With the help of a big guy with a thick shoulder, I conducted a test using six, 12-gauge buckshot loads to see how patterns spread from 5 to 25 yards. Best results at 25 yards was found with an extended, Trulock 0.700-inch (light-full) choke, but the openness was still too much to continue testing at 35 yards. As for patterning, this round proved to be the most difficult with which to attain satisfactory results; performance with Trulocks 0.710-inch extended choke, as well as the Benelli flush-fitting 0.703-inch, was unimpressive. Meanwhile, the Boar Blaster had three pellets strike within 4 inches. I know that [#00 buckshot] penetrates a little more at 10 feet in the standard test, and for us, we verified that. On the other hand, Remington offers an eight-pellet Managed-Recoil, 00-buck load at 1,200 fps with recoil half that of the Magnum load. If you back off to 25 yards, hitting a moving target is more challenging, but the FliteControl has a somewhat decent spread at 25 yards. All objects lose velocity as they travel through the air. That 15 shot spread was at 7 yards which would be about the longest shot you could take in an apartment. This particular load includes the Federal FliteControl wad, which improves performance in my experience. Larger spheres travel further and penetrate further into soft tissue than smaller spheres at any given velocity. 00 buckshot is a much more penetrating round than I am comfortable . Recoil 25. Dispersion of buckshot pattern with distance. The tested Mossberg 590 had a cylinder bore which was boresighted with a Site Lite SL-500 Ultra Mag Green Laser Boresighter to coincide with a SIG ROMEO4 red dot sight at 25 yards distance. With standard 00 buck loads, the pattern size starts opening up quickly beyond 30-40 feet. 30 feet = 10 inches. . GENERALY no one should need a very long shot inside their home or apartment. Only the back-bored barrel was close to the 1 claim, coming in at .96 per yard. A 410 bore gets only 3 pellets of 000 shot per 2 3/4 shell, though there are some 5 pellet shells in 3 inch shells. Theballs also seemed to retain more power. To many pellets can ruin the effectiveness of the ones you hit with. Heres some news: It just doesnt work like that. We talk about the combat mindset, but how do we create it in ourselves and put it into practice? It delivered focused patterns at 25 yards, and at 35 yards, pattern density was still such that a lethal strike was guaranteedespecially through the Boar Blaster choke. Let us make you an offer. The 00 buckshot he used was not standard velocity, but actually reduced velocity. Come join the discussion about optics, hunting, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more! 000 is impressive. The eight, non-plated, high-antimony lead pellets were contained in the black Versatite wad. But this is about the effective range of it, any further you are taking risks of under penetration, and vast spreads that may not hit anything, at least effectively. Results: Premium buckshot averaged 12.4 pellets in a 30-inch circle at 40 yards, whereas unbuffered buck averaged 11 hits. https://paypal.me/NYPrepper?locale.x=en_US. This is generally loaded with nine of the 33 caliber lead balls to go about 1,250 feet per second. We next look at the velocity versus distance from muzzle plot for this projectile: We see that the deformed #1 buckshot sphere will have slowed down to 993 ft/sec at a distance of 29 yards from the muzzle which corresponds to the penetration depth in gelatin of 12.0. JOHN: Right. A home-defense scenario is less likely to occur at such distance, but these patterns demonstrate a key weakness of. Here's what it's like to shoot this classic scattergun. Thus, Id try to keep shots within 30 yards. I decided to post the results here for a comparison for your consideration. For the purposes of this report, the definition of buckshot is broken out into two categories: deformed and spherical. In many reduced-sized patrol cars, a shorter barrel only makes sense because a traditional 18- or 20-inch-barreled shotgun is simply too big to fit in the passenger compartment. Close patterns and solid hits are ideal, the spread is nice, but a good central hit with a tight group brings out the true effectiveness of the round. And its nasty at close range. Home Defense Tactical Tips with Manny Mansfield, The Backyard Sniper Lightweight Edition, Why Wont the Ruger Mini-14 Just Die? No, shotguns arent alley-sweepers or trench brooms. Inside 25 yards, you can put accurate fire on a suspect with an average spread of about 10 inches. Penetration is key. We also tested the impact of the rounds on 1/4-gallon water bottles at the same distances. box at basspro.com. At our distances this would mean: From the onset, lets put this standard into perspective. I try to keep with the same length shell, 2 3/4 inch, as a common factor. Not all were capable of such. Even at 30 feet, the maximum spread with this load was 2.5 inches. 9 pellets of 00 buck, only 8 of 000. At 35 yards, the same combination kept five buckshot within 7 inches. SIG Sauer MCX-SPEAR: Civilian Version of XM7 Rifle Arrives! At 0.360 inches, triple ought (000) is noticeably larger, so there are fewer pellets per ounce. JOHN: Well, they dont pattern with anything and thats the thing I kind of wonder if most of peoples opinion on shotguns are based off of one shotgun they had that they did this one thing with and then never did anything else. There are other good loads out there, but it's hard to go wrong with FliteControl. Mean radius is defined as the average of the straight line distances between the Center-of-Shot-Group and each shot (USARIEM TECHNICAL NOTE TN-01/2 STATISTICAL MEASURES OF MARKSMANSHIP Richard F. Johnson Military Performance Division February 2001 U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine) and was determined by utilizing OnTarget TDS software (OnTarget TDS). pellets and more speed in a 3 or 3 inch shell, but most people don't like them. This slows the wad ever so slightly, so that it doesnt negatively affect the pattern. Coarse buffering is present for preservation of pellet roundness. Therefore, you must test them in your gun to verify reliable cycling, or use them in a pump-action, single-shot or double (over-under/side-by-side). Killed a lot of deer with that combo. Impact velocities used in this report were obtained from an Oehler System 85 (Figure 6) using no velocity corrections. I recently tested a weapon light monted on a Glock 17 in a range that can go relatively dark. We wanted to see how these rounds spread at 7, 15, and 30 yards when fired from an 18.5-inch barrel. This sphere must penetrate a minimum of 2.95 inches (75mm) but no more than 3.74 inches (95mm)". I've long trusted my LE132-00 stoked loads if I do my part. One shot at 25 yards. One need not be concerned about such while hunting deer, for example. We tested 12 gauge shotshells utilizing #4, #1 and 00 buckshot (both plated and unplated) to determine the maximum effective range of each type of shotshell when shot through a practical 12 gauge shotgun with cylinder choke. When shot distances are inside of 35 yardsespecially in dense vegetationthe rifles single projectile can be considered a handicap. A follow-on test would include #1 buckshot and standard velocity 00 buckshot. Yeah, but we were more interested in what the rounds are actually doing at that distance. Save Share. This load is not pleasant to shoot. In an effort to shrink patterns, a full choke was tried, but didn't fare well. As stated, we used the Remington 870 12ga. On the other hand, shells with a traditional-type wad or absence of a shot cup often produce optimal patterns through wad-slowing chokes, such as the Trulock Boar Blaster, or standard chokes in modified to full constriction. Moreover, when utilized in dense cover, the odds that one or more projectiles penetrate the flora unaffected is greatly increased over the single rifle bullet or slug. Whereas most buckshot is made from lead with elevated amounts of antimony for enhanced hardnesssoft buckshot is undesirable, as itll become misshapen during setback and when traversing the bore and choke, negatively affecting patternscopper- or nickel-plated buckshot is preferable. This particular shotgun has been customized by 870 maestro Hans Vang of Vang Comp Systems. Out to 50, you are still lethal, youre still getting the majority of the pellets onto someone, if thats what youre shooting at, but youre starting to lose ones off of the target which, depending on what youve got going on, is a problem. As a conservative rule of thumb, you can expect buckshot patterns to spread 1 inch per yard. Plating aids hardness and/or reduces friction for deeper penetration. Most buckshot loads vary in velocity between 1,100 and 1,600 fps. For most, 00 is effective enough, and the individual increase in performance is not worth the loss of a whole pellet. 4. The 00 buckshot (plated, pattern-controlled) load maintains a hit probability of 50+% out to 52 yards, which is the limiting factor in maximum effective range because the individual pellets are sufficiently massive and have a high enough velocity to retain terminal effectiveness to a distance of 104 yards. Carlsons and others also make buckshot-specific choke tubes. All of these shotguns are excellent in my opinion, and Ive pointed both brands at more than a few criminals in my law enforcement career. 60 feet = 20 inches. I've been doing some reading as well. We got a nice, tight 4 inch pattern. The pattern diameter of the buffered load at 40 yards was 31.65 inches . Of course, do you want to use a shotgun beyond 25 yards? The number of pellets per shell is governed by their size and their weight. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community. So we set up a couple of blocks and shot it at ten feet. This video shows the results. Interestingly, the latter enabled the best patterns. [Federals advertised velocity is 1100 for the #1 versus 1145 for the #00. (Extrapolated from another figure for 35 pelets). I took him for his word, but suspected he was wrong after patterning my 870 and 930 shotguns. Times have changed since then.3. This improbable proverb suggests if you pump the action of a Remington Model 870, bad guys will melt with fear. So it was interesting to see the difference between the #1 and the #00. Outdoor Hub, LLC (d/b/a Carbon Media Group), 30800 Telegraph Rd, Suite 1921, Bingham Farms, MI 48025 USA. Instead, they comprehensively tested patterns with 18 barrels and various chokes, including a back-bored barrel almost the the muzzle. Shooting done during Standard Atmospheric conditions. However, it could also result in missing altogether. Beyond 30 yards, you'll struggle to keep half the pellets on a silhouette. Bad guys do not go to a bad-sounds-that-make-you-run school. Past that, then I dont know. Logically, less pellets equals a lower hit probability against distant targets. Odin01 - thank you for doing this testing and posting the results. Shopping with us is absolutely safe - you never have to worry about credit card safety when shopping here Share your latest AR build or photos from the range with #RangeDayFriday for a chance to win a new firearm! As a matter of fact, all of the shotguns easily kept all nine pellets within a standard 19-inch-wide target at 75 feet. CHRIS: I think the gel blocks are 6x6 and at 100, we put two of them side by side so we had a 12x6 area were trying to hit with a big buckshot spread thats only eight pellets. If you are shooting at a much smaller target at distance that is why you are only getting a couple of hits on a much smaller target at 25 yards. Some consider this a certainty. Theres so much misinformation, it doesnt seem to want to go away. Most stock barrels were less than .5 per yard. Learn its limitations so that you can operate more effectively in an actual shooting. Only a soft recovery (shooting gelatin, water or cotton) will tell you which type of buckshot your shotshell produces. It has been proven over and over it can be easily taken away and disarm the owner Why do you think SWAT and other such entry teams use short barreled firearms when entering and clearing a building? The targets are about half scale from the blue B27s. Buckshot can be a viable self-defense tool, but to paraphrase Harry CallahanClint Eastwood's character in the 1973 film "Magnum Force"a man's got to know [his buckshot and] his limitations. Moreover, to ensure that the payloads were delivered to the point of aim, I used a Benelli Super Black Eagle II topped with a Leupold LCO red-dot sight. When hunting land animals with spreading shot, the only choke in existence for the task is full choke. The whole target is 14" across. The patterns at 20 yards. Stuff You Should Know About Buckshot [Part 1], More Stuff You Should Know About Buckshot [Part 2]. Most hunters, tactical shooters and personal-protection practitioners are familiar with 00 buckshot, which is the preferred size in 12-gauge. JOHN: But not passing the FBI standards. The number of the 0.33-inch-diameter pellets contained within the shell depends on its length; the utilitarian 2-inch usually holds eight to 12 pellets, depending on whether a wad with a cushion section and shot cup is utilized. Great post. Buckshot comes in various sizes. box at MidwayUSA.com. Although my own agency uses a reduced-recoil tactical load, I was curious to see how a full-charge load would fare in these tests. Most used full chokes and my guns always shot best with #1 buck. #shotgun #12gauge #remington870In this video I shoot 2 3/4\" 00 Buckshot at 25, 50, and even 100 yards. At this point, you and I are both shotgun nerds. No, I really havent Woody, but this is an interesting post, thank you. Im glad that you all like the video. You are welcome. If your duties or circumstances lead you to carry a shotgun for self-defense when outdoors, we encourage you to make use of shotshells utilizing a pattern-controlled shotcup and copper-plated shot pellets. Remington 1100 Tactical is a Do-All 12-Gauge Shotgun. CHRIS: Right, so were looking for 12-18 of penetration in ballistic gelatin. They want to take your guns because they plan to do something to you that might cause you to shoot them. Cylinder bore shotgun in use. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Brass Fetcher Ballistic Testing recently conducted an eye-opening ballistic gelatin test of buckshot at 50 yards distance. But a 34-ounce load of No. The pattern is youre accountable for every single round in that pattern onto a man-sized target, easily. One of TFBs resident Jarheads, Nathan now works within the firearms industry. The driving determinant of drag force is the velocity that an object travels at in this case the 00 buckshot was initially traveling radially outward at 5 ft/sec while the muzzle velocity of this shell was 1300 ft/sec. . According to an NRA Shooting Illustrated article from Dec 2009, at 25 yards a single 00 buck pellet would have 210 foot pounds of energy. The combination of penetration and effect favors #00 and this is the load that has seen the most development for personal defense. We loaded up with Federal 12-gauge 2 3/4-inch magnum 00 Buck with a muzzle velocity of 1,290 feet-per-second andWinchester 2 3/4-inch high-velocity steel BB shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,550 feet-per-second. A wide selection of CMP surplus ammo will 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme. Hit probabilities measured for each shotshell can be found in Table 1 below. The first was a Mossberg 590A1 with 14-inch barrel, rifle sights and a Davis speed-feed stock. Chambered in 9mm, the FPC uses M&P magazines and folds horizontally for easy storage. Price: $5.99 per 5-rnd. Results and Conclusion: This was a standout among those tested. The Boar Blasters impact with it was marginal, too. According to an NRA Shooting Illustrated article from Dec 2009, at 25 yards a single 00 buck pellet would have 210 foot pounds of energy. Copyright 2023 National Rifle Association, Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinics, Volunteer At The Great American Outdoor Show, Marion P. Hammer Women Of Distinction Award, Women's Wildlife Management / Conservation Scholarship, National Youth Shooting Sports Cooperative Program, Remington Model 700 American Hunter Rifle Project, Federal Premium Announces Vital-Shok High Density Buckshot, New for 2023: Federal Premium No. rifled slug. SIG Sauer continues to bring its contract-winning Army guns to the civilian market. All ballistic gelatin blocks (Figure 7) used in this evaluation were nominal 10% ballistic gelatin blocks calibrated in accordance with FBI RFP-OSCU-DSU1401 as follows (FBI RFP-OSCU-DSU1401, page 95, 2014): "Prior to the utilization of any block of gelatin, validation of the block will be tested to assure consistency of the gelatin mixture. CHRIS: Right, and thats with your gun. Depending on the particular load and the shotgun's choke, at somewhere between 20 and 30 yards, a few of the pellets will have spread wider than the chest of a silhouette target. 200,000 Attend NRAs Great American Outdoor Show. No. With slugs, you can easily hit man-sized targets out to 100+ yards, but the deep penetration is a huge liability inside a structure - especially multi-unit housing structures like apartment complexes. When I began deer hunting we ran deer with dogs and used only shot guns with buck shot. Between 25 and 35 yds - the pattern breaks down and totally disappears. Big, fast, and mean, they keep their energy and danger quite a ways. The Shooter's Log, is to provide informationnot opinionsto our customers and the shooting community. Something no one has mentioned with multiple hits, there is a factor of squaring the damage per hit. We need to mention we were using your [Mossberg 590 with a] Vang Comp barrel thats optimized for FliteControl. Stay in the know. Three shots at 35 yards. Hit probability was determined by shooting a Mossberg 590 from a shooting bench at various distances from a FLETC Transitional Target II with the (5) different cartridge types. Unlike standard chokes, the extended, Boar Blaster has a series of five steps leading to the parallel section. We headed out to the range to find out with three representative shotguns. 25 yds would be about the maximum effective range for a cyl bore pattern. The #1 was starting to fail the FBI test it was starting to be underneath the 12-inch penetration. Most stock barrels were less than .5 per yard. The Fora platform includes forum software by XenForo. Details in the video below or keep scrolling for the full transcript. To me, the standout tested load was the Remington Managed-Recoil, 8-pellet 00-buck load. Get Guns.com offers and news!! Combat is characterized by rapidly unfolding events taking place unexpectedly and often during periods of low visibility. CHRIS: Yeah, so I think if theres any big takeaway here, its that, in most cases and every shotgun is different but your pattern is going to become pretty much useless before the pellets are no longer doing what you want them to do. For the recoil shy, and those without a specialized choke, this is a top choice. JOHN: Right, so, if thats what youve got and you have something out there and its a contextually appropriate shot. JOHN: Well, we were talking about it and what we wanted to know was, how far out can we take buckshot and still have it pass the FBI heavy clothing terminal ballistics standard? So, thats what we did. This falls off to 7.5 and 3.3 hits at 40 yards. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=207633&p=1721494#p1721494, http://le.atk.com/pdf/Shotshell_Data_Book.pdf, http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/34353-5.html. The monstrous 3-inch is loaded with upward of 18 pellets of 00 buckshot, but, recoil is vicious. The barrel leads up bad. Easily. Check out Guns.com. The Best Turkey-Killing Pattern for $15 a Box? Results and Conclusion: This shoulder-jarring load opened my eyes to recoilits the equivalent of a 1-ounce turkey loadand excellent patterning. This gave the reasonable expectation that all shots taken during the dispersion testing were aimed at the center-of-mass of the FLETC Transitional Target II. Now grab a few of the above options and head to the pattern board. ATI Milsport SGA 410 All the Advantages of an AR in .410, Ruger SR1911 LW Commander The Lightweight .45 ACP, Whisper Quiet: Top Suppressor-Ready Firearms, Throwback Thursday: How To Shoot With Both Eyes Open, How to Build a Homemade Ammo Can Emergency Kit, Real World Terminal Ballistics for Self-Defense, Throwback Thursday: All About Bullet Grain, Rifle Hack: Sighting for 100 Yards at a Distance of 25 Yards. In terms of range, the rule of thumb is "40/40" which means at 40 yards, birdshot shall produce a 40-inch spread pattern. #1 buckshot is likely the optimal load for self-defense with a shotgun. 3. Federal Force X2 Finally, we've got the Federal Force X2 buckshot. Each shotshell type was shot (10) times at (10) individual targets. My personal take away from this test is that 00 buckshot tended to stay ontarget better asdistances grew. Do notice that at longer ranges, the shotgun loses its ability to kill very rapidly. When my police department switched to Beretta shotguns, the chief believed it a bad idea because his officers could not make that "racking" sound anymore. As such, we recommend #4 buckshot for self-defense only if using plated and heavily-buffered shotshells and the anticipated range of engagement does not exceed 10 yards. Watch on Readily-found shotgun shells tend to fall into the performance category of deformed buckshot due to a lack of plating or an effective wadding system. It takes about eight 00-buck pellets to make up a 34-ounce load. Reply Quote. Then at 12 yards with the rifled barrel. Results and Conclusion: As the last shell tested, the density of the patterns produced by this generic, economical load though both the Boar Blaster and standard choke tubes was refreshing. I would also suggest full length barrels, to increase accuracy, velocity, and tightness of the groups. This created devilishly destructive wound cavitiesnot just holes like the lead bullets of the past. Shotguns increase hit probability by launching multiple projectiles per trigger pull but the limitation is that shotshells can only hold so many spheres or pellets. And either [load is still meeting] the FBI standards. The company uses a unique wad for this load; although its absent of a shot cup, the wad does have a crush section. Price: $8.49 per 5-rnd. Shotshells contain lead spheres of different diameter and these different diameters are optimal for different usages. 4 buckshot has limited range; however, within it, its highly effective. Your discussions, feedback and comments are welcome here as long as they are relevant and insightful. The suddenness of the event will degrade any shooters accuracy and the hit probability of a single projectile weapon will be correspondingly low. Can Coolers | An Official Journal Of The NRA, Find More Great NRA Publications Perfect For Every Interest, Discover Everything That The NRA Has To Offer. Price: $5.99 per 5-rnd. Then we took it out to 25 [yards], and then 50, and then 100 yards. We used two different loads: Federal FliteControl #1 and Federal FliteControl #00 8-pellet. At ten yards, they both make one big hole into the target and do not see any real spread until you get out to beyond 20 yards. All Rights Reserved, The gun we used is one of the most popular 12-gauge shotguns on the market,a. We loaded up with Federal 12-gauge 2 3/4-inch magnum 00 Buck with a muzzle velocity of 1,290 feet-per-second and Winchester 2 3/4-inch high-velocity steel BB shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,550. On Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sent a notice of intent to sue to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), due to the hunting of gray wolves in Wyomings Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. Answer (1 of 5): What's better, slugs or buckshot? Otherwise, one ends up all over the map. Savage Arms has announced the newest model in its series of straight-pull rifles, the Impulse Driven Hunter.

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