Shotgun Ammo Patterning

[rickp]

I did some pattering of 4 types of 00 buck today and I thought I would post the results for future ammo buyers looking to narrow down their selection.

I know pattering is very unique to ammo and gun, so results with vary for everyone, but it might give some a little more info when looking for 12g ammo.

The 4 selections I used is Federal LE 133 00 Premium Law Enforcement 8 Pellets, Federal LE 132 00 Premium Law Enforcement 9 Pellets, Military 9 Pellets 00 (Green Shell) and Winchester Ranger LE RA1200 9 Pellet.

I also shot some Federal LE127 RS Premium TruBall Rifled Slug HP. I only had 25y to shoot in so the info and accuracy is really limited.

I was really impressed with both Federal loads. The 9 pellet opened up a tad bit more than the 8 pellet but both did really well out to 25y.

All ammo was shot out of a 14" Benelli M4 entry model. So if you shoot something with a longer barrel, you can expect to have even better results. Again out of a 14" system I was very impressed with the Federal stuff.

The military stuff I shot, I don't have much info on, meaning what it is exactly, except I know its military 00 Buck 9 Pellet stuff. Regardless it was the shittiest out of all 4 loads, so I guess it's irrelevant.

Hope this helps when looking for ammo.

Here are the target images.











Slugs


R.

[greatnw]

Amazing how much the new federal offerings (truball slugs, flight control buck) blow away the competition. I have the 9 pellet buck and the same slugs that I need to get out and pattern in my 18.5" 590A1 and this post has me pretty excited to see what they can do. Thanks for the effort, well done.

[kmrtnsn]

25 yards or 25 feet? Never seen a wad/cup strike on paper at 25 yards.

[rickp]

yeahup 25y. I think that's a byproduct of the ammo's tightness.

I didn't show these images but even when I shot the Federal 8 pellet shot at 10y the target looked like it got hit with a slug. To the point that I had to confirm that I had loaded the gun with 00 and not a slug.

Glad I could help. I was really impressed with the results and the difference in performance.

[Patric]

Rick, The local Farm supply store sells that green "military grade" 00
for really cheap. So I bought alot of it.

I have had equally shitty results out of my 18" barrel 870.

[KiloSierra]

The military wants its buckshot to spread out since their intent is to use it on a battlefield in open combat. Federal Flight Control wad and even regular shot cup rounds are actually a liability under those intended circumstances. Realistically the limited use of shotguns in the military outside of breaching make changing the rounds a mute point anyway. The military load is a nine pellet, buffered load using the old style cardboard wads. Take a old pre-shot cup wad buckshot load like was used in WW1 and WW2 and add buffering to it and that's what they use.

Nice patterns by the way. I tried some in my old Mossberg and my 870 and both of them shot it worse then the regular Remington Express buffered buckshot. I need to buy some more and try it in my new Mossberg and the newer 870 I bought.

[Dave Berryhill]

...All ammo was shot out of a 14" Benelli M4 entry model.....

Does that barrel have any choke or is it Cylinder Bore?

Nice post!

[Redmanfms]

Rick, The local Farm supply store sells that green "military grade" 00
for really cheap. So I bought alot of it.

I have had equally shitty results out of my 18" barrel 870.

Just so everybody knows, the "military" 00 load is only Winchester Super X with a green hull. It's unplated and uses flat fiber wads (thus no shot cup) and to make matter worse, the shot itself tends to be pretty deformed even before firing.

I'm actually surprised the OP got a 17" pattern out of it, he must be running a choke.


If you got the stuff for stupid cheap (and I've seen it stupid cheap, in the $.50/round range) it certainly beats birdshot and makes plenty fine practice ammunition or as a stockpile for when the zombies roam, but for practical self-defense, this pictorial clearly illustrates the superiority of Federal's offerings.

[WS6]

Does that barrel have any choke or is it Cylinder Bore?

Nice post!

OEM Benelli M4S90 14" NFA barrels are fixed cylinder-bore.

[rickp]

OEM Benelli M4S90 14" NFA barrels are fixed cylinder-bore.

Does that barrel have any choke or is it Cylinder Bore?

Nice post!

Yes, it's a stock entry model, so no choke whatsoever.

That's good to know about the military ammo. Looking back now it does make sense since the old (for lack of a better word) standard for patterning was about 1" per yard. So 17" at 25y is above average so to speak.

R.