chuck said
Nice video. Like Steve I have an 1887 that I have never shot. I do have all the components and a kit for loading 10 ga. brass shells. My gun is in very nice condition so all I need to do is learn the proper loading techniques. Is the book you show in the video available on line?
Yes, ballistic products partnered with magtech to publish it. It’s available on the ballistic products website, which is where I found it.
they also sell everything to load the shells… when products are in stock.
I included it n my video, because I figured most people would be unaware of it.
Regards,
littlef
steve004 said
Littlef –Let me add that I particularly appreciated how you addressed the pitted bore issue. The bore on mine is far from pristine also. Which, is certainly not uncommon on these Model 1887’s.
Thanks Steve, I appreciate it. That was just trial and error over the course of two years, and missing way more clays than I was hitting. That flex hone does a nice job. I don’t have gauges to measure barrel thickness, so I was really conservative on how much I honed. The shot cups were an experiment as well, that turned out to work really well. However, they are a pain in the butt to make. Adding the comb pad was the last thing I did. After I got the barrel honed, the shot cups sized right, and powder charge dialed in, it became apparent that it was patterning really low. Bit by bit, working the problem.
Regards,
littlef
[email protected] said
I am Lucky enough to have a 1887 30” 1892. I shoot rst 1oz 7 1/2 sporting clay in fl. Smokes them
Very nice! I’m loading 1oz #7 1/2 as well. I looked up the serial number on mine and it came out of the factory in 1889.
Regards,
littlef
[email protected] said
I am Lucky enough to have a 1887 30” 1892. I shoot rst 1oz 7 1/2 sporting clay in fl. Smokes them
This jogged my memory that RST manufactures a variety of shotshells for vintage shotguns. This is from their website:
RST is suffering from a major component shortage. So, our availability is extremely limited.
UPDATE AS OF 1/18/22 – We are not sure when we will receive components. NO LONGER taking backorders due to volume.
steve004 said
This jogged my memory that RST manufactures a variety of shotshells for vintage shotguns. This is from their website:
RST is suffering from a major component shortage. So, our availability is extremely limited.
UPDATE AS OF 1/18/22 – We are not sure when we will receive components. NO LONGER taking backorders due to volume.
not surprised. They are fighting the same market conditions everyone is. At least it appears the ammo situation is slowly improving. I switch between shooting my 1897, which can shoot modern ammo, and my 1887, which I load for. I only shoot a couple boxes of shot shells when I go, so I can still have some casual shooting fun. It would be different if I was shooting in a league or trying to be competitive.
Regards,
littlef
little_f said
I looked up the serial number on mine and it came out of the factory in 1889.
So did my 10 ga. that uses 2-5/8″ brass shells. Believe me I tried the 2-7/8″ first and they won’t slip in.
2 5/8 will fit, however the forcing cones are different. They were designed for roll crimp shells which need less space to open, versus modern star crimps which need a little more room to open. This can cause pressure issues. I took my 1897 Winchester and reamed the forcing cone so I can shoot modern ammo. When I originally bought it, the stock was cracked in two at the wrist, which is an indication of the overpressure caused by having star crimp shells fired into forcing cones designed for roll crimps. – Thought I’d throw that out.
Regards,
littlef
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