Went out and tried my new Kick's Choke (0.670 GT) in my 21" Benelli M2/Crio and must say I was disappointed. #4 Buckshot was spread over the entire 20 x 26 target sheet with no real sweet spot.
Given that disappointment, I decided to switch back to my Dead Coyote choke and do some patterning of my handloads. These loads are based on a Dixie Slug Recipe, using 18 pellets of #1 Buck in a 3" Hull. I had patterned this load a bit using the Dead Coyote choke and wanted to try some different wad petal configurations. I buy the wads unslit and cut them - I tried 2, 3, 4 & 6 petal configurations. These were loaded a few weeks back using Hornady #1, which I can't get any longer, but they were loaded and I wanted to see if one was better than the other. The pellets are stacked 2 per layer, 9 layers high. The first shot had me really confused...it was TIGHT...way tighter than before. When I went back to the line I realized that I had never swapped out the choke and was still using the Kick's 0.670 GT choke. It shot way tighter than the Dead Coyote. The winner of the testing was the 4 Petal version, which had 17 of the 18 #1 pellets inside 12 inches and had 15 inside 8"! The pattern inside the 8" circle was very uniform, and I can cover most of the 15 pellets with my hand.
These were shot at 35 yds, since that was were I shot from on my previous tests and wanted to compare apples to apples. I will do some 40yd and 50yd testing next week, but I think I should easily be able to get enough pellets in the center to put a coyote down at 50.
Given these results, I think I am going to try the #4 buck load in my 0.665 Carlson's Turkey Choke. I did some calculations based on stacks of 4, #4's and it comes out a tad under 0.670. It certainly doesn't appear that I have enough choke. I am also going to order some #1 Super Buck from BPI, because if the #4 doesn't work out, I know the #1 will do the job.
2 Slits - some say that these wads can yaw in flight, causing blown patterns. Others say the wad petals are stiffer which delays opening, creating tighter patterns. This one has some density to it, but not real uniform. I only had one of these left to pattern.
3 Slits - many report that 3 slits give them the best patterns. These turned out nice, but it is hard to slit the wads evenly with 3 cuts.
4 Slits - this is the winner. 17 of the 18 pellets inside 12" and 14-15 pellets inside 8". Very uniform looking patterns. Not sure why the one is off to the left, but it is probably from using the top rail of a folding step stool as a rest. I have a Leupold Delta Point on my Benelli, so POI issues can be addressed easily. I am going to experiment further with depth of the petal cuts to see if the patterns can be improved further.
ETA - on this last target I measured the main "Cluster" and it has 12 pellets inside 4". I will be adjusting the Delta Point to put this cluster dead center on my next range session.
6 slits was nothing to write home about, so I didn't include it.
