Buckshot patterns with a Patternmaster choke

[brass shower]

I had an opportunity to try a variety of buckshot loads through a Patternmaster choke tube. For the benefit of the collective here's a compilation of my results with the Patternmaster tube. Weapon was a benelli M1S90 with an unmodified factory 18.5" bbl. Distance to the target was 20 yards. 5 shots fired in each group. Velocity is from the manufacturer specs and was not chronographed by myself. Pattern sizes rounded to the nearest half inch.

12 ga 2.75" Federal Premium 00 buck, 9 pellet, 1325 FPS, averaged 7" with a high of 9" and a low of 6". For comparison this previously patterned an average of 12 inches wide with an IC choke.

12 ga 2.75" Federal Vital-Shok 00 buck, 12 pellet, 1290 FPS, averaged 9.5" with a high of 12" and a low of 7" .

12 ga 2.75" Federal Power-Shok 4 buck, 27 pellet, 1325 FPS, averaged 14.5" with a high of 16" and a low of 13" .

12 ga 2.75" Remington Premium Hevi-Shot 00 buck, 9 pellet, 1325 FPS, averaged 5.5" with a high of 7" and a low of 5" .

12 ga 2.75" Remington Express 00 buck, 9 pellet, 1325 FPS, averaged 6" with a high of 7" and a low of 6" .

12 ga 3" Remington Express 00 buck, 15 pellet, 1225 FPS, averaged 14" with a high of 17" and a low of 10" .

12 ga 2.75" Winchester Super-X 00 buck, 12 pellet, 1290 FPS, averaged 10" with a high of 13" and a low of 11" .

12 ga 2.75" Winchester Super-X 1 buck, 16 pellet, 1250 FPS, averaged 8" with a high of 9" and a low of 6" .

12 ga 3" Winchester Super-X 1 buck, 24 pellet, 1040 FPS, averaged 8.5" with a high of 10" and a low of 7" .

Notes:
All of these loads were full power, no reduced recoil loads. The Remington Hevi-Shot provided the tightest patterns of the day and supposedly also penetrates better being harder and having a higher sectional density but at $10 a box is expensive to test more thoroughly. However the Remington 2.75" 00 Express also produced impresive tight patterns for a more reasonable $2.50 a box. Unfortunately the 3" 00 Remintgon Express was somewhat disappointing in the patterns, not to mention brutal on my shoulder and slower to bring back on target. Recoil on these tests seemed slightly less bothersome than when I last tested out loads using a standard choke. Perhaps it was a result of the porting on the choke tube, or perhaps I'm just getting used to it. When I get a chance to try some more types of loads I'll post their results as well.

ETA #4 buck pellet count

 

[Preacherman]

Thanks for posting this! Nice to have some facts and figures available. I've heard very good reports of the Patternmaster from others, and your results bear out what I've heard.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for posting this. I hope folks get the right lessons from this.

That is, buck performance can vary greatly from one brand to another and that choke does affect the results...

 

[grendelbane]

I too have an M1Super90, and a Patternmaster choke tube.

My results run pretty well parallel to yours. I have not tested the Remington Hevi-Shot load, but I do have a box waiting to test. If it does as well in my gun as it did in yours, it would be the ultimate load. Shame I can't afford to shoot it!

I have also patterned Federal's low recoil 00 buck and 000 buck. As I recall I got 7 to 8" patterns with both.

I just wish that the Patternmaster was not bright stainless steel. I have painted mine, but of course the paint wants to chip off. Still, I am highly pleased with mine.

 

[brass shower]

More test results

Well I ordered a lot more buckshot, and found some more cardboard. The tempurture at the time of testing was a gritty 28 degrees, with wind and snow flurries. Distance was again 20 yards, and 5 shots were fired and averaged. Two exceptions were the federal express 4 buck, which the first 3patterns were too big for the cardboard I used, so I had to find larger pieces for the 2 shots I have averaged, and the Federal Power Shok 1 buck, which I ran out of cardboard targets during testing, ending the session after 3 shots. Here are the continued results from this experiment.

12 ga 2.75" Hornady TAP 00 buck, 8 pellet, 1370 fps, averaged 3.5" with a low of 1" and a high of 7"
1" 1" 2" 5" 7"

12 ga 2.75" Hornady Light Mag 00 buck, 12 pel, 1600 fps, averaged 5" with a low of 1" and a high of 12"
1" 2.5" 1" 12" 8"

12 ga 2.75" Remington express 4 buck, 27 pellet, 1325 fps, averaged 23" with a low of 21" and a high of 25"
21" 25"

12 ga 3" Remington Express 000 buck, 10 pellet, 1225 fps, averaged 10.5" with a low of 9" and a high of 11"
11" 11" 11" 9" 10"

12 ga 2.75" Remington Premier Nickel plated 00 buck, 12 pellet, 1290 fps, averaged 13.5" with a low of 12" and a high of 15"
12" 15" 14.5" 14" 11.5"

12 ga 2.75" Remington Express 1 buck, 16 pellet, 1250 fps, averaged 17.5" with a low of 15" and a high of 20.5"
15" 20" 20.5" 16" 15"

12 ga 2.75" Remington Express 000 buck, 8 pellet 1325 fps, averaged 9" with a low of 6" and a high of 12"
9" 10" 12" 6" 8"

12 ga 2.75" Winchester super-X 000 buck, 8 pellet, 1325 fps, averaged 7.5" with a low of 5" and a high of 10"
6" 5" 9" 7" 10"

12 ga 3" Winchester Supreme 000 buck, 10 pellet, 1225 fps, averaged 9.5" with a low of 8" and a high of 10.5"
10.5" 10.5" 8" 8" 10"

12 ga 2.75" Winchester Supreme 00 buck, 12 pellet, 1295 fps, averaged 11.5" with a low of 10.5" and a high of 13"
11" 10.5" 13" 12" 10.5"

12 ga 2.75" Federal tactical/light load 00 buck, 9 pellet, 1140 fps, averaged 7" with a low of 5.5" and a high of 9"
8.5" 9" 8" 5" 5.5"

12 ga 2.75" Federal classic (power-shok) 1 buck, 1250 fps, 20 pellet, magnum, averaged 19" with a low of 16.5" and a high of 21.5"
16.5" 21.5" 19.5"

12 ga 2.75" Fiocchi LE reduced recoil 00 buck, 9 pellet, 1150 fps, averaged 9" with a low of 8.5" and a high of 10.5"
8.5" 10.5" 8.5" 8.5" 8.5"

Notes:
The Hornady loads made some very impressive 1" patterns that looked more like groups, all one ragged hole. It appeared the buck did not even have an opportunity to exit the shot cup. I'd like to test both the TAP and Light Mag at a longer 50 yard distance.

The Fiocchi and Federal reduced recoil loads while blissfully easy on my shoulder, were so lightly loaded that I experienced cycling malfunctions with my Benelli M1 Super 90. Holding the shotgun looser and relaxing my stance allowed them to cycle the inertia-driven locking system normally.

If anyone would like a copy of the complete compiled results in an Excel spreadsheet for an easy to sort format, feel free to email me for a copy. I can't upload an XLS sheet to the forum unfortunately.

Cheers!

 

[Chuck R.]

brass shower,

Thanks for posting your results. I also have a M1S90 and have patterned a bunch of loads with and without my Patternmaster.

I like the new FED with the FC wads, but finally got the chance to pattern some of the TAP red hull with just the IC choke. AWESOME! An instructor I had for a combat shotgun course had a bunch so he let every student try some in their own guns. Pretty impressive results regardless of the gun or choke.

I've since started switching my ammo over to the TAP.

Chuck