Crow Busters Forum

My kids sometimes shoot a Rem Express Youth Compact. Stock is 1" shorter than a standard youth and the barrel is 21". It is a 20 ga and with a mod choke they take crows at 40 plus yards and trap loads. Most of us prefer a longer barrel than that as our primary guns but no reason your 21" would not be deadly when in a pinch. You may find you don't even need to change chokes. Pattern it and see. I general shoot a choke that actually pattern around light Mod. My partner has been shooting a skeet or IC depending on the day. We will occasionally screw in a full or X full but that is rare. We notice very little if any difference on birds less that 50 yards. Past 50 a little more choke is needed but not as much as one would think.

 

We shoot hand loads of 1.2 or 1.3 oz that are made of soft homemade 6 shot. (6 1/2 shot to be exact). These loads pattern much wider than factory shot. Through a improved Mod the pattern is actually around light mod. With this load I can hit birds farther that it will kill them. This load is consistent to 70 yards. I actually spend a little time practicing 70 plus yard shots at the range each time I go. It seems each hunt I will have a couple of birds that I hit two or three times at extreme ranges that produce lots of feathers and they fly away unscathed. These would easily succumb to a load of hard 6's or 5's. These are not hard shots as they are stove pipe shots straight up and the birds hanging in the wind. If you know what to look for sometime you can even see the shot string (not the wad) hit the birds.

 

All that said, a quality load of hard shot in your 21" barrel will match my 28" barrel and the loads we are shooting step for step. May even exceed it. As you are well aware of, the arrow is always more accurate than the Indian.

You are talking my language 8 I know precisely what you are talking about!!!! Them stove pipers are sweet aint they??? Man do they make a thump when they hit ground at 65 plus yards!!! You just got to make the shot at the perfect time. You can always feel it when you do!!!!!

The only thing about a 21" barrel is they will ring your ears. You could use what you have and look for a longer barrel in the classifieds. Used a 870 barrel really isn't that much. A 26" or 28" is what most of us use.