Gentlemen:

With the deer season fast approaching in the "Heart of Dixie" many hunters are buying factory buckshot rounds for pattern testing. Which will deliver the best pattern? Well, all shotguns tend to be a law unto themselves but in general those loads with buffer and a shotcup pattern better than those without. Hard shot or plated shot certainly helps.

Here is a quick list of over the counter 12 gauge buckshot loads put up with buffer and a full length shot cup.

Federal Premium with Flite-Control Wad - 00 buck only.

Federal Premium buckshot - all shot sizes (except 3.5" loads-partial shot cup)

Federal "regular" buckshot - all shot sizes

Winchester Super-X #1 Buckshot 2.75 and 3 inch loads. This is a low cost 'sleeper' load and is among the first to sell out locally. All other WW buckshot, including Supreme loads do not have a shot cup.

Remington Express 9 pellet OO buckshot round.

Remington Low-Recoil 8 pellet 00

The 3.5" 18 pellet Remington round uses the same shot cup as the 9 pellet load and has 8 pellets exposed to bore scrub. All other buckshot loads from Big Green lack a shot cup

Hornady Buckshot - 8 pellet 00

There are a lot of buckshot rounds on the market that have fiber wads and buffer but nothing to protect the pellets from pellet flattening bore scrub. Some of the foreign made buckshot rounds, like Wolf brand loads, don't even have buffer.

This list does not take into account Buckshot marketed to police. Nor does it include innovative loads from small independent firms like Dixie Slugs - Tri-Ball 3x.60 Buckshot.round.

Ralph

How many on this forum hunt or have hunted with buckshot?

I have and probably will again. For some of the conditions I hnunt, nothing else quite covers the situation as well (deep-deep brush/swamp, short-short range, and usually moving targets).


In defense of the "cruddy" cheap non-buffered, non shot-cupped ammo. After testing, found that it's tendency to spread more quickly might not be a bad thing when used for home defense in a house who's longest possible indoor shot runs right at 18yards.

I've killed more than a few truckloads of deer with buckshot. Only way to hunt in the part of VA I grew up in.

Well, Friends there is one thing you can make book on and that's the most overlooked group of hunters are those that kill upteen deer a year with buckshot in heavy cover!
Now, that's opening myself up for the blow-torches, but fact!.....so what's new?
My little company, Dixie Slugs caters to the "Meat and Potato" hunters, not hobbyist.
I get enough flak from the sabot shotgun hunters, so get in line!
Sure, there's misuse of buckshot.......but I just got back from trailing up a gut shot deer by a bow hunter with my Lucy Lu dog.....and he did not even offer me some backstrap! She is part Bulldog and Cur.....found the doe and finished killing it....quick! I would have used my old Tyger dog, but he is dead , poor basta*d!
Now.....Buckshot in the larger size, and depending on the gun, is good out to about 40 yards in heavy cover! Dixie Tri-Ball II is even better!
Those that rant about the proper use of buckshot are either uninformed or have not used it in the heavy cover we live in!
OK. Let the flames begin!......Regards. James

I've hunted with buckshot on several occasion, for deer and coyotes. I normally use 00 for deer and #4 for coyotes, but have used the 00 on a couple of coyotes.
As for hunting in heavy brush, it doesn't get much thicker than it is in the coastal areas of Oregon. The key is no different than hunting with a bow, you have to take the right shot.
Which manufacturer makes the best loads on the market?
can't say that I've ever noticed a difference. I've got boxes from Federal, Remington and Winchester and have killed deer and coyotes with all three, so really couldn't say one was better than another.

I'll say it really comes down to 4 things:
1- size of the animal: The bigger the animal, the harder the hit needs to be and the more the damage must be.

2- range at which it's deployed: related to #1 above, buck looses it's horsepower quickly and range must be adjusted accordingly to ensure having enough retained power to create an ethical kill.

3- patternability of the gun: If the gun does not hold pattern sufficient to maintain all pellets on target in vital area's it becomes a crap shoot.

4- actual conditions of the hunt: "Thick cover" can be defined as about anything you can't see through. Maybe it's nothing but palmetto leaves and maybe it's scrub oak. Different cover has a different affect on the shot. Some cover can be easily penetrated by the shot while other cover can stop it completely.

Yes, I have taken animals with buckshot and yes it has performed well when properly deployed within the confines of its ability. I still do deploy buckshot for certain things but hunting is not one of them. The shotgun by the bed starts with a round of #4 buck, round of OO and this one is followed up by 3 PRB's. Whole purpose of this loading is for home defense be it from 2 or 4 legged intruders. The #4B gives me a close range cover pattern, the OOB gives me a little more range and by that time the critter is either dead or at PRB range.

I almost had the chance to do some hunting in south FL where a shot exceeding 20 yards is rare and the deer are small. Hunted there before and used OOB because it's what I had. If the opportunity arises again, you can well bet the OOB is staying home and I'll be packing James's tri-ball loads. Point being, the bigger balls are definitely going to penetrate the cover far more reliably than the much smaller OOB and putting just one .600" ball on target with authority is far more desirable than putting six .32" balls into it that have lost a considerable amount of energy.

Hunting in PA, there were a few who thought OOB was the best for hunting the thick scrub oak cover despite the fact it was not legal to use. A few test shots were all that was needed to counter this myth. Placed a 4'x4' piece of 1/2" plywood behind a small section of scrub oak and fired five rounds of OOB at it. All those pellets and only 11 actually reached the plywood and none of them penetrated it. Penetrating soft cover is one thing but if you get into anything heavier like briars, scubs and such, OOB is not "optimum".

I'm not condemning OOB, it's got it's uses but it's not the do-all it's often suggested to be. I've hunted a lot of heavy cover and both the 12ga PRB's and my .45x2.1 have sufficed quite well. Conditions that dictate more snap shooting, I'd really rather have the tri-balls as my first choice.

Mark has hit the nail on the head! The problem I see is people buying whatever is the cheapest and in many cases never even testing patterns.
Two months ago Ole' Dixie put on a shooting seminar using ( ahowing) the new Poly-Choke II, the Trulock .660" choke tube, and Tri-Ball II.
The shooting was done at a measured 40 yards on 4" x4" target with a 5" sighting sticker.
The purpose was to see how many buckshot they could put in a 10" circle, wherever the center of the patterned was. All of these shooters were experienced buckshot hunters and were shooting guns/chokes/buckshot they hunterd with. Most were shooting #00, with a few shooting #000, #0, and a couple sgooting #1's. I saw no patterns that would not have killed a deer at 40 yards, but remember these were experienced buckshot hunters. The best patterns came from the WW 12 ga 3" #00 loads........putting an average of 7 pellets inside of 10". Then Little Hank shot Tri-Ball II with a Trulock .660" choke tube and averaged 7"-3 ball groups at 40 yards. All agreed that Tri-Ball II would have been best on hogs......and most have gone over to Tri-Ball II as their standard load.
Bottom line is just what Mark posted.....Test your gun's best patterns and understand the hunting situation.....James

You absolutely must pattern!

Shotguns are much (if not more so) like rifles with regard to being picky eaters. What one 870 likes, another 870 with the same choke (and heck with the next serial number) may despise.

My buckshot gun shot best with an improved modified choke. Until I started shooting a Patternmaster.

In tight cover, where shots will be inside 40 yards, I always used #1, backed up by two 00. Around fields, where shots could be out to 50 yards, I stuck with just 00. I always used nothing but 2 3/4" shells. Aside from being faster, my gun for whatever reason liked them better than the 3" versions....odd things guns can be.

Gentlemen:

In listing Buckshot Loads with BOTH buffer and FULL LENGTH SHOT CUP. I was merely sharing information that I have . The ammo companies seldom provide sufficient information on their buckshot products to make an educated guess as to what will have the best chance of producing a great pattern. In over the counter loads, the Winchester line only contains two loads with a full lengthe shot cup, Remington has only one. Federal does not produce any without a shot cup but in 3.5 inch loads, full length pellet protection is not there.

To find this information you have to cut open factory rounds and look. To find out how these loads pattern, you have to test your shotgun on paper.

The best example of the importance of patterning in my records, dates back to the 1980's. In a 30" fixed full choke Remington 1100, the then produced short magnum Federal OO "Hi-Power" Buckshot load fired a 14-16 inch doughnut pattern at 25 yards! The same gun with Federal Premium OOB fired all twelve pellets into 8-10 inches at the same range. The first load (1980'S) had buffer and no shot cup. The second had copper plated pellets, offset or "spiral" pellet stacking, buffer and shot cup.

Ralph

Gentlemen:

In listing Buckshot Loads with BOTH buffer and FULL LENGTH SHOT CUP. I was merely sharing information that I have . The ammo companies seldom provide sufficient information on their buckshot products to make an educated guess as to what will have the best chance of producing a great pattern. In over the counter loads, the Winchester line only contains two loads with a full lengthe shot cup, Remington has only one. Federal does not produce any without a shot cup but in 3.5 inch loads, full length pellet protection is not there.

To find this information you have to cut open factory rounds and look. To find out how these loads pattern, you have to test your shotgun on paper.

The best example of the importance of patterning in my records, dates back to the 1980's. In a 30" fixed full choke Remington 1100, the then produced short magnum Federal OO "Hi-Power" Buckshot load fired a 14-16 inch doughnut pattern at 25 yards! The same gun with Federal Premium OOB fired all twelve pellets into 8-10 inches at the same range. The first load (1980'S) had buffer and no shot cup. The second had copper plated pellets, offset or "spiral" pellet stacking, buffer and shot cup.

Ralph

The "Doughnut Pattern" above is also perfect example of too tight a choke for the load. I suspect some of the bad field experiences reported with buckshot are the result of this type of mismatch between choke and load.