Does anyone still use buckshot?

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Kachok

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So a friend of mine tells me that he is hunting this year with a 12ga and he is using 00 buckshot, this would not surprise me if he were a dog hunter but from a treestand I don't see the logic of it. Does anyone else still use a scattergun besides dog hunters? If so what is the appeal and what advantage would it have over a 30-06 or even a 12ga slug? Seems to me like quite a handicap, not to mention a good way to ruin a bunch of extra meat.
 
I've used buckshot ONCE and I'll never use it again. Even at a range of 15 FEET I found its effectiveness to be severely lacking bordering on worthless.

If you can kill it with buckshot its close enough to hit it with a slug.


And this is before you get to my personal observation that every fatal hunting "accident" I've ever seen reported locally involves buckshot. I suppose sound shooters would prize its inaccuracies and indiscriminate nature.




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complaints about
 
There are only a few states where you can use buckshot, then I think it has to be 00 or bigger.................
 
I have killed many hogs with buckshot from a stand and in some cases doubles and even one triple.
The big drawback is if they arent dead on the spot there is very little blood to track with.
The holes just seal up and dont bleed externally so if you dont have a good trail dog use something else.
A good slug like a Barnes expander or something similar leaves a blood trail that looks like something was dragging a paint roller thru the woods.
T
 
Buckshot is the thing for dog hunting running deer (Southern Tradition.) I don't use it or slugs when stand hunting...give me a rifle every time for that.

This is the last deer I shot with buckshot...12 gauge 3" #1 buck launched from a modified choke barrel is my preference. One shot put it down...not DRT, but down on the spot.

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12 gauge buckshot has awesome power within its limited range. If that is all I had to hunt with, I would do it...within range of course.
 
There are only a few states where you can use buckshot, then I think it has to be 00 or bigger.................

There are WMAs that REQUIRE buckshot for hogs in Texas. It's a rule of the WMA, not a state law. Buckshot sux for pigs, just hope you get one on the head. I'd carried 00, even some stuff called 0000 that a company has, carries 8 pellets and they're not stacked evenly in a 12 gauge shell. I haven't patterned 'em, will, but I ain't holding my breath on that. I've about decided that public hog hunting is okay for a nice day in the woods, but it sux having to take a shotgun. I wish they'd allow BP rifles. I'd take my Hawken, would be cool. :D

All in all, give me a rifle. This is Texas and we are riflemen....except in the duck marsh. laughing-smiley-009.gif
 
Some Wildlife Management Areas in Florida don't allow center-fire rifles during gun season. The areas are usually heavily wooded swamps or brush and quite a few hunters opt for buckshot so they have quick follow-up shots in tight areas.

I have killed about a dozen deer with 00 buck and about the same number of hogs. With hogs on foot I prefer a shotgun with 3" buckshot. I have killed 2 within 5 yards of me. One was so close it had 9 of 12 00 buckshot in his face. Only 3 missed him.

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In Oklahoma a number of WMA's (well, at least two) require it for hogs outside of deer season.

In Virginia, the dog hunters use it. Used it for the first time last fall when I went out with them for the first time ever.

I was just drawn for a lottery management hunt on a state forest that abuts a national park and gets hunted a total of 3 days a year (I will be there each one). Your limited to buck shot out of a tree stand.
 
So is it fair enough to say that aside from dog hunting, and hunting where it is required by law there is absolutely no advantage to buckshot over a good rifle or even a slug? I hate to have to claim ignorance on any topic of firearms, but I have never once used buckshot for anything other then home defense, always had a good rifle so I never felt the need for it.
 
To be honest I have only used it a few times for deer, and haven't dropped the hammer on one yet. I grew up shoot my shotgun more than anything and fully enjoyed being in the field with it.

Over the past years I haven't done much with my scatterguns other than keep one up at the farm for hogs and a few squirrels. When our pear tree has fruit, the hogs come right on up in the yard after the ones that fall off. The following picture is one reason I like to use it on them, while it wasn't under the pear tree, this same sounder did visit several times, and on more than one occasion left short a member or two.
PICT0066.jpg

Buckshot is no different than any other shotshell, it has to be patterned to be effective for hunting. Simply throwing a round in the chamber under a full choke usually doesn't result in the best overall performance. In fact in one of my 12's the Improved Cylinder does the best with 00 and 000, where in another the Modified does better. Neither do well with a full. Also the velocity can and does wreak havoc on the pattern as well. I found out by total accident that the darned Remington Reduced Recoil 00 shot better than everything else, keeping all of the pellets on an 8" paper plate at 25yds with the Modified choke. That is now my backyard load for up at the farm, and also if the oldest grandson and I can get our schedules together with the hogs under a double person ladder stand I put up over a feeder we're gonna have a field day.
 
I used OO buck several years ago when we had a shotgun only area. I took 2 deer out to 40 yards and never had an issue. Both deer were hit by multiple shot and dropped on the spot. My shotgun handled it best with modified choke.
 
I save my buckshot in 00 for vermin trying to break into my house...pump 12 gauge, if the racking of the slide dont scare em off, getting hit with a lethal dose of buck should do it,
 
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