99% of my shotgun shooting is with buckshot and slugs. I use the shotgun in a personal protection or deer/hog hunting in heavy cover role more than a shooting aerial targets role.
#4 Buckshot - Great for apartment or small house defense where overpenetration might be a concern. It works really well in the standard or magnum loading on varmints like coyotes or bobcats out to 40 yards or so with a load/choke combination that your shotgun likes.
#1 Buckshot - Have tested these since many authorities consider them the best choice for self defense and as previously mentioned by another poster I also have not had much luck with tight patterns, even with modified or full chokes. Federal now makes a #1 Buckshot load with the Flitecontrol Wad, but IME it is very hard to find and I will test it when I can find it
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0 Buckshot - My local Academy store has this in stock and I had high hopes with this load offering 12 pellets of .32 caliber buckshot. From the Remington 870 Express HD with 18 inch cylinder choke barrel I do most of testing with this load barely stays on a B-27 Silhouette at 50 ft.
00 Buckshot - The Federal Flitecontrol Buckshot is the king in this pellet size. Racquetball size groups at 50 feet and 15 inch patterns at 50 yards. Federal makes three different Flitecontrol loadings 1145fps (LE132 00), 1325fps (LE127 00), and 3 inch Magnum 00 with 12 pellets in the Vital-Shok (PFC157) line. If I am presented with a hunting opportunity with the buckshot loaded shotgun, the 3 inch Magnum Flitecontrol 00 is probably what I will have loaded.
000 Buckshot - For four legged animals this is a good choice. For two legged varmints all of the pellets will probably exit the body in just about every case. After doing some recent testing, I decided what the heck and shot some Remington Express 3 inch Magnum 000 Buckshot (10 pellets) through a Remington Factory Extra Full Turkey Choke at 50 feet, and was rewarded with a fist sized pattern. The Remington Factory Extra Full Turkey Choke is about .687 and did not exhibit any problems with pellet deformation on target that I could see. Only a slightly larger pattern than the 3 inch Magnum Federal Flitecontrol 00 Buckshot shot at the same distance, and about a buck cheaper a box.
These are some of my observations. If ya'll were asking what time it is and I told ya'll how to build a clock, I apologize
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Just my .02,
LeonCarr