Patterned my new Mossy 835 today, 45 yards using Winchester Longbeard 3" #6. Between 69 and 72 pellets above the wattle, it was kind of hard to tell on some o whether it was three or four holes.
Yeah it was softball sized at 15 and 20 yards. Personally I am fine with that. I just need to do my part. Also I must say I do have a red dot on the gun which makes things a little easier with sight picture and sight alignment. Good luck to everyone this year. Stay safe and God bless
Just wanted to ask a quick question. I did a thorough deep cleaning on the barrel. First I put some foaming bore cleaner in the barrel and let it sit for 30 minutes. Scrubbed it for about 5 minutes with a rod and brass brush. Then scrubbed it with Hoppes #9 and a brass brush for about 10 minutes and ran patches through until they came out clean. Then I repeated the process with the Hoppes #9 and patches. I did this same process 2 days in a row before patterning and this is the pattern I got. So my question is how much better would my pattern be by polishing the barrel instead of deep cleaning? Honestly I have only been a serious turkey hunter about 5 years and i had never heard of barrel polishing until then. Just wanted to ask some of you guys that have been doing it a little while whether it is worth it or not.
I polished my barrels back in the day before my life became very busy, and while it did make the barrel shine like chrome, and it did increase my pellet count at 40 yards, it was definitely not a game changer as far as killing turkeys. Yes, it was something fun to tinker with in my shop before season as I anxiously awaited the opener, but it is not something I do any more, mainly due to lack of free time. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say it increased my pellet county by 10% max at 40 yards. I do clean my chokes with brake cleaner once a year. Here are a few links that you may find useful.