brass shower
Member
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
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
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