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Savage Model 720 trainer
Does anyone have one of these and if so how does it perform. I've had this for a while now and was thinking about trying it at turkey shoots. A friend of mine told me that it had a modified choke so turkey shoots would be out. I'm new here but not to fire arms. Thanks. Rich
IGNORANCE IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMMODITY THAT YOU CAN OWN
Senior Member
How does it perform? VERY WELL, as do all the Browning A5 recoil clones. Just remember to set the ring configuration under the fore stock according to your use of light or heavy loads. Using heavy loads with the rings in a light load configuration causes split fore stocks and undue wear on the receiver internals. If you're in doubt has to whether you have light or heavy rounds, set the rings for "heavy". If spent hulls won't eject, reset the rings to light load configuration. Also our family practice with these shotguns (we have seven of them now in various makes and configurations) is to store them with the magazine cap backed off a couple of turns so as to relieve the barrel recoil spring a bit during long term storage. Just remember to tighten it back up before you take it afield as failure to do so can cause you to screw up on the biggest spring turkey you've laid eyes on; but that's another story.Originally Posted by mp40man
Very Senior Member - OFC
An old school trick to see if it has a full choke is to see if a dime will fit in the muzzle, if it won't, it's full. Even so, it's best to hang some paper up at the intended range and see how it does. I think the standard is 60% of the pellets in a 30" circle at 40 yards for a full choke, but I could be wrong.
I'm sure a collector would love to trade you for another shotgun if you just want a turkey gun, though.
Phillip McGregor (OFC)
"I am neither a fire arms nor a ballistics expert, but I was a combat infantry officer in the Great War, and I absolutely know that the bullet from an infantry rifle has to be able to shoot through things." General Douglas MacArthur
Senior Member
On some of these shotguns Savage used a series of asterisk marks to denote the type of bore. They are usually located on the left side of the barrel near the receiver. The long barreled shotguns marked this way have 4 asterisks which, if I recall correctly, means full bore.
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It has the **** marking and measures full on my choke guage. When I put it away last year it functioned just fine but now the trigger will not work and the bolt slide isn't working as it should be. The old ivory inserts are nice but I need to get her running again. Any thoughts but think a trip to the gun smith may be in order.Here is a couple more pics. Regards. Rich The barrel measures 26".
IGNORANCE IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMMODITY THAT YOU CAN OWN
Senior Member
Just how are the trigger and bolt malfunctioning? Have you been trying to fire it with the magazine cap loose, as it appears to be in the above pic? That's exactly how they should be stored on a long term basis, but the cap needs to be snugly tightened so that the rear end of the fore stock is tight against the receiver if you're going to fire it. With the mag cap loose, the barrel moves forward, as yours looks to be in that pic, allowing the headspace to open to the point that the gun won't fire (see my previous post about the missed opportunity on the spring turkey). Also, BE CERTAIN TO CHECK THE RING CONFIGURATION IF YOU'RE NOT CERTAIN WHAT WEIGHT LOADS THEY'RE SET FOR.
Senior Member
With a full choke and 26" barrel your 720 was probably used for recreation trap shooting. My uncle was in the Air Corp during WWII. As a bomber gunner he could avail himself of virtually unlimited free skeet and trap shooting during his time off. He took FULL advantage of the offer as he came into the service as someone who loved to shoot to begin with. My uncle said that it was not uncommon for him to shoot 25 rounds of skeet or trap a week while in the service! Add to that the rounds fired in various training courses. Just as as soon as civilian production of shotguns restarted after the war ended, he bought a Remington Model 11 because he'd had so much shooting success with the Remington and Savage "humpbacks" while in the service. He bought one with a modified choke, for use as an "all around" gun for skeet and trap shooting at the local club and as his primary hunting gun. His military experience left him as such a good shot that he was known to fire rounds of trap just holding the gun one handed by the pistol grip! My cousin still has that gun, along with the many "high individual scorer" trophies that his dad took in league shooting in the late 40's and through the 50's.
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