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Question about shooting the 1887


Rube Burrows

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I recently purchased a IAC 1887. I love the gun. Its fun to shoot and no one around me has ever seen one.....unless they are SASS shooters which many are not.

 

Well, I bought me one of the 100 round Winchester boxes and they have the Alum. instead of Brass metal. Now and then they wont extract and I have to push a cleaning rod down the barrel to remove them. My gun does NOT do this when I use ammo with the brass hulls.

 

Ok, so the smart butts will say use BRASS.......well of course I plan to use brass but the brass in most cases is pretty pricey. Can someone recommend to me what they shoot in their 87? I would love to hear from 87 shooters and find out what they like to shoot in theirs.

 

 

Also, if I was to want to send this gun off at some point and have it worked over by an 87 smith, what are some of the things they do?

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Well ya already figured out them cheap aluminum shells no worky, so stick with Winchester AA or Remington or could use brass hulls like Magtec. Proper LOP helps alot to keep shotgun on target with the long lever throw of the 87, almost better to be shorter than longer. Then practice a lot. :FlagAm:

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Well ya already figured out them cheap aluminum shells no worky, so stick with Winchester AA or Remington or could use brass hulls like Magtec. Proper LOP helps alot to keep shotgun on target with the long lever throw of the 87, almost better to be shorter than longer. Then practice a lot. :FlagAm:

 

 

Thanks, I have put a few hundred rounds though this one so far. I love the gun. Its like no other shotgun I have had. Lots of fun to shoot.

 

Was just wondering if I was missing some ammo that may not be carried locally that works great in the gun and that I could buy in bulk like the 100 round boxes.

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Well I have 3 of those '87s and they feed and fire any dang thing I put in them.

Take a 10ga bore brush and wrap some green Scotchbright around the brush(YEAH, it will be a PITA to "feed" into the chamber).

Screw on a short section of a cleaning rod and with the drill motor running pretty slow, using back and forward movement polish the chamber for about 1 minute. Blow the crud out with an air hose and you should be ready.

OH-BTW those 12 ga.shell heads are tin, NOT alum. Try a magnet......

Cheers,

LG

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I have had good luck with Remington Club shells in my 87. They also work well in my doubles. You can often get them at Dick's Sporting Goods for $6.00 a box, with a $10.00 rebate if you buy 10 boxes. They are also reloadable. I load them with Pyrodex for Frontier Cartridge and also with smokeless powder for my son-in-law. Lassiter does a load 2 modification that is very reliable although it limits you to 2 rounds. I am a lot faster with my 87 than I am with my doubles.

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Something else that might make easier/faster to keep on CAS targets, is butt stock cut to approx. 5 or 7 negative degrees and a soft recoil pad. I think LOP on mine is about 13.5", but depends on your body shape.

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I have a couple of early Coyote Cap 87s and both feed any modern hull I have reloaded.

 

Neither work weel with Magtech full brass hulls and black powder. The magtech hulls don't expand, so after a dozen rounds the chamber is full of soot and gets wedged between the chamber walls and the outside of the shells. Then the brass hulls don't extract.

 

So, I even use them tin or alumiinum-like hulls with no problem.

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Mine's also an earlier C.C. '06 Special Edtion, but chamber was opened to 11ga. to help with blackpowder loads. Shoots all weekend with plastic or Magtec hulls, but don't like the cheaper shotgun 100 pks. with none brass heads.

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Just an FYI for you'all.

 

The ONLY shells with brass case heads are Winchester AA's, Remington STS's and Nitro 27's, and Federal Gold Medals. All the rest are STEEL. Some look like brass, but only have a brass colored wash on then, and the base metal is STEEL. Same with the Winchester 100 Packs that look like aluminum. They are not. That's simply a bright aluminum colored wash over STEEL.

 

Prove it for yourselfs. Check them with a magnet. Also, I do not know of a European brand that has Brass heads either. They are all steel.

 

This is why the AA's and STS hulls are the favorites, and reload so well, while extracting effortlessly from our CAS SXS guns. For CAS use in SXS shotguns, the use of shells with Brass caseheads is almost imperative, if you want the spent hulls to simply fall out.

 

RBK

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Well I have 3 of those '87s and they feed and fire any dang thing I put in them.

Take a 10ga bore brush and wrap some green Scotchbright around the brush(YEAH, it will be a PITA to "feed" into the chamber).

Screw on a short section of a cleaning rod and with the drill motor running pretty slow, using back and forward movement polish the chamber for about 1 minute. Blow the crud out with an air hose and you should be ready.

OH-BTW those 12 ga.shell heads are tin, NOT alum. Try a magnet......

Cheers,

LG

 

 

Thanks for the info. I will give it a try. Any tips on which roughness to use in the Scotchbright?

 

 

Thanks to all of the others for info.

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I only shoot AA Featherlites in all my several dozen shotguns, including my 2 chinee 87s.

 

They work good and my mostly healed torn rotator cuffs much prefer them.

 

I shoot the LN-LR Featherlites myself in S/S and 97, no problem. My gun shop told me today that Winchester had discontinued the LN-LR FeatherLites and replaced them with a "RIBBED" shell!! Is this just gun shop BS or real??

 

Anyone know anything about this?

 

Harvey

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Thanks for the info. I will give it a try. Any tips on which roughness to use in the Scotchbright?

 

 

Thanks to all of the others for info.

 

As per my post, GREEN.

Get the real stuff NOT some China crap(YEAH, I know the S/G is from China.....LOL)

You may have to do it a couple of times.

Cheers,

LG

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As per my post, GREEN.

Get the real stuff NOT some China crap(YEAH, I know the S/G is from China.....LOL)

You may have to do it a couple of times.

Cheers,

LG

 

 

Ok, thanks. I never used it so I didnt know it was color coded.

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Howdy Pard,

Check out the attached link fer your new 87. I love my 87. Have fun.

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem....?Item=208896061

 

Roy

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My '07 Coyote Cap 87 digests AA or STS low brass for CAS with no problems. It's a hoot to shoot!

 

I have used this SG (with it's 20" barrel and full choke insert) a couple times for trap and skeet using Fiocchi trap loads (low tin?) and it worked fine. I even hit about half the clays!!!!

 

Practice the "load" two method, where you push two stacked shells into the chamber. Done properly you can load as fast as a double, but when you have a fumble....well it can be frustrating.

 

DD

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I shoot the LN-LR Featherlites myself in S/S and 97, no problem. My gun shop told me today that Winchester had discontinued the LN-LR FeatherLites and replaced them with a "RIBBED" shell!! Is this just gun shop BS or real??

 

Anyone know anything about this?

 

Harvey

Gun shop BS. Winchester has a line they call Win Lites and they do have aluminum heads and ribbed shells. They will not work in our doubles. A lot of folks use these in their 97s. These also have the low noise low recoil yellow logo. They also sell the Featherlites we also like. Two different products.

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I recently purchased a IAC 1887. I love the gun. Its fun to shoot and no one around me has ever seen one.....unless they are SASS shooters which many are not.

 

Well, I bought me one of the 100 round Winchester boxes and they have the Alum. instead of Brass metal. Now and then they wont extract and I have to push a cleaning rod down the barrel to remove them. My gun does NOT do this when I use ammo with the brass hulls.

 

Ok, so the smart butts will say use BRASS.......well of course I plan to use brass but the brass in most cases is pretty pricey. Can someone recommend to me what they shoot in their 87? I would love to hear from 87 shooters and find out what they like to shoot in theirs.

 

 

Also, if I was to want to send this gun off at some point and have it worked over by an 87 smith, what are some of the things they do?

 

Howdy Rube

Love the 87...I reload Rem STS, but those 100 packs sometimes are almost as cheap as reloads and a lot less work!!

Tried a bunch of them and IMHO the Federal 100 pack works great.

The even fall right out of my Hammer-double even thou they are ribbed and I wondered why!!!

Seems like they are a little undersized a few thousands and don't expand as much as other ribbed shells.

What ever!! they work great in my guns...I do have polished chambers!!

Try some, they may work for you.

 

BH who :D that 87

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Howdy Pard,

Check out the attached link fer your new 87. I love my 87. Have fun.

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem....?Item=208896061

 

Roy

 

 

Howdy, That wrap sure beats the ugly and poor fitting one that it came with. I think I will be getting with you on that.

 

 

Thanks for all of the info guys. I really enjoy this gun so far and want to use it more. I will shop around and see what kind of ammo the gun tends to like. I will also try to polish it out some.

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Local 87 shooter uses any plastic shell cut to 2.25" and roll crimped. They all work for him. They burn badly so one trip per hull is all he gets.

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Howdy, That wrap sure beats the ugly and poor fitting one that it came with. I think I will be getting with you on that.

 

 

Thanks for all of the info guys. I really enjoy this gun so far and want to use it more. I will shop around and see what kind of ammo the gun tends to like. I will also try to polish it out some.

 

 

The real issue with the standard IAC Norinco lever wrap is the lacing rivits which will scratch your lever. I removed one of those lever wraps a few days ago for a Pard and I could not believe the damage the IAC lever wrap had caused by scratching up the new blued lever. What a shame. I oiled it up real good and installed one of my lever wraps, which totally covered up the damage. Another happy Pard.

 

Roy

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If you come across the Federal Paper Hulls you may use them as they work very well. I cut them down to just remove the crimp and then use the wad sold by Ballistic products for 2 1/2 inch hulls. They are also sold by precision reloading and work very well in the STS and NITRO 27 hulls. The brass hulls cause problems with both feeding and etraction in my Coyote Cap 87 that was done in 2008. Lassister is faster with the work. I received a note from Cap when I received the gun and it said to only use AA's hulls. I measured one for rim thichness and found it to be .005 The hulls that I have posted all have rims that are .005 so I would stay in that area.

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  • 1 month later...

howdy (thought I'd resurrect this thread instead of starting a new one- Happy New Year/ Gung Hay Fat Choy everyone)

wish i'd read this thread last week... took the 87 CAS'ing with a box of AA and a box of PMC, should have left the PMC at home (or shot the PMC out of a 97 or SxS). I thought my 87 was broken.

Anyone have a link for STS or AA for good prices online or in the Bay Area?

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I shoot whatever happens to come up next out of the bag to reload, including the steel(?) based hulls, in both my original and my Chiappa. All feed and extract just fine. Paper hulls, trimmed to 2 1/2" and roll crimped are also OK. I don't shoot brass shells in mine because I just think they might be too hard on the extractors.

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I followed Lassiter's recommendation and use Remington Gun Clubs in my Chinese '87-he uses them in his Chiappa. What's neat about the GC shells is that even though they have ribs and a steel base, they also fall freely out of every double I have tried them in, defying all conventional wisdom on what is needed for doubles. They also reload well using the same data as STS hulls. Dicks puts the GC shells on sale very frequently.

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I've found a bronze bore brush soaked in solvent has always done a fine job for me. Run it up and down the chamber at low to moderate speed on a drill followed by mop soaked in solvent. I don't use the mop with the drill. You can also wrap a patch around the bore brush as it makes a tight fitting mop. Repeat as needed until your patches are clean.

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I've got a Chi-Com '87 that feeds and extracts/ejects almost anything I put into it. It'll feed any case that I size with either my MEK 600 Jr. or the MEK collet sizer. I've even had it feed with some old Winchester Brass 00 buck Miitary rounds I received from a friend that was cleaning out a Police Station's old ammo locker. The only rounds I ever had trouble with was the Federal Paper Gold Medal hulls. They had a tendency to slip past the extractors occasioally.

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I'v shot reloads in my Chinachester since I got it, usually they are AA's, some I'v reloaded 10-12 times. I have one stick from time to time, but a lot of levering usually gets it out, or I reach up and grab the shell out pull it out. I'v been using my 87 for about 5 years and never had it worked on except to weld the lever once. I took it out of the box, cleaned it good with break cleaner, still use it down

the action when I clean, always wipe it out good. Keep it clean and oiled and it will shoot.

 

Good Luck !

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As I posted in my earlier posting if you measure the rim and it reads .005 then the 87 will fire them without a problem. The hulls that meet that that I have checked are Remington STS, Nitro 27 Gold, AA's, and Both Federal and Fioochi paper hulls. Cap also opens his guns that are going to fire BP to 11Ga chambers.

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