#00 spread at room distance

[JodyH]

A quote I often see re: shotguns.
"At typical room distance a shotgun has very little spread, so there's no hit percentage advantage over a rifle."

Benelli Nova 18.5"
Winchester "Military Grade" 9 pellet #00 Buckshot
12 yards (distance from my hallway to the front door, across the living room).

[Buck]

A good rule of thumb for buckshot (pre Federal flight control wad) is that it will spred one inch +/- for every yard of distance... The Federal flight control tac 9, 00 buck, is about half of that...

B

[panzerr]

The advantage of a scattergun isn't necessarily that you have a greater chance of hitting a target due to spread, it is that you can put so much lead into a target with one devastating shot!

A good rule of thumb for buckshot (pre Federal flight control wad) is that it will spred one inch +/- for every yard of distance... The Federal flight control tac 9, 00 buck, is about half of that...

B

Good to know.

My van comp'ed scattergun is a little tighter. It consistently places 6 of 9 pellets on a standard IPSC at 50 meters with military 00 buck. At seven meters it produces a hole roughly the size of a slug.

[m24shooter]

The Winchester GI buckshot is not known for tight patterns. At all. It is in fact some of the worst patterning stuff out there.
FC wads such as Federal and the Hornady TAP line are going to really, really tighten it up. The Vang barrels do well across a variety of buck brands.
And 36 feet is not what I think is typically thought of as across the room distance. The longest shot in my house is 15 yards, but that is across my dining room, living room, a hallway, and into another room.

[JodyH]

Why do you want to turn a shotgun into a poor excuse for a rifle with tight shooting Vang-mods, TAP or Flite-Control?
A rifle will dominate a shotgun outside of 20 yards.
5.56 and .308 are at least as effective as fight stoppers inside 20 yards.
The main advantage a shotgun has over a rifle is a greater hit percentage (especially on moving targets in poor light) inside 20 yards.
By chasing ever and ever tighter groups you negate the main advantage a shotgun has.
I specifically chose the Olin 9 pellet Military load for its spread at 10-15 yards to maximize that hit potential yet still be a small enough pattern to ensure the minimum number of strays.

[panzerr]

Why do you want to turn a shotgun into a poor excuse for a rifle with tight shooting Vang-mods, TAP or Flite-Control? A rifle will dominate a shotgun outside of 20 yards.
5.56 and .308 are at least as effective as fight stoppers inside 20 yards.

The main advantage a shotgun has over a rifle is a greater hit percentage (especially on moving targets in poor light) inside 20 yards.
By chasing ever and ever tighter groups you negate the main advantage a shotgun has.
I specifically chose the Olin 9 pellet Military load for its spread at 10-15 yards to maximize that hit potential yet still be a small enough pattern to ensure the minimum number of strays.

It goes without saying that a carbine will dominate over a shotgun.

A shotgun is still a shotgun, regardless of how the buckshot groups. Extending the range with van comp systems or high speed buckshot rounds makes a weapon more versatile and versatility is the strong suit of a shotgun.

The fundamentals of shooting apply no matter what weapon system you are using. If you can't hit shit with a carbine you still won't hit shit with a shotgun no matter how much it scatters.

[ChicagoTex]

By chasing ever and ever tighter groups you negate the main advantage a shotgun has.

No, by chasing ever and ever tighter groups we're negating the main liabilities a shotgun has: pellets not hitting the target, and extending it's effective range.

My goal is to dump all the energy my scattergun has into the target, not waste 7/9s or 8/9s of it because I was too lazy to learn how to shoot properly.

[300WM]

A quote I often see re: shotguns.
"At typical room distance a shotgun has very little spread, so there's no hit percentage advantage over a rifle."

Benelli Nova 18.5"
Winchester "Military Grade" 9 pellet #00 Buckshot
12 yards (distance from my hallway to the front door, across the living room).

Is this with a straight cylinder bore or choked?

[Todd.K]

Why do you want to turn a shotgun into a poor excuse for a rifle with tight shooting Vang-mods, TAP or Flite-Control?

I think it comes from LE where many are forced to push the range of the shotgun because it's the only long gun they have.

[SHIVAN]

Since we are bench racing the ever living hell out of things, what if that single pellet or three that you're counting on saving your "hit percentage" runs in to IIIA soft armor instead of flesh?? If that's the case, you're going to need to shoot again.

The carbine in 5.56 is faster for follow-up shots with full power ammo, in my experience. It also defeats soft armor.

That being said, I also have a 12ga with 9 pellet 00buck in it -- but practice so that my main shot group is as shown above in the target. I'm not counting on "getting lucky", because when the SHTF in my house and involves a gun fight, I don't think I want to count on good luck being with me.