NEW Shotgun Pattern Test Results - Detail & Pic' heavy...

Originally Posted By: GCHouser, the plated lead BB's do work fine, though they won't give you the range or quite the terminal effect of the tungsten pellets. About 40-ish yards like Rich mentioned is a good safe bet. We sometimes misjudge range and that gives you a little cushion on the upper end, especially when shooting through brush which takes some of the shot out of the pattern.

Thanks to you and Rich for your opinions on the Federal BBs. I already have HD BBs and some Hevi T shells but always looking for other options.
 
It only has 24 pellets as compared to a more usual 3" 12 gauge No. Four Buck load with 41 pellets. Plus it uses that danged Flite Control type wad... which is often a pain in the rear to get good patterns from. I dunno, might be worth checking out but it seems to be handicapped right from the start.
 
I wish we could use #4 buck or even the T shot Dead coyote loads here in Ok. but BB is as large as we are allowed to be afield with. The Federal Premium BB 17/8 load is what i use through a .675 HS strut choke. I'm down to around 10 rnds out of a 25rnd box. I hope I can find them in the 10rnd boxes.
 
Question! What is the generally accepted size of the heart-lung area of a coyote? I have the drawing of a coyote and have made several cardboard cutouts of it(http://coyotecanada.ca/coyote_template.pdf). Is the heart-lungs depicted on the drawing a fair representation. I just got a new 870 SPS Turkey/Predator shot gun and plan to pattern it in the morning using the cutouts.
 
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Thanks for all your work and the great photos! I have quickly figured out the 60+ yd claims are just that "claims". Everyone gets lucky once in awhile but consistent clean kills are tough past 40 yds.
 
Question about pure gold. Does anyone else notice that the pure gold 670/Rem 870SM combo shoots just about everything good from #7 Hevi-13 to DC T. Is it the pure gold choke design or is 670 the best constriction for most predator and turkey applications?
 
Pure Gold is an excellent choke, but they aren't magical. None of them are (despite some claims laid out by a few of these companies), though some choke designs are better than others. A good quality wad stripping choke with between .050" - .060" constriction from the particular bore size is a very versatile choke.
 
GC, I was actually thinking about this today while hunting and specifically about this thread. I was wondering how any of the choke brands could be that much better than the others design wise. I think there is probably only so much variation that can be put into a three inch tube.
 
Quote:Flite Control wads act to keep the entire wad and shot column as one single unit - basically a slug. If that slams into too tight a constriction, or the wad catchers grab that "slug" it may act as a barrel obstruction and cause damage.
thats perfect GC, I was just talking to my brother about this today, and was trying to puzzle out how bad it might end up trying to strip a wad designed to hold all the shot in a tight pack...
 
I was also out wasting a box of #4 remington express today testing out the stock mod choke in a used mossy 500 I just got, and the results made me think of something that might be worth mentioning (might have been already, haven't read this entire beast of a topic). At 20 yards the pattern was fairly tight but shaped in a narrow horizontal curve (ive noticed this in other guns/chokes, and took some extra shots to make sure it was a consistent pattern). It didnt look promising because even though it was tight, it was narrow, so aim a little high or low and the shot band might miss your target. However at 25 yards, the pattern loosened up quite a bit, but, it also spread down into a nice round pattern, putting significantly more pellets in the head AND entire neck of the turkey target I was using. Simply put, its quite possible to pattern a choke and load combo at longer distances and assume it patterns good, when in fact 10 yards closer, and the pattern you were expecting doesnt exist anymore, so really, be as thorough with your patterning as you can
 
I pattern at 13, 25, 40, and 50 yards. I will shoot longer distances "if" the 50 yard pattern is promising enough. My son just bought a new Vinci and the first thing we did to determine point of aim/point of impact was screw the factory Full choke in and shoot three shots from 13 yards. You should be dead on left/right and either dead on (flat pattern) or no more than 2" inches high at 13 yards (60/40 pattern). His Vinci was dead on left/right and about 1 1/2" high and shot one single ragged hole with the three shots - perfect. The Winchester SX3 he had awhile back was 4" left and 9" high at 13 yards. That made 40 yard patterns about 18" left and 30" high. That's a problem...
 
Quote:That made 40 yard patterns about 18" left and 30" high
weeeeellll..... as long as everything your shooting is going up and left.... haha, yeah, thats no good
 
Originally Posted By: dpittmanQuestion about pure gold. Does anyone else notice that the pure gold 670/Rem 870SM combo shoots just about everything good from #7 Hevi-13 to DC T. Is it the pure gold choke design or is 670 the best constriction for most predator and turkey applications?

I have noticed this the .670 shoots every thing good for me in three different remington shotguns.
It also shoots everything good for me in two browning invector plus barrels which is very interesting considering the bigger bore of the browning.
I have also shot .680,.696 and .720 puregold chokes in the brownings with equally good results,patterns opening up as expected as the choke constriction opened up.
I just picked up a 24 inch barreled winchester sx2 that has the browning bore and choke so i will be putting those 4 chokes through there paces once again with #4 buck,rem hd bb and dead coyote.
I will again post my results whenever i get around to it in the future.
 
Where are you guys finding the larger shot at? I can find Hevi Dead Coyote and 00 buck and that is about it. Do I need to mail order it?
 
Crabo,

I order my shotgun fodder from Natchez shooter supply. I just ordered a .660 Kicks Gobbling Thunder choke tube this morning also. I need that tube for shooting the smaller shot.
 
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