I picked up my H&R 1871 Topper Trap from my local FFL yesterday. My FFL is a local sporting goods company and when I picked it up, there were about five customers at the gun counter.
When we pulled the Topper Trap from the box, their interest peaked, They all took turns examining and shouldering it. Everyone was very impressed with the feel, appearance and workmanship.
I bought the H&R, from R&R Arms, who by the way are a real pleasure to deal with. I would highly recommend them for any on-line firearm purchase. They have a huge selection and they send it out the door in a hurry.
First thing I did when I got it home was break it down and give it a good cleaning and started eyeballing. The walnut stock is rich in color and the fit at the receiver is very clean. The checkering is beautiful and really catches the eye. Couple that with the nickel plated receiver and it is indeed a very handsome and rugged looking gun.
The bluing has a rougher than normal texture, I would have liked a little more smoothness to it. Maybe they did that for glare purposes, I don‘t know. Anyways, the rib and bead look to be of good workmanship. I’m not sure but I would guess that the rib probably is silver soldered on. The beads are a very bright white and are highly visible.
Sorry about the focus.
The extended choke is an Improved Modified, the IM lettering is etched clearly on the outside and easy to see.
The gun by all appearances looks to be very rugged. There is a guy over at the forum of trapshooters.com, a Mister Bruce Bowen, who tried to blow one of these up and couldn’t do it. If you can find the thread, it is a pretty good read. It also says a lot about the durability of H&R.
I took the gun out this morning and checked the POI. I did this at 15 yards and lined the beads up exact. I did not stack them. The gun really has a very good POI, and shoots very flat. Like I said, this was done with the beads exactly aligned. Stacking them should be just about right for giving a good POI at 35 yards.
My only concern is that this gun is a tad on the light side. The drop at comb and the drop at heel does lend itself to the recoil being straight back instead of making the barrel jump. Cheek bruising should be non existent. I’m going to load up some 3 Dram, 1 1/8 loads and try to get out this weekend and shoot a 100 (weather permitting). My shoulder will then make a determination on whether more weight is needed. I’m guessing that on a long day of shooting, the gun will need a tad more weight. Maybe not though, the Pachmayr trap pad does feel really good. It’s a little on the sticky side, but my guess is that this will do wonders for the shoulder. We shall see.
The barrel is 30 inches. Now mind you, I’m just 5’8 but this feels real good to me. Some might like a longer barrel, but the balance is just right for me. I’ve always used a 30 inch for trap.
One other thing, I didn’t check the trigger pull, but it does feel around 6 lbs. The plus side is that it is very crisp and has very little creep. I tend to like a little less pull, so I will probably get that taken care of.
Like I said, I will try to get out and shoot it this weekend, but we are getting hit pretty good with some weather right now, and it is colder than a well diggers you know what. More later.
