NEW Shotgun Pattern Test Results - Detail & Pic' heavy...
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derbyacresbob
Well-known member
Steel shot is the worst type of shot to use. The pellets are way to big and they don't weigh enough to hold their speed.
TSS shot is like a golf ball, lead shot is like a baseball and steel shot is like a Volleyball.
The below numbers are from the KPY Shotshell Ballistic Program
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
The speed of the 1800 fps Steel T shot at 32.7 yards was 994 fps
The speed of the 1200 fps TSS #2 shot at 108 yards was 581 fps
So the steel T shot had to be going 413 fps faster than the TSS # 2 shot to get the same penetration. The 1200 fps TSS #2 shot got the 3.70" of gel penetration about 75 yards farther away than the 1800 fps Steel T shot got 3.70" of gel penetration.
TSS shot is like a golf ball, lead shot is like a baseball and steel shot is like a Volleyball.
The below numbers are from the KPY Shotshell Ballistic Program
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
The speed of the 1800 fps Steel T shot at 32.7 yards was 994 fps
The speed of the 1200 fps TSS #2 shot at 108 yards was 581 fps
So the steel T shot had to be going 413 fps faster than the TSS # 2 shot to get the same penetration. The 1200 fps TSS #2 shot got the 3.70" of gel penetration about 75 yards farther away than the 1800 fps Steel T shot got 3.70" of gel penetration.
SlickerThanSnot
New member
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbob
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
that ^^^^ tells it all.
steel shot sucks!
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
that ^^^^ tells it all.
steel shot sucks!
derbyacresbob
Well-known member
Just for the heck of it below are the weights of BB shot for the different shot type densities. So this will be the approximate weight per each BB pellet.
Steel BB is 6.11 gr
Lead BB 8.57 gr
Rem HD or Hevi-Shot BB 9.30 gr
Federal Heavyweight BB 11.8 gr
TSS BB 14.1 gr
Steel BB is 6.11 gr
Lead BB 8.57 gr
Rem HD or Hevi-Shot BB 9.30 gr
Federal Heavyweight BB 11.8 gr
TSS BB 14.1 gr
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: derbyacresbob
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
that ^^^^ tells it all.
steel shot sucks! I guess so. I remember now, I shot Hornady nickel plated bb's "predator load" at a steel oil drum @ 40yds= all I got was dents, some close to going through stuck in the side of the barrel. Then I shot Federal steel BBB flitecontrol and lots of them went through the first side of the barrel and even made little dents on the inside. Plus the shot group was a lot tighter with the steel. So I know I can repeat this, so why is this? But not in gelatin? I remember saying to myself-if that was a coyote he'd be one dead sob.........................
1650 fps Steel BBB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 22.9 yards
1800 fps Steel T shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 32.7 yards
1300 fps Lead BB shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 44.3 yards
1200 fps #2 TSS shot, gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 108 yards
that ^^^^ tells it all.
steel shot sucks! I guess so. I remember now, I shot Hornady nickel plated bb's "predator load" at a steel oil drum @ 40yds= all I got was dents, some close to going through stuck in the side of the barrel. Then I shot Federal steel BBB flitecontrol and lots of them went through the first side of the barrel and even made little dents on the inside. Plus the shot group was a lot tighter with the steel. So I know I can repeat this, so why is this? But not in gelatin? I remember saying to myself-if that was a coyote he'd be one dead sob.........................
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battlestick
New member
First and foremost, all of my efforts were inspired by what DAA has found and posted on TSS patterns. Without DAA and Hal, none of this would have ever materialized for me. So, Thank you to DAA and Hal for all of your groundwork. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
I will preface my next few posts with this outline information. I will break the posts up by the outline (this post), and pattern results of each load. Hopefully someone gets some assistance out of this, or maybe someone gives me some ideas I have not thought of to get better patterns. Perhaps between those two someone, somewhere discovers some good information and it helps them out if they journey down the TSS path. Thanks for reading.
A little background, I settled on trying TSS #4’s first so I could get the density. The SG used is a Remington 1100, barrel cut to 18.5” and rethreaded for Rem Chokes. This barrel is dedicated to coyotes only, and I plan to extend my hunting grounds to some public land here that requires SG only and non-toxic shot. With the price of factory non-toxic shot, I can roll my own TSS for roughly what I can buy factory ammo for. I could reload less expensive non-toxic shot for cheaper, but with borderline penetration at the edge of my range, and certainly without the density I wanted. Also, why cut corners on $50 a year for better ammo when I spend 20x that amount on gas, snacks, coffee, energy drinks, licenses, permits, hunting gear, etc., etc.? It’s a personal choice I get it, but to me saving $50 in ammo a year doesn’t make since with all the other $$ and time invested.
Every ammo I have patterned has been no good (downright dismal) past 40 yards, and some don’t even make it that far with a reasonable pattern. Also, I don’t want to put a red dot on my SG. I shoot bead sight, and wanted to continue that. If I am somewhere I can use a scope, it’s usually my NV scope. Seldom do I hunt coyotes in the daylight where I can see much past my 40 yard shotgun range. From what I ended up with patterning the TSS, my range increased by 50%, so perhaps I can see everything within range now.

Patterns are with TSS #4’s a Carlson’s Coyote Choke (.665 constriction). Called Carlson and he said this tube is good with TSS up to Buckshot sizes, so I wouldn’t shoot anything larger than #2’s through mine, DAA has shown that to be plenty for coyotes. Also used my factory Remington full choke (.690 constriction). I learned more as I went along with my pattern tests and increased the paper backer size once I started to narrow in on a load. Until then, I used empty corn sacks cut in half. They are free from when I fill my feeders, and are roughly 19Hx28W inches. The wrapping paper from Dollar General I used at the end is 29Hx36W. This allowed me to see what the pattern would like “Minute of Coyote”. Since I only want to use the bead, it has to be very close to POA/POI.
Target POA was noted on targets if I adjusted for POA/POI. If not noted, I was aiming at the center dot by covering the dot with the bead. The circle around the center dot is 9” in circumference. I sprayed the outline of a paper plate. Why 9” and not 8” or 10” you ask? It was irrefutably proven the paper plates my wife had were 9”, so that’s what I went with. Shooting distances were measured with a 100yd tape. Shots were taken from the kneeling position, with a bog pod tripod used a front rest. This kneeling position also allows me to support my shooting elbow on my knee, and lean into the SG and tripod with my body and offhand.
Counting impacts, I used # inside circle, # outside circle, # in load. To get total # of impacts on the paper, you add the first two numbers. One key note, and I will note it again in my last post for clarity. Counting hits changed from the 9” circle to my “eyeballed” ten inch circle. I did this to more easily compare what I had, my expectations, and comparison to DAA’s patterning output.
The SG setup…
I will preface my next few posts with this outline information. I will break the posts up by the outline (this post), and pattern results of each load. Hopefully someone gets some assistance out of this, or maybe someone gives me some ideas I have not thought of to get better patterns. Perhaps between those two someone, somewhere discovers some good information and it helps them out if they journey down the TSS path. Thanks for reading.
A little background, I settled on trying TSS #4’s first so I could get the density. The SG used is a Remington 1100, barrel cut to 18.5” and rethreaded for Rem Chokes. This barrel is dedicated to coyotes only, and I plan to extend my hunting grounds to some public land here that requires SG only and non-toxic shot. With the price of factory non-toxic shot, I can roll my own TSS for roughly what I can buy factory ammo for. I could reload less expensive non-toxic shot for cheaper, but with borderline penetration at the edge of my range, and certainly without the density I wanted. Also, why cut corners on $50 a year for better ammo when I spend 20x that amount on gas, snacks, coffee, energy drinks, licenses, permits, hunting gear, etc., etc.? It’s a personal choice I get it, but to me saving $50 in ammo a year doesn’t make since with all the other $$ and time invested.
Every ammo I have patterned has been no good (downright dismal) past 40 yards, and some don’t even make it that far with a reasonable pattern. Also, I don’t want to put a red dot on my SG. I shoot bead sight, and wanted to continue that. If I am somewhere I can use a scope, it’s usually my NV scope. Seldom do I hunt coyotes in the daylight where I can see much past my 40 yard shotgun range. From what I ended up with patterning the TSS, my range increased by 50%, so perhaps I can see everything within range now.

Patterns are with TSS #4’s a Carlson’s Coyote Choke (.665 constriction). Called Carlson and he said this tube is good with TSS up to Buckshot sizes, so I wouldn’t shoot anything larger than #2’s through mine, DAA has shown that to be plenty for coyotes. Also used my factory Remington full choke (.690 constriction). I learned more as I went along with my pattern tests and increased the paper backer size once I started to narrow in on a load. Until then, I used empty corn sacks cut in half. They are free from when I fill my feeders, and are roughly 19Hx28W inches. The wrapping paper from Dollar General I used at the end is 29Hx36W. This allowed me to see what the pattern would like “Minute of Coyote”. Since I only want to use the bead, it has to be very close to POA/POI.
Target POA was noted on targets if I adjusted for POA/POI. If not noted, I was aiming at the center dot by covering the dot with the bead. The circle around the center dot is 9” in circumference. I sprayed the outline of a paper plate. Why 9” and not 8” or 10” you ask? It was irrefutably proven the paper plates my wife had were 9”, so that’s what I went with. Shooting distances were measured with a 100yd tape. Shots were taken from the kneeling position, with a bog pod tripod used a front rest. This kneeling position also allows me to support my shooting elbow on my knee, and lean into the SG and tripod with my body and offhand.
Counting impacts, I used # inside circle, # outside circle, # in load. To get total # of impacts on the paper, you add the first two numbers. One key note, and I will note it again in my last post for clarity. Counting hits changed from the 9” circle to my “eyeballed” ten inch circle. I did this to more easily compare what I had, my expectations, and comparison to DAA’s patterning output.
The SG setup…
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battlestick
New member
First up was the 1 3/8 ounce loads, with 111 pellets in each. Carlson’s Coyote choke was used for all of these patterns. Due to the short barrel and roll crimps, I added 2 grains of powder to the load. This was done after consulting with the load developer, and the tested pressure of the developed load. I discontinued this practice after discovering the fire hazard this created. All of that unburned powder I was seeing as a fireball, making my SG resemble a flame thrower was just a waste. So I went back to the published load amount of powder in all loads.
40 yds. 15 hits in 9” circle, 52 outside the circle, 67 on paper of 111 pellets…. Mehhh, certainly not what I was expecting!
First 50 yd shot. 10 hits in 9” circle, 32 hits outside the circle, 42 on paper of 111 pellets. Again, not what I was paying for!
Second 50 yd shot. 5 hits in 9” circle, 43 hits outside the circle, 48 on paper of 111 pellets. I was headed home disappointed for sure!
40 yds. 15 hits in 9” circle, 52 outside the circle, 67 on paper of 111 pellets…. Mehhh, certainly not what I was expecting!
First 50 yd shot. 10 hits in 9” circle, 32 hits outside the circle, 42 on paper of 111 pellets. Again, not what I was paying for!
Second 50 yd shot. 5 hits in 9” circle, 43 hits outside the circle, 48 on paper of 111 pellets. I was headed home disappointed for sure!
battlestick
New member
After analyzing the previous patterns, I wondered if modifications in the wad would help to tighten the patterns. Certainly adding some pellets would help too, Right? Some suggest using a more open choke with TSS, so I decided to test that as well. To reiterate, I discontinued the practice of adding 2 grains of powder to the load to avoid burning down the woods.
This 1.5 ounce load has 125 pellets, with a wad tighter than load specs, and two different chokes used.
These first 3 are with the Rem Full Choke. Obviously, reducing the choke didn’t help me at all!
40 yds. 6 hits in 9” circle, 40 outside the circle, 46 on paper of 125 pellets. This sucks TSS pellets!
50 yds. 3 hits in 9” circle, 35 outside the circle, 38 on paper of 125 pellets. Uggggg…
50 yds. 7 hits in 9” circle, 29 outside the circle, 36 on paper of 125 pellets. Even worse than Uggggg…
These next two shots are with the Carlson’s Coyote choke, combined with a tighter than spec wad. Do you expect the patterns to get tighter, or be over choked?
40 yds. 7 hits in 9” circle, 21 outside the circle, 28 on paper of 125 pellets. Ignore where it says 131 pellets, I don’t recall what I was thinking.
50 yds. 6 hits in 9” circle, 31 outside the circle, 37 on paper of 125 pellets. Ignore where it says 131 pellets, I don’t recall what I was thinking.
Turns out, this was wayyyy overchoked! Nothing here did me any good, except…..
I did see when shooting, a little high and to the right of the paper I was seeing wood from the plywood backer flying off. So if you will notice, I made note of where I was aiming – either at the dot, or the bottom of it.
This 1.5 ounce load has 125 pellets, with a wad tighter than load specs, and two different chokes used.
These first 3 are with the Rem Full Choke. Obviously, reducing the choke didn’t help me at all!
40 yds. 6 hits in 9” circle, 40 outside the circle, 46 on paper of 125 pellets. This sucks TSS pellets!
50 yds. 3 hits in 9” circle, 35 outside the circle, 38 on paper of 125 pellets. Uggggg…
50 yds. 7 hits in 9” circle, 29 outside the circle, 36 on paper of 125 pellets. Even worse than Uggggg…
These next two shots are with the Carlson’s Coyote choke, combined with a tighter than spec wad. Do you expect the patterns to get tighter, or be over choked?
40 yds. 7 hits in 9” circle, 21 outside the circle, 28 on paper of 125 pellets. Ignore where it says 131 pellets, I don’t recall what I was thinking.
50 yds. 6 hits in 9” circle, 31 outside the circle, 37 on paper of 125 pellets. Ignore where it says 131 pellets, I don’t recall what I was thinking.
Turns out, this was wayyyy overchoked! Nothing here did me any good, except…..
I did see when shooting, a little high and to the right of the paper I was seeing wood from the plywood backer flying off. So if you will notice, I made note of where I was aiming – either at the dot, or the bottom of it.
battlestick
New member
After much thought, analysis, and wondering if TSS was going to pay off for me (literally), I decided to stay with it and see what I could find. Persistence pays of, Right???? So, here is what I took with me into the next load….
1. My patterns were a little high, so I needed larger paper that would show my pattern a few inches higher.
2. I discovered the tighter wad, with both chokes, put less pellets on target than the spec wad.
I really felt like I was on to something with my patterns, and analysis, so this is what I came out with... 1.5 ounce (125 pellet) load, following the load developer specs with the wad. I decided to see if the Carlson Coyote choke was too restrictive and pattern my full choke as well. I figured from here I could see if I needed a choke somewhere in the middle.
One key note here, that I stated originally that I would point out again! Counting hits changed from the 9” circle to an “eyeballed” ten inch circle around the painted 9”. I did this to more easily compare what I had with my expectations based on DAA’s patterning output. So if you count the holes inside the circle and count a few less, look around the edge and see what is close to ½ inch all around and count these. I did not count these shots double on the “outside” number. So adding both numbers still yields total hits on paper. Now, on to the results.
It sprinkled off and on, but I kept at it. Some of the pics may be more difficult to “read” than others. My apologies.
First up, the Rem Full choke. I expected this to be closest to the sweet spot.
40 yds. 12 hits in 10” circle, 97 outside the circle, 109 on paper of 125 pellets! Finally, an improvement. But only 12 in 9”, is this worth the cost?
50 yds. 0 hits in 10” circle, 34 outside the circle, Only 34 on paper of 125 pellets. [beeep]? This fell apart, literally. Donut pattern, is it overchoked, or is it not choked enough?
Next up, Carlson’s Coyote Choke. With the 40 yard results on the full choke, at least I am not a total “Debbie Downer”, but to say I was not enthused is an over statement….
40 yds. 30 hits in 10” circle, 81 outside the circle, 111 on paper of 125 pellets! Much, freaking, better.
50 yds. 10 hits in 10” circle, 92 outside the circle, 102 on paper of 125 pellets. Maybe we are getting somewhere.
50 yds again. 12 hits in 10” circle, 78 outside the circle, 90 on paper of 125 pellets. Definately consistent.
I had one more, so put it at 60 yards and let’s see, Right?
60 yds. 11 hits in 10” circle, 59 outside the circle, 70 on paper of 125 pellets. Not too bad.
For now, I am pretty pleased with this. I will likely re-pattern the 1.5 oz load at 40/50/60 again someday. It provides me a load for hunting public land with non-tox shot, and better range/effectiveness/pattern density than I have with anything else. I think “Minute of Coyote” I have a 50 yard one shot range, and patterns effective enough for follow ups to 60 yards. Only time will tell this, and for now I plan to start my hunting back in Aug/Sept when the pups disperse. I cannot help but think though that a little less choke would yield tighter patterns at 50 and 60 yards, but I honestly prefer the cloud vs the wad. At those ranges, my misses probably aren’t by mere inches.
In several months, if anyone has any extended choke tubes, with Rem threads, and wants to send them to me… I would be happy to slap it on and shoot it at 40/50, perhaps 60 and send it back. Then we all have more information, and perhaps I find a better choke! If I keep funding all of this myself I will need a second job, and that will not happen!
For the near term however, I will be out of commission. Tell your loved ones, start their Dr. appointments and checkups early, and be vigilant. In late March my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer at 45 and half years old. Much, much younger than most diagnosis of this kind. Her prognosis is very positive as we caught this early, and at her young age she has a ton of fight left in her. We have our first surgery next week on May 10th, followed by treatment and at least one more surgery. We don’t always fight breast cancer, but when we do we conquer it! Peace out for now my friends.
1. My patterns were a little high, so I needed larger paper that would show my pattern a few inches higher.
2. I discovered the tighter wad, with both chokes, put less pellets on target than the spec wad.
I really felt like I was on to something with my patterns, and analysis, so this is what I came out with... 1.5 ounce (125 pellet) load, following the load developer specs with the wad. I decided to see if the Carlson Coyote choke was too restrictive and pattern my full choke as well. I figured from here I could see if I needed a choke somewhere in the middle.
One key note here, that I stated originally that I would point out again! Counting hits changed from the 9” circle to an “eyeballed” ten inch circle around the painted 9”. I did this to more easily compare what I had with my expectations based on DAA’s patterning output. So if you count the holes inside the circle and count a few less, look around the edge and see what is close to ½ inch all around and count these. I did not count these shots double on the “outside” number. So adding both numbers still yields total hits on paper. Now, on to the results.
It sprinkled off and on, but I kept at it. Some of the pics may be more difficult to “read” than others. My apologies.
First up, the Rem Full choke. I expected this to be closest to the sweet spot.
40 yds. 12 hits in 10” circle, 97 outside the circle, 109 on paper of 125 pellets! Finally, an improvement. But only 12 in 9”, is this worth the cost?
50 yds. 0 hits in 10” circle, 34 outside the circle, Only 34 on paper of 125 pellets. [beeep]? This fell apart, literally. Donut pattern, is it overchoked, or is it not choked enough?
Next up, Carlson’s Coyote Choke. With the 40 yard results on the full choke, at least I am not a total “Debbie Downer”, but to say I was not enthused is an over statement….
40 yds. 30 hits in 10” circle, 81 outside the circle, 111 on paper of 125 pellets! Much, freaking, better.
50 yds. 10 hits in 10” circle, 92 outside the circle, 102 on paper of 125 pellets. Maybe we are getting somewhere.
50 yds again. 12 hits in 10” circle, 78 outside the circle, 90 on paper of 125 pellets. Definately consistent.
I had one more, so put it at 60 yards and let’s see, Right?
60 yds. 11 hits in 10” circle, 59 outside the circle, 70 on paper of 125 pellets. Not too bad.
For now, I am pretty pleased with this. I will likely re-pattern the 1.5 oz load at 40/50/60 again someday. It provides me a load for hunting public land with non-tox shot, and better range/effectiveness/pattern density than I have with anything else. I think “Minute of Coyote” I have a 50 yard one shot range, and patterns effective enough for follow ups to 60 yards. Only time will tell this, and for now I plan to start my hunting back in Aug/Sept when the pups disperse. I cannot help but think though that a little less choke would yield tighter patterns at 50 and 60 yards, but I honestly prefer the cloud vs the wad. At those ranges, my misses probably aren’t by mere inches.
In several months, if anyone has any extended choke tubes, with Rem threads, and wants to send them to me… I would be happy to slap it on and shoot it at 40/50, perhaps 60 and send it back. Then we all have more information, and perhaps I find a better choke! If I keep funding all of this myself I will need a second job, and that will not happen!
For the near term however, I will be out of commission. Tell your loved ones, start their Dr. appointments and checkups early, and be vigilant. In late March my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer at 45 and half years old. Much, much younger than most diagnosis of this kind. Her prognosis is very positive as we caught this early, and at her young age she has a ton of fight left in her. We have our first surgery next week on May 10th, followed by treatment and at least one more surgery. We don’t always fight breast cancer, but when we do we conquer it! Peace out for now my friends.
GC
Well-known member
First and most importantly, best wishes for your wife and yourself!
Thank you for the detailed report. You might try an Improved Modified or Light Full constriction. This would be about .025" - .030" constriction from your bore size. About .700" - .705" give or take a few points of constriction.
To better center point of impact to point of aim, a little larger bead will bring your patterns lower and closer to POA. One of my Benelli's shoots a 60/40 pattern, the other a flat 50/50 pattern. Either works, it's mostly personal preference but I like the 60/40 pattern of my old M1S90 Turkey Benelli the best. Some of your patterns are 70/30 or more and obviously that doesn't work well for field shooting predators. There seems to be a tendency to shoot left, and that is going to be more difficult to fix. Hopefully more load development and different chokes solve that. Could be the choke threads aren't cut true to your chamber and bore.
Thank you for the detailed report. You might try an Improved Modified or Light Full constriction. This would be about .025" - .030" constriction from your bore size. About .700" - .705" give or take a few points of constriction.
To better center point of impact to point of aim, a little larger bead will bring your patterns lower and closer to POA. One of my Benelli's shoots a 60/40 pattern, the other a flat 50/50 pattern. Either works, it's mostly personal preference but I like the 60/40 pattern of my old M1S90 Turkey Benelli the best. Some of your patterns are 70/30 or more and obviously that doesn't work well for field shooting predators. There seems to be a tendency to shoot left, and that is going to be more difficult to fix. Hopefully more load development and different chokes solve that. Could be the choke threads aren't cut true to your chamber and bore.
battlestick
New member
I appreciate the wishes.
Based on the patterns, would you go straight to a .170 bead? Or would you suggest not as drastic and go to .156? I currently have a .130.
I think when I pattern next with the new bead size, I will put it on a table and shoot it from a bench. That will tell me if the load, or me is making it favor left. I have other loads with both chokes that don't pattern left, so I am not sure it is the hardware. If it still goes left, my next step may be to slow it down a bit.
Thanks for input, I didn't even think of bead size.
Based on the patterns, would you go straight to a .170 bead? Or would you suggest not as drastic and go to .156? I currently have a .130.
I think when I pattern next with the new bead size, I will put it on a table and shoot it from a bench. That will tell me if the load, or me is making it favor left. I have other loads with both chokes that don't pattern left, so I am not sure it is the hardware. If it still goes left, my next step may be to slow it down a bit.
Thanks for input, I didn't even think of bead size.
Does the .05-.06 rule of thumb work for 20 as well? That puts the sweet spot as tight as .555 which is the tightest available in 20. Commercial 20 loads range from unplated, unbuffered #1b to copper plated #4b. My .590 Jebs doesn't pattern buck worth a darn. Neither do the factory IC, Mod or full. I have a new Kicks buck kicker, which I had to buy just to measure. It's not published on the internet. Also testing a Carlson .575, .585, and .595. I have a swarm .555 but am scared to go that tight. Will it be okay for #1b? The equivalent of .06 in 12ga, .669 approx.
My goal is an honest 40yd deer gun for dog hunting.
My goal is an honest 40yd deer gun for dog hunting.
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GC
Well-known member
I'll be honest and tell you I've not done a whole lot of 20 gauge buckshot testing. Turkey loads for turkey hunting - yes. Big buckshot, not so much. My buckshot testing has been with No. 3 Buck and not too surprising to me was that about .025" construction seemed to perform best. I don't think I would want to squeeze No. 1 Buck through that .555" choke. How many #1 Buck pellets can you cram into a 3" 20 gauge? Most commercial loads in the 20 gauge are with #3 Buck. But I do like and appreciate 1 Buck in a 12 gauge!
derbyacresbob
Well-known member
Not to long ago some friends of mine and I bought a bunch of 3-1/2" Federal Heavyweight #5, 1-7/8 oz Turkey loads just to take the shot out of them. After I loaded all of the #5 shot in 2-3/4" hulls for hunting geese I had a bunch of 3-1/2" Federal hulls with the primer powder and FLITECONTROL wads in them.
I loaded up some of these factory hulls with different weight shot charges in them and sent them off to Precision Reloading for testing.
The pressures were well below MAX pressure for 3-1/2" shells so I figured I needed to buy some HW13 BB shot to load up in all the 3-1/2" hulls I had.
I weighed some shot charges and counted the pellets and 86 pellets averaged out to be about a 1/2 pellet or a full pellet below 1-7/8 oz of shot. So I set up a shotgun primer tray to count out 86 HW13 BB pellets.
IMG_8231 by Robert Morris, on Flickr
With 43 open holes in the primer tray two BB pellets will fit in each hole. So this was a very quick way to scoop up some shot and come up with 86 pellets to put in each shell.
IMG_8230 by Robert Morris, on Flickr
Here are some of the hulls ready to be crimped.
IMG_8242 by Robert Morris, on Flickr
Here is what the finished shells look like.
Today I went to our little trap range a little early and shot two shells just to see what they patterned like. I shot one shell with a Mod choke and one shell with a IMP/MOD choke. The IMP/MOD was a little tighter and looked better to me than the Mod choke pattern.
IMG_8428 by Robert Morris, on Flickr
The IMP/MOD choke put 27 HW13 BB pellets in the 9" circle I was shooting at at 40 yards.
I found one of the FLITECONTROL wads at the 40 yard pattern board and the other wad about 10 yards past the 40 yard pattern board.
IMG_8443 by Robert Morris, on Flickr
I am pretty sure these 86 pellet loads of HW13 BB shot are going to be bad news for the coyotes.
I loaded up some of these factory hulls with different weight shot charges in them and sent them off to Precision Reloading for testing.
The pressures were well below MAX pressure for 3-1/2" shells so I figured I needed to buy some HW13 BB shot to load up in all the 3-1/2" hulls I had.
I weighed some shot charges and counted the pellets and 86 pellets averaged out to be about a 1/2 pellet or a full pellet below 1-7/8 oz of shot. So I set up a shotgun primer tray to count out 86 HW13 BB pellets.
IMG_8231 by Robert Morris, on FlickrWith 43 open holes in the primer tray two BB pellets will fit in each hole. So this was a very quick way to scoop up some shot and come up with 86 pellets to put in each shell.
IMG_8230 by Robert Morris, on FlickrHere are some of the hulls ready to be crimped.
IMG_8242 by Robert Morris, on FlickrHere is what the finished shells look like.
Today I went to our little trap range a little early and shot two shells just to see what they patterned like. I shot one shell with a Mod choke and one shell with a IMP/MOD choke. The IMP/MOD was a little tighter and looked better to me than the Mod choke pattern.
IMG_8428 by Robert Morris, on FlickrThe IMP/MOD choke put 27 HW13 BB pellets in the 9" circle I was shooting at at 40 yards.
I found one of the FLITECONTROL wads at the 40 yard pattern board and the other wad about 10 yards past the 40 yard pattern board.
IMG_8443 by Robert Morris, on FlickrI am pretty sure these 86 pellet loads of HW13 BB shot are going to be bad news for the coyotes.
LARUEminati
Active member
Looks good, I was impressed with the flight control wads. I'm still shooting the discontinued federal heavyweight BB's.