Added a new 555 to the brood.
Well, it's been a few months since I posted about the Savage/Stevens Model 555 O/U in .410 bore that I picked up and finally got to take some doves and clays with it, Three44s, you mentioned getting and shooting one in 20 ga. and how much fun it was - I concur! Shooting pigeons has always been on my list of fun things to do.
It is really a fine dove gun and with 3", #7 1/2 Remington loads, I did rather well on passing birds over sunflowers. I really like the gun and with the open chokes in, it's murder on clays!
Well, I did it again and picked up another 555 in .28 ga. this time. (I had put it on lay-away last week but couldn't wait . . . sooooo, I'll have to find a really neat gift for the wife for when she finds out). If it's half as much fun as the .410, I'll be satisfied. I patterned the .410 at 25 yards and was impressed with how evenly and uniformly spread the pattern was. I used Win AA Target loads with the HS (High Strength) hulls and #9 shot. I've reloaded and shot these new hulls and find them to hold up well. I've read differing opinions about these hulls not being as good as the original Winchester AA hulls for reloading but so far, no complaints. They crimp just fine in my MEC 600 Jr. Mk 5 press.
I was fortunate in the last two weeks to come across, what I think was a great deal on Win AA factory loads. I was in a local gun superstore and I spied a great clearance deal on WW AA .28 ga. loads marked down from $18.99 to $9.99 but there were only 5 boxes on the shelf so I took 'em all. A couple of days later, I was in the same store with a friend who was looking for a holster, so I decided to go past the shotgun ammo aisle and there on the shelf with the same clearance price were two cases of the 28 ga. loads I had gotten earlier. Needless to say, they are out of stock and I now have 600 rounds of factory new loads and all of the hulls I will need for a while to reload!
I stopped by there yesterday and picked up the last eight boxes of Win AA Super Sport loads in .410 they had marked down to $8.99 a box. (Thanks to the Taurus Judge and the S&W Governor revolvers resurrecting the .410 load as a handgun load, the prices of this ammo has gone through the stratosphere)! I came across one country store during early dove season that was charging $23.99 for a box of Remington loads!
I plan on doing quite a bit of clay shooting this fall and winter and I think I have all the ammo I need.
All I have left to do is convince the wife that a MEC 600 Jr. Mk 5 in 28 ga. is necessary to sustain a happy husband.
bobbyj
