Thread: Buckshot

Originally Posted by 338MAN mk2

Growing up hunting a central north island pine forest for pigs with shotgun only rules i have shot many critters with shotguns and have tried many different loadings.
A short H&R single with sights was good with the Breneke slugs out to 50yds but running targets were hard.
Buckshot was worse until we changed guns to the Baikal with its super long and tight choked barrel. We were consistently dropping pigs out to 50yds and would put enough pellets in to slowup the 50-75yds ones that the dogs would sort them.
I went a step further and started to carry my Rem 11-87 duck gun full of 00 and mod choke and had great success.
With shotguns more than any other guns you have to match the load to the gun or barrel or choke.
You should pattern any load before hunting with it. We found a huge difference in performance between Buckshot loads. Not always related to price.
We shot everything from cheap as chip bulk shells to super expensive the latest and greatest and tried to better them all with reloads but by far the best across the board loading was the winchester 9 ball buffered 00.

This is excellent advice, and mirrors my own experiences.

Absolutely essential to pattern test your gun, choke and buckshot load at the kind of distances you intend to use it. I also prefer the Winchester Super-X buffered 9-ball 00 load, and found Modified choke to be the best for my own shooting at 30 - 40 yd. Quarter choke only good to 20 - 25 yd, and Full choke often blows the pattern apart.

For effective performance on goats, pigs & fallow I like to have at least 8 out of 9 pellets within a 2 foot circle at 30 yd.

Good thread really...9 balls launched from the shotty have been used on many different occasions from Wallabies through to Thar.
From up above the ground roos had no chance at all having those 9 balls thrown their way.
A late friend used them extensively on the Thar..deadly. Solids were fun but another story eh.

Dang, siitting at work, looking at the measuring tape on my desk.

My cubit, elbow to middle finger tip, is a very useful 0.505m or 19.88".
My great hand span, thumb tip to little finger tip, is 20cm.
My palm span along the crease is 10cm.

Very useful.

Thumb is definitely Imperial, as near to 25.4mm width as you can measure with a ruler.