Best of the Bulk Buckshot?

[Animal Mother]

I’ve heard that generally, because different guns with different barrel lengths pattern differently, it is best to buy what you want to try and see how it works for you. Unfortunately, I’m on a budget, so I was wondering if anyone on here had some positive experiences with any of the ammo below, using a similar setup as my own?

Mossberg 500, 18.5” barrel, for HD, with longest possible in-home shot of 20 yards.

Rio Royal (Regular or Low Recoil) 9 pellet 00 Buck (.49 per round)

Sellier & Bellot 12 or 9 pellet 00 Buck (.53 per round)

Estate 9 pellet 00 Buck (.55 per round)

NobelSport LE 12 pellet 00 Buck (.57 per round)

Wolf 9 pellet 00 Buck (.69 per round)

Are these good/bad/horrible choices for a home defense load? Do they pattern worth a darn?

I’m drawn to the Rio Low Recoil load because I’ve got a fairly small frame and I feel lower recoil will benefit training and follow-up shots more than the potential for less energy directed on the target for the typical distances involved in HD.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m also drawn to the 12 pellet offerings in order to put more lead on the target, but I don’t know if that is going to result in a trade-off of excessive recoil.

I feel I should use what I practice with--but if these aren’t good choices as a home defense load is it a bad idea to have a load of Hornady TAP in the gun for HD, with one of the above as a SHTF/Practice stockpile for the range?

 

[joe4702]

I just bought 250rds of the Estate 9 pellet from Cabelas. Pleased with it in my Winchester 1300 (18" cylinder bore bbl). Mild recoil and patterned well at 10 yards. I did some googling before buying and the Estate brand is well-regarded. Perhaps you could buy a box of each and try before buying bulk. I took a gamble and bought bulk without doing any testing. Luckily it worked out well and I'll be sticking with the Estate brand. Prior to that I was using some old Remington 3" magnum #1 buck I had around, but the recoil was too unpleasant.

 

[627PCFan]

Your pattern of any of these shells at home defense distance is going to be the least of your concerns. Id go low recoil. They offer lower recoil, marginally reduced flash and marginally reduced noise.

 

[Fred Fuller]

It depends on what you want your pattern to do. I've tried a few of the loads you mention in various guns (Rio Royal, Sellier & Bellot, Estate- the 'new' Estate of course, NobelSport) and found them all to pattern pretty widely. If you want wide patterns- there ya go.

I like tight patterns myownself- the tighter the better IMHO. My current favorite load (a Federal LE 9 pellet standard velocity 00 FliteControl load) patterns very well- 4" at 25 yards, out of my current favorite 870 (18" CYL bore bead sight barrel). The loads on your list that I have tried usually won't even keep all their pellets on an IPSC cardboard at 25 yards. That's not acceptable to me for usual use, YMMV of course.

Checking my usual source ( http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/index.php?cName=12-gauge-buckshot ) I see they are out of the Federal- it's a LEO contract load and they only have it as a contract overrun or failure to take delivery of an order on the part of a given LEA. The Hornady red hull TAP I've tried does very well also, as it is loaded with the FliteControl wad as well. It is more spendy than the less expensive ammo though.

There's an old saying- "Quantity has a quality all its own." If you sorted through my ammo stockpile, you'd find a case or three of S&B 00 9 pellet loads. Sometimes you really do need a scattergun- some situations really are 'to whom it may concern.'

The good thing is, you can change your pattern simply by changing loads- no need to swap choke tubes, barrels, or anything else. That same ol' CYL bore barrel can cover the side of a barn, or keep all the pellets in a saucer, or shoot slugs with equal aplomb, depending on the situation and the load you use... assuming of course that you can keep up with what is what and what is where in your kit . Sometimes that's more difficult than it looks.

Best bet is to try a bunch'o'buckshot and see what does what you want, then grit your teeth and buy as much as you can manage.

As for practice, just use birdshot .

hth, happy shopping and Stay Safe-

lpl

 

[wnycollector]

I'm kind of partial to fiocchi's nickel plated low recoil 00 buck. It's ~$5.50/10 rounds at sportsmansguide and it patterns ~6" in my cyl bore maverick 88.

 

[inSight-NEO]

My current favorite load (a Federal LE 9 pellet standard velocity 00 FliteControl load)

Mine as well. In fact, I just might be the reason "Ammunition To Go.com" ran out of this stuff.

 

[357wheelgunner]

I got a bargain on a few ammo cans full of S&B 12 pellet 00 buckshot, it doesn't pattern very well, but it's cheap to buy for "just in case", and I'm sure it would do the job at close range.

 

[GTSteve03]

I'm kind of partial to fiocchi's nickel plated low recoil 00 buck. It's ~$5.50/10 rounds at sportsmansguide and it patterns ~6" in my cyl bore maverick 88.

+1 on the Fiocchi low-recoil buckshot. It's definitely easy on the shoulder and the wallet, and it seems to pattern pretty well too.

 

[Sinixstar]

Best bet is to try a bunch'o'buckshot and see what does what you want, then grit your teeth and buy as much as you can manage.

Gotta agree there.
Everybody's preferences are going to be slightly different towards these things, each gun is going to shoot a little differently, and there's just no way of knowing until you run some through your weapon of choice.

Pick up a few of each, try 'em out - see how you like it. If you find one you like - there's your answer.


Also - as far as practice goes - there's nothing wrong with practicing with lighter/cheaper loads. I've always felt there's a lot more technique involved with shotgunning (or any shooting for that matter) then just "can i hit the target?". Even more so in defensive situations, being able to handle the gun instinctively and quickly is just as important as being accurate. That only comes from actually handling/shooting on a regular basis.

 

[wnycollector]

I'm a firm believer in

Best bet is to try a bunch'o'buckshot and see what does what you want

So I just put my money where my mouth is and ordered a few boxes of nobel sport #4 and 00 buck. For right now I'm happy with the fiocchi but....

 

[BADUNAME37]

Sheesh,

I just have a mixture of several different kinds (Remington, Federal, Winchester). You guys with all this fancy stuff are making me look bad!

I hope I never have to shoot my 12 gauge in the house, however if I do, I'm not sure that the brand is going to make too much difference when shooting across a 12' room.

Will it?

 

[Sinixstar]

I just have a mixture of several different kinds (Remington, Federal, Winchester). You guys with all this fancy stuff are making me look bad!

I hope I never have to shoot my 12 gauge in the house, however if I do, I'm not sure that the brand is going to make too much difference when shooting across a 12' room.

Will it?

If you ever have to use it, try asking the guy afterwords. If he answers, then yes - it does.

 

[35Rem]

Walmart sells a 15 pack of 2 3/4" in 00 Buck for less than $10. Hard to beat that price.

 

[Dave McCracken]

No, brands will not make a difference across the room.

However.....

Every HD shotgun may need to be a Community Defense shotgun also.

Post Katrina, the safest areas were those with honest citizens keeping the peace patrolling the streets with their firearms.

Some of us have fantasies of holing up and using arms only inside our domiciles. That may indeed happen, but if we can secure the area around, everyone gets a bit safer and that's a very good thing.

That's why I keep preaching patterning, practice and planning.

 

[hags]

Based on what I've seen of the N.O. gun confiscations I'd have to say that

honest citizens keeping the peace patrolling the streets with their firearms

would've been treated as the worst kind of criminals, ie, those that threaten the police and their authority.

You'd most likely just now be getting an inventory tag to go and pick up your firearm at the local PD.

As for the O.P., yes, I think any of those would work just fine.

 

[huntsman]

anybody try the Winchester Mil-spec? it's 9 pellet with buffering.

 

[Gord]

When that stuff first popped up it was in line with other commercial buck at around $0.50/rd. Last I saw it was up to almost $1/rd now, but I'm still curious to know how it patterns...

 

[556A2]

anybody try the Winchester Mil-spec? it's 9 pellet with buffering.

A member on ar15.com disected a couple of the Mil-Spec shells.

The pellets were unplated, there was no shot cup, and either a cardboard, or felt wad. IIRC, he said it was the worst patterning buckshot he had ever shot. The bulk Winchester Super-X is a much better buy compared to the Mil-Spec Winchester.