[Skunkabilly]

How do 00 and #4 buck compare penetrationwise? I am assuming comparable stopping power?

[El Tejon]

Range? Material? Angle?

Go shoot stuff yourself, Skunk. You get to wear 8th grade shop glasses and a white lab coat. Carry a clipboard so others around you will think you're important.:D

[Skunkabilly]

KS are you saying I'm not important? :)

Why do the research if someone else has? :) I'm lazy.

[El Tejon]

Amongst the tacticality community, you are very important!:D

Do it yourself--an article for SWAT, with photographs. It would beat reding about imaginary French goats.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Skunk-
Go do a search in the terminal ballistics forum at TF. Search first, before you ask.

[Elmer Snerd]

I hope that this article (http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm) helps.

[Blackhawk]

Great article, Elmer! :neener:

[Skunkabilly]

Tactical briefs? Where do I get them, do they come in carbon fiber?

No mention of #4 buck...will take a look at #1.

[Zander]

Tactical briefs? Where do I get them, do they come in carbon fiber?Sure...but you may have to do a little work with some 600-grit sandpaper to make them truly comfortable. :cool:

[ACP]

What Elmer said.

[Sir Galahad]

Skunk, #1 Buck is what you're looking for. IWBA tested this and found it has the best compromise between penetration of bad guy and not overpenetrating walls. It also has mucho .30 cal pellets. Every shot on target is almost like a burst from a PPSh41 SMG. Or something like that. Anyway, out of my 1300 Defender it patterns great and tight. I keep my shotgun loaded with #1 buck. But what you need to do is go cut you out some cardboard squares the size of an average mans chest. Or, just do what I did and use 15"x15" squares. Then put you a 1" red dot sticker dead center on each of the squares as an aiming pont of reference. Then get you a tape measure and measure the longest distance you might have to deflate an intruder in your home. In other words, what's the farthest away you could be from the intruder. Now take your tape measure, carboard squares and---drum roll, please----several boxes of #1, #4, 0, and 00 buck in your favorite flavor to an area where you can shoot with a little elbow room to do your testing. Get you a hanger to hang your cardboard squares and use the tape measure to measure that farthest distance in your home. That's where you'll stand to shoot from. Pattern each type on your cardboard squares. I suggest at least 5 shots a piece. So plan on 5 pieces of cardboard per size of buckshot. More is even better. Now, after you're done, take your handy-dandy tape measure again. Measure the pattern of the buckshot and see which is "tightest." That's why you need to do several, so that you can see consistancy in that load. Your shotgun might not even pattern some types decently. It's like that with smoothbores. You have to pattern each one individually. Then you can find what is the best load for your shotgn. Yes, #4 might be less apt to overpenetrate, but if you've got "flyer" pellets all over the page, those are the pellets that are going to go through walls because they're not going through bad guy first. A tight 00 buck is better than half a load of #4 not even hitting the target. You see where I'm going with this? Use what patterns best out of your shotgun. In mine, #1 and 00 pattern best. So I load with #1 with a couple rounds of 00 buck doing Tail-End Charlie in the mag tube.

Hints:

1.) You can make a hanger for your targets out of wood. Make a hollow frame and then you can use a paper holder off a clipboard to hold the target in the frame. You can make the frame to stand up with a little creativity using a sawhorse or making legs for the frame.

2.) You can put a large sheet of butcher paper behind the cradboard to see if you had any wild flyers that went right off the page.

Now, when you're next in Arizona, you owe me a Macanudo cigar for all that advice. I usually charge a Cohiba, but I'm feeling generous today.:D

[EJ]

#1 buck is by far the best--

I did a lot of research on this in the late 70's after the SO had a fail to stop with their #4 buck--

The SO over-reacted and went to slugs --
But I switched our Dept from #00 to#4 due to better patterning coupled with comparable power per pellet--

It's trempting to think of the #4 as a great choice-- with all those extra pellets-- but you shouldn't go below 30 cal with two legged targets--

[Sir Galahad]

And Skunk still owes me a Macanudo so I can pattern the ash on my porch.:D

[Peter Gun]

I'm using #1 buck in my 1300 defender. I wrote up a little test report last month. I agree that #4 does not always seem to have adequate penetration.